THIRTY-FIRST ANNUAL INTERDISCIPLINARY CONFERENCE

The THIRTY-FIRST ANNUAL INTERDISCIPLINARY CONFERENCE will meet in Teton Village, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, February 5 - 10, 2006. The conference covers a wide range of subjects in what has come to be called cognitive science, ranging from visual and auditory physiology and psychophysics to human information processing, cognition, learning and memory, to computational approaches to these problems including neural networks, artificial intelligence, and most recently, brain imaging. The aim is to provide overview talks that are comprehensible and interesting to a wide scientific audience --such as one might fantasize would occur at a National or Royal Academy of Science.

The Conference begins with a reception on Sunday evening, February 5, at 5:00p followed by a half-session. Regular sessions meet from Monday through Friday at 4:00p to 8:00p; the rest of the day is free. After the last session on Friday, there is a banquet for participants and guests.

In 2006, in addition to the usual sessions, AIC-31 will feature the following special sessions (and their organizers):

• fMRI (Geoff Boynton, boynton@salk.edu)
• new technologies for dealing with aging (Misha Pavel, pavel@bme.ogi.edu)
• motion, emotion, reward (Adina Roskies, adina.roskies@dartmouth.edu)

Paper submissions are hereby invited. The deadline for submissions has been extended to Nov 7, 2005. To participate in the special sessions, send a title and abstract to the appropriate organizer(s) as well as a copy to the AIC conference organizer (sperling@uci.edu). All other submissions need go only to the conference organizer. Complete the registration form at the AIC website or provide equivalent information via email directly to sperling@uci.edu or hardcopy to:

Annual Interdisciplinary Conference
c/o Prof. George Sperling
Department of Cognitive Sciences, SSPA-3
University of California
Irvine, CA 92697-5100

Submissions are not finally accepted until registration is complete and the registration fee of $140 ($160 after January 1, 2006; $70 for students) is paid. Conference registration includes daily snacks and refreshments, and the closing banquet, payable by check (no credit cards) to "Annual Interdisciplinary Conference" mailed to the address above.

Applicants will be notified on or before Nov. 14, 2005 of the acceptance of proposed presentations. Registration fees for speakers are nonrefundable; registration for non-speaking participants is refundable at any time.

The 30 previous programs, photos, and hotel information are published on the AIC website; the 2006 program will be posted as it becomes available. To receive future electronic mailings write your email address on the registration form and send it by letter or email. (Persons already on the AIC mailing list are retained until they request to be removed).

The conference hotel, the Best Western Inn at Jackson Hole, is directly at the base of the ski slopes, a short walk from the tram and other ski lifts. The Conference has arranged special room rates for registered participants. To reserve lodging, telephone The Inn 800-842-7666 or 307-733-2311 and ask the desk to verify that you are on their list of registered participants in the Annual Interdisciplinary Conference (AIC). Other hotels, restaurants, ski rental facilities, shops, and cross country ski trails, are all within walking distance. There are flights directly to Jackson Hole AP from Chicago, Denver, and Salt Lake City (taxi or bus to the hotel). Alternatively, Jackson is a five-hour drive from Salt Lake City.

Additional information about the conference, travel, and skiing opportunities, is available at the website

UCI is continuing with its plan to approximately double its size (although California's well-publicized budget problems are slowing the growth rate). In line with a University-wide initiative in Cognitive Brain Imaging, a 4T and a 1.5 magnet are now available for fMRI research studies, and a 3T is on order. For 2005-2006, the Department of Cognitive Sciences is advertising one junior and one open-rank faculty position in broadly defined areas of Cognitive Sciences/Neuroscience. For information see: www.cogsci.uci.edu/open-positions.shtml

Also, any postdoctoral fellow willing to work on projects in attention and motion perception that involve psychophysics, modeling, and brain imaging, please contact: sperling@uci.edu

Finally, UCI's expanding graduate program in Cognitive Sciences invites applications. See: www.cogsci.uci.edu