Workshop,Conference: Space, Time and Number: The Cerebral Basis of Mathematical Intuitions

在太空中环游世界，记录时间，量化我们周围的世界是人类必不可少的一部分。但我们是如何完成这些壮举的呢？是什么样的神经机制使我们能够从家导航到工作，估计什么时候交通灯应该变绿，或者比较两个杂货店收银台前的人数？这次名为“空间、时间和数字：数学直觉的大脑基础”的会议将探讨我们周围世界的这些定量方面是如何表征的，以及它们如何相互关联的研究的最新进展。这次会议令人兴奋的一个方面是，对数字、空间和时间的研究在其多学科性质上几乎是无与伦比的。该主题需要研究人类认知发展、成人认知、非人类动物、行为和基于大脑的方法以及计算建模，因此汇集了来自许多不同部门和专业领域的研究人员。虽然会议将包括来自世界各地的资深科学家，但NSF的这项奖励将资助美国的初级科学家（研究生、博士后培训助理和助理教授），否则他们将无法参加会议。2010年7月的会议，由Stanislas Dehaene博士和Elizabeth Brannon博士（首席研究员）组织，将是第一次关注时间、空间和数字表征的神经基础的国际会议。这次会议将导致发表一系列论文，以便在科学家之间更广泛地传播。最重要的是，通过为年轻学者提供参加的途径，该奖项将支持在这个多样化、跨学科的研究人员群体之间形成新的研究合作。

Getting around the world in space, keeping track of time, and quantifying the world around us is an essential part of being human. But how do we accomplish these feats? What are the neural mechanisms that allow us to navigate from home to work, to estimate when a traffic light should turn green, or to compare the number of people in two grocery checkout lines? The conference titled "Space, Time and Number: The Cerebral Basis of Mathematical Intuitions" will explore the state of the art in research on how these quantitative aspects of the world around us are represented and how they might relate to one another. An exciting aspect of this meeting is that the study of number, space, and time is almost unparalleled in its multidisciplinary nature. The topic requires studying human cognitive development, adult cognition, nonhuman animals, behavioral and brain-based approaches and computational modeling and thus brings together researchers from many different departments and fields of expertise. While the meeting will include senior scientists from around the globe, this NSF award will fund American junior scientists (graduate students, postdoctoral training associates, and assistant professors) who would otherwise be unable to attend.The July 2010 meeting, organized by Dr. Stanislas Dehaene and Dr. Elizabeth Brannon (the Principal Investigator), will be the first international meeting of its kind to focus on the neural bases of the representation of time, space, and number. The conference will lead to a series of papers to be published for more widespread dissemination among scientists. Most importantly, by providing a means for junior scholars to attend, this award will support the formation of new research collaborations among this diverse, interdisciplinary group of researchers.