Cognitive Science Colloquium

Event details Date: Friday, October 16, 2026 Time: 3:00 PM to 4:30 PM Location: Uris Hall - G90 - Central Campus Type: Colloquium Department: Cognitive Science Contact: Emma Herbst | eh694@cornell.edu About this event Cognitive Science Hybrid Colloquium delivered by Madineh Sedigh-Sarvestani, Assistant Professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Freeman Hrabowski Scholar in the Neurobiology and Behavior Department at Cornell University. From Sensation to Meaning Abstract: How does sensory activity come to represent meaningful features of the world? My lab studies this question in the visual systems of different species, using behavior to ask what information animals extract from sensory signals and how that information becomes useful for perception and action. By comparing animals with different bodies, sensory systems, and movement capabilities, we can ask how the problems a nervous system must solve depend on the particular ways an animal interacts with its environment. I’ll describe ongoing projects that examine how relationships among sensation, action, and the physical world shape perception and its underlying neural representations. Across these studies, we ask how animals interpret sensory signals, how those interpretations can be altered by experience, and what this can reveal about how sensation comes to carry meaning. Join via Zoom: https://cornell.zoom.us/j/91789468335?pwd=bl9q3WbyGuqJfLS8homE0CLHeL80gP.1 Official event details: https://events.cornell.edu/event/copy-of-cognitive-science-colloquium