Safa Zaki will deliver "Modeling the Mind: What Clues Can be Gleaned from Amnesia"
WILLIAMSTOWN - Safa Zaki, associate professor of psychology and cognitive science at Williams College, will deliver the fourth lecture in the college's Annual Faculty Lecture Series on Thursday, Feb. 28, at 4 p.m..The lecture is titled "Modeling the Mind: What Clues Can be Gleaned from Amnesia" and will be held in Wege Auditorium, The Science Center. The lecture is open to the public and free. A reception will follow the event
Memory for particular visual patterns is impaired in people who suffer from amnesia. However, Zaki said, "Learning to categorize new patterns into different groups is an ability that appears to be intact in these patients. Researchers have taken this as an evidence that there are two brain systems for these two processes." Her talk will look at how computational models of the mind can inform our understanding of "this apparent dissociation."
Zaki teaches introductory and cognitive psychology, "Concepts, Mind, Brain, & Culture" and "Prospective on Psychological Issues" at Williams. Among her research interests are categorization, concept learning, dissociations, and memory. Her research has appeared in a number of scientific journals, including Memory and Cognition, Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, and the Journal of Experimental Psychology.
She received her B.A. from the American University in Cairo, Egypt in 1989 and her Ph. D. from Arizona State University in 1996.
This lecture will be followed next week by WCMA Director Lisa Corrin, who will discuss "When Art Needs Room to Breathe: The Marriage of Art and Urban Green Space on Seattle's Waterfront" on Thursday, March 6.
