There is a tendency in cognitive science to avoid the development of theories that attempt large scale integration of domains which appear to be closely related (Gigerenzer, 2010; Dale, Fusaroli, Duran, and Richardson 2013). Natural language semantics has for many years been driven by an integrative theoretical approach, dynamic semantics, whose main slogan is "meaning as transitions between contexts", where the formal notion of context is to be construed as cognitive states. Nonetheless, there is on the whole little contact with empirical work on the structure and dynamics of naturally occurring memory and appraisal systems, though these should figure in accounts of phenomena like anaphora, ellipsis, attitude reports, etc. Integrative empirical and theoretical approaches are necessary for understanding contexts and/as cognitive states, including the brain structures typically involved. Arguably, this becomes an even more pressing issue for accounts of multimodal phenomena such as laughter, gaze or pointing, given the increasing complexity of contextual structures that need to be postulated. Conversely, neuropsychological work on memory and emotion is a flourishing area and yet the lion's share of studies are highly lab- and sentence-based and do not directly address spontaneous speech in conversational settings. There is also little work on using semantic tools or notions to directly model neural processing of natural language.

Semantics, Memory, and Emotion II is the second workshop following a successful first edition in 2021 (see DME'21) bringing together linguists, philosophers, neuroscientists, psychologists, and computer scientists to foster work on the interface between semantics, memory systems, emotion, and their embodiment in the brain.

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to) the following:

Invited speakers

Submissions

Two forms of submission are possible for this workshop:

Submissions should be sent (pdf only) to: Andy Lücking

Important dates

Deadline for submission: 16 June 2022

Notification of acceptance: 8 July 2022

Workshop session: 6-7 September 2022

If there is sufficient interest, we will organise publication as a special issue, probably with the journal Topics in Cognitive Science

Dale, Rick et al. (2013). "The Self-Organization of Human Interaction". In: Psychology of Learning and Motivation. Ed. by Brian H. Ross. Psychology of Learning and Motivation 59. Academic Press. Chap. 2, pp. 43–95. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-407187-2.00002-2.

Gigerenzer, Gerd (2010). "Personal Reflections on Theory and Psychology". In: Theory & Psychology 20.6, pp. 733–743. doi: 10.1177/0959354310378184.