<description>&lt;p&gt;Stanislas Dehaene&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Chaire Psychologie cognitive expérimentale&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Année 2025-2026&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Collège de France&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Colloque : Seeing the Mind, Educating the Brain&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Theme: Human Singularity&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dissecting the Language of Thought Hypothesis across Marr's Levels&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Colloque - Mathias Sablé-Meyer : Dissecting the Language of Thought Hypothesis across Marr's Levels&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mathias Sablé-Meyer&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Résumé&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Language of Thought (LoT) hypothesis posits that mental representations are best understood as programme-like objects; indeed, "thoughts" share properties such as productivity and systematicity with programming languages. I tackle questions that arise from taking this hypothesis at face value and unfolding its predictions, from computational accounts to mechanistic implementation. First, zooming on humans' cognition of geometric shapes, I show that in all human groups tested (adults, children, congenitally blind), the perception of shapes is heavily influenced by geometric features. Then, I show using MEG and fMRI that the neural signature of these exact geometric properties is separate both in timing and localisation from typical visual processes. To generalise beyond quadrilaterals, I commit to a proposition for a generative language of shapes to account for the complexity of geometric shapes in humans, while implementing an algorithm for perception-as-program-inference. Finally, building on recent results in rodent neuroscience, I sketch a research programme and give preliminary results on a mechanistic understanding of how program-like representations might be implemented by populations of neurons.&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Psychologie cognitive expérimentale - Stanislas Dehaene

Collège de France

Colloque - Mathias Sablé-Meyer : Dissecting the Language of Thought Hypothesis across Marr's Levels

OCT 3, 202517 MIN
Psychologie cognitive expérimentale - Stanislas Dehaene

Colloque - Mathias Sablé-Meyer : Dissecting the Language of Thought Hypothesis across Marr's Levels

OCT 3, 202517 MIN

Description

<p>Stanislas Dehaene</p><p>Chaire Psychologie cognitive expérimentale</p><p>Année 2025-2026</p><p>Collège de France</p><p></p><p>Colloque : Seeing the Mind, Educating the Brain</p><p>Theme: Human Singularity</p><p>Dissecting the Language of Thought Hypothesis across Marr's Levels</p><p></p><p>Colloque - Mathias Sablé-Meyer : Dissecting the Language of Thought Hypothesis across Marr's Levels</p><p></p><p>Mathias Sablé-Meyer</p><p></p><p>Résumé</p><p></p><p>The Language of Thought (LoT) hypothesis posits that mental representations are best understood as programme-like objects; indeed, "thoughts" share properties such as productivity and systematicity with programming languages. I tackle questions that arise from taking this hypothesis at face value and unfolding its predictions, from computational accounts to mechanistic implementation. First, zooming on humans' cognition of geometric shapes, I show that in all human groups tested (adults, children, congenitally blind), the perception of shapes is heavily influenced by geometric features. Then, I show using MEG and fMRI that the neural signature of these exact geometric properties is separate both in timing and localisation from typical visual processes. To generalise beyond quadrilaterals, I commit to a proposition for a generative language of shapes to account for the complexity of geometric shapes in humans, while implementing an algorithm for perception-as-program-inference. Finally, building on recent results in rodent neuroscience, I sketch a research programme and give preliminary results on a mechanistic understanding of how program-like representations might be implemented by populations of neurons.</p>