CFP: Workshop on
“Computational
Modeling
of Cognition-Emotion Interactions:
Relevance to Mechanisms of Affective Disorders
and Psychotherapeutic Action”
To be held at the 36th Annual Meeting of the
Cognitive
Science Society
July 23, 2014
Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
Recent years have witnessed an increasing
interest in
developing computational models of emotion and emotion-cognition
interaction,
within the emerging area of computational affective science. At the same time, emotion
theorists and clinical
psychologists have been recognizing the importance of moving
beyond descriptive
characterizations of affective disorders, and identifying the
underlying
mechanisms that mediate both psychopathology and psychotherapeutic
action.
Computational models of cognition-emotion
interactions have
the potential to facilitate more accurate assessment and diagnosis
of affective
disorders, and to provide a basis for more efficient and targeted
approaches to
treatment, through an improved understanding of the mechanisms of
therapeutic
action.
In spite of the significant synergy that could
result from a
dialogue among researchers and practitioners in affective
modeling, emotion
research and clinical psychology, limited interaction exists among
these
communities. The goal of this workshop is to provide a forum for
interdisciplinary dialog among the members of these research
communities, and
explore how computational models of emotion-cognition interaction
can help
elucidate the mechanisms mediating affective disorders, as well as
the
mechanisms of therapeutic action.
To facilitate cross-disciplinary discussions
and interaction,
the workshop format will emphasize moderated panels, small working
groups, and
open discussion, in addition to the traditional paper sessions. To this end, we encourage
submissions of
proposals for discussion topics, panels and small working groups.
Keynote address:
Keith
Oatley, University of Toronto –
“The cognitive bases of emotions, emotional disorders and
psychotherapy.”
Submission
Guidelines
Interested participants should submit extended
abstracts (1-3
pages), discussion and working group topics (1 page), or panel
proposals (1-2
pages) to hudlicka@cs.umass.edu
by June
1. Relevant
topics include:
·
Which
processes mediating cognition-emotion interactions are
sufficiently well
understood to support computational modeling (e.g., affective
biases on
attention & perception; emotion regulation; cognitive
appraisal)?
·
How can models of
these processes contribute to an understanding of the mechanisms
of therapeutic
action, across different types of psychotherapies (e.g.,
cognitive,
psychodynamic, emotion-focused)?
·
What are the
relative benefits and drawbacks of the dominant theoretical
perspectives on
emotion with respect to computational models of
emotion-cognition interaction
and therapeutic action (e.g., discrete / categorical models,
dimensional models
(PAD), componential models)?
·
What are the best
representational and reasoning approaches for modeling
cognitive-affective
schemas and their transformation during therapy? Can we characterize the
differences in these
transformations across distinct therapeutic approaches (e.g.,
cognitive,
metacognitive, emotion-focused, motivational interviewing,
psychodynamic)?
·
What are the most
appropriate computational methods for modeling the distinct
modalities of
affective processes (e.g., physiological / somatic, expressive
/behavioral,
cognitive)?
·
How can we model
intermodal interactions across processes operating at different
time scales?
·
What types of
data are necessary to develop these models, and how can these be
obtained?
·
For a given
affective process and modality, what criteria determine the best
level of model
resolution (e.g., models of lower-level processes via
connectionist methods vs.
higher-level symbolic models)?
·
How can we
validate computational models of cognition-emotion interactions
and therapeutic
action, and what are the limits of this validation (e.g.,
validation of
detailed symbolic models hypothesizing specific internal mental
constructs,
such as goals or plans, may not be possible with current
technologies).
Addressing these questions from a
multi-disciplinary
perspective will provide the context within which concrete gaps in
both theoretical
knowledge and methodologies can be identified, and research
priorities
established.
Submitters will receive notification of
acceptance/rejection
by June
15.
For more information see: https://people.cs.umass.edu/~hudlicka/cogsci2014-cog-em.html
The workshop papers will be published as a
separate report,
and both the papers and the presentations will be made available
on the
workshop web site. The workshop organizers will also pursue the
possibility of
a special issue of a relevant journal (TBD) and/or an edited
volume in the
Affective Science Series published by Oxford University Press.
Eva
Hudlicka,
Chair, Psychometrix Associates & University of
Massachusetts-Amherst
Michael
Arbib,
University of Southern California
Jorge
Armony,
McGill University
Luc
Beaudoin,
Simon Fraser University
Jean-Marc
Fellous,
University of Arizona
Ian
Horswill,
Northwestern University
Richard
Lane,
University of Arizona