The 2010 University of Toronto Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Mind:
The Place of Emotions in the Cognitive Sciences

March 6-7, 2010
University College, University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Keynote Speakers:
March 6: Adam Anderson (Psych, University of Toronto)
March 7: Ronald de Sousa (Philosophy, University of Toronto)

Other Speakers:

John Vervaeke (Cognitive Science, University of Toronto)
Evan Thompson (Philosophy, University of Toronto)
Keith Oatley (Cognitive Science, University of Toronto)

We invite submissions of original papers from undergraduate and graduate students of cognitive science and its cognate disciplines (philosophy, psychology, artificial intelligence, linguistics, neuroscience, anthropology, robotics, etc.) to the 4th University of Toronto Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Mind (UTISM).

UTISM is a biennial conference that brings together students and scholars for stimulating interdisciplinary exchange on topics related to the mind.

The theme of this year’s symposium is “The Place of Emotions in the Cognitive Sciences”. We hope to give students and scholars a chance to collectively reflect on the place and role of the emotions in a field whose research focus has too often been on purely cognitive phenomena. This kind of attitude has been exemplified since the origins of cognitive science in research which focused on reasoning, and viewed abstracted problem solving as the paradigm case of the cognitive act. In contrast, this year’s symposium hopes to explore the meaning and implications of the “extra-cognitive” engagement of agents with their world. For while we undoubtedly think and reason about our world, we also care about that engagement.

Papers submitted are expected to be on this theme. They will be refereed in either the undergraduate or the graduate category, according to the first author’s student status at the time of submission. Papers co-authored with non-student researchers are acceptable, but the first author, who shall also be the presenter if the paper is accepted, must be a student. Papers shall not exceed 2500 words and shall include on the first page an abstract, names of the authors, their affiliations, their student status, and contact details but leave out any author or institution identifying information from subsequent pages. Only electronic copies in PDF, DOC or PS formats are accepted. Papers may be accepted either for a poster session during the conference or for presentation. Undergraduate and grad student presenters will have 15-20 minutes in which to present.

Submissions shall be emailed to utism.submission@cogsci.ca. Papers will be considered for both oral and poster presentation unless the authors explicitly indicate otherwise on the first page. The submission deadline is February 12. Authors will be notified of the decision on their submission by February 25. Revised versions of an accepted paper shall be received by March 1.