The Brain Imaging Research Center (BIRC) opened in June 2015.
The center houses a 3T Siemens Prisma MRI scanner alongside equipment for collecting data with high-density EEG systems, eye tracking, and a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) system.
Events
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Mar
28
IBACS/BIRC Talk: Dr. Ping Li 9:00am
IBACS/BIRC Talk: Dr. Ping Li
Thursday, March 28th, 2024
09:00 AM - 10:30 AM
We are excited to announce the next talk in the IBACS/BIRC speaker series. Our next speaker of the semester is Ping Li from Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Ping Li, PhD, is Sin Wai Kin Professor in Humanities and Technology, Chair Professor of Neurolinguistics and Bilingual Studies, and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities at the University. He previously served as President of the Society for Computation in Psychology and Program Director at the U.S. National Science Foundation while being a Professor of Psychology, Linguistics, and Information Sciences at the Pennsylvania State University. Li’s research is focused on investigating the neurocognitive and computational bases of language acquisition, bilingualism, and reading comprehension in both children and adults. He uses digital technologies and cognitive neuroscience methods to study neuroplasticity and individual differences in learning to understand the relationships among language, culture, technology, and the brain. Li is currently Editor-in-Chief of Brain and Language and Senior Editor of Cognitive Science. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
Format: Virtual on Zoom or join the in-person watch party in Arjona 339 with coffee and donuts!
Zoom Registration: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZArcOCrqDwsGtdnezJcZJypkorMVRwr600D#/registrati
*Note that you must register to obtain the Zoom meeting details. Please use your University email address
Talk Title: Naturalistic Reading Comprehension in L1 and L2: What can “model-brain alignment” tell us about its neurocognitive mechanisms
Abstract: With the rapid developments in generative AI and large language models (LLMs), researchers are assessing the impacts that these developments bring to various domains of scientific studies. In this talk, I describe the “model-brain alignment” approach that leverages the progress in LLMs. Along with recent proposals on shared computational principles in humans and machines for naturalistic comprehension (e.g., listening to stories, watching movies), we use model-brain alignment to study naturalistic reading comprehension in both native (L1) and non-native (L2) languages. By training LLM-based encoding models on brain responses to text reading, we can evaluate (a) what computational properties in the model are important to reflect human brain mechanisms in language comprehension, and (b) what model variations best reflect human individual differences during reading comprehension. Our findings show that first, to capture the differences in word-level processing vs. high-level discourse integration, current LLM-based models need to incorporate sentence prediction mechanisms on top of word prediction, and second, variations in model-brain alignment allow us to predict L1 and L2 readers’ sensitivity to text properties, cognitive demand characteristics, and ultimately their reading performance. Overall, our work highlights the utility of the model-brain alignment approach in the study of naturalistic reading comprehension at multiple levels of cognitive processing and multiple dimensions of individual variation.
News
- BIRC Open House Dec 7th 2023Have you ever been curious about how brain pictures are taken, how we conduct neuroimaging research, or what kinds of equipment UConn has in our Brain Imaging Research Center? Now is the perfect opportunity to drop by our Open House and see what we have to offer! The UConn Brain Imaging Research Center (BIRC) Open […]Posted on December 1, 2023
- BIRC Welcomes Interim Director Dr. Nicole LandiDr. Nicole Landi has assumed the role of Interim Director of BIRC. Dr. Landi studies reading and language development using cognitive neuroscience approaches (ERP, MRI, neuroimaging genetics). Her other interests include: Reading Reading and Language Disorders Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Neuroimaging Genetics Welcome, Dr. Landi.Posted on September 8, 2023
- BIRC bids farewell to Director Fumiko HoeftDr. Fumiko Hoeft officially ended her BIRC Director appointment on August 22, 2023. During her five year tenure, Fumiko worked hard to support the BIRC mission statement and had much success despite the unprecedented challenge of a world-wide pandemic. Her accomplishments are too great to list, but include transitioning the BIRC Speaker Series to a […]Posted on September 5, 2023
BIRC connects 65 neuroimaging centers around the US
Seminars serve 130 universities & over 2,600 academics world-wide
Started April 2020.
600 subscribed to our list-serv from around the world.
“Ask A Brain Scientist” Series connects 300 kids around the US
Started late Oct/Nov 2020 with a franchise now in Israel.
20 partner organizations including UConn Psych Sci, InCHIP & Ballard Institute supporting our mission
9 Grants funded since FY19 $10.8M TC, $3.9M IDC
6 were from NIH/NSF, 1 from a foundation, & 2 from OVPR REP.
10 more NSF/NIH grants are pending