[AUDITORY] Cognitive Science Arena 2018 (CSA): submit your abstract now!

[Massimo Grassi <massimo.grassi@xxxxxxxx>]

[Apologies for cross-posting, please distribute widely!]

The time window to submit your abstract is open! Go!

Happy Christmas,
The CSA team
--
Dear colleague,

we are pleased to invite you to the sixth edition of the Cognitive
Science Arena (CSA). The conference will be held in Brixen-Bressanone
(Italy) the 23-24th February 2018.

The aim of CSA is to set a conference where young scientists can
disseminate their scientific contributions in a friendly and cooperative
environment with the participants challenging the scientist in a
fruitful debate. In particular, highly innovative research ideas as well
as “in progress” research are encouraged.

Topics include (but are not limited to) all area (and surroundings) of
cognitive science: for example, developmental cognition and education,
language, memory, perception, psychometrics, anthropology, economics and
social sciences, neuroscience, clinical psychology, animal cognition, etc.

*NEW THIS YEAR*
*"HOT TOPIC: REPLICATION CRISIS IN COGNITIVE SCIENCES*
This year we will host an invited talk by *Rolf Zwaan* (Professor of
Biological and Cognitive Psychology at the Institute of Psychology of
Erasmus University Rotterdam) on “Making Replication Mainstream”. The
talk is scheduled for Saturday at the end of the afternoon session.

*PADLET: A NEW VERSATILE TOOK FOR SHARING SUGGESTIONS AND IDEAS*
Starting from this year CSA will introduce the padlet for discussion!
Padlet (https://padlet.com/) is an online virtual “bulletin” board. We
will use it to organize a virtual blackboard where you can write
(anonymously or not: you decide!) questions, comments, criticisms, etc.
while the speaker is giving is talk.

The key-ideas of CSA are the following:
[1] works by young scientists only (students, doctoral students and
post-doctoral students, researchers with a fixed-term contract...);
[2] long time for each speaker: 15 minutes talk + 10 minutes discussion;
[3] "You will never talk alone" poster-session with dedicated time for
each poster;
[4] "Short-talks for posters": poster presenters are asked to prepare a
three-minutes talk (with powerpoint-like presentation) that summarizes
and introduces the audience to the content of the poster.
[5] "Verba volant, scripta manent" (aka, several anonymous reviewers):
at the end of each talk and poster, attendees can write comments,
criticisms and suggestions to the speaker. Comments are delivered to the
speaker at the end of the talk (or poster) session;
[6] in progress and high-risk research are welcome!

Types of contribution: talks and posters
CSA is accepting two types of contributions: talks and posters. Talks
are regular talks of 15 minutes followed by a 10 minutes discussion. The
poster session is divided in two moments. In the first day of the
conference poster presenters are asked to give a three minutes talk that
introduces the audience to the content of the talk. The following day
takes place the “you will never talk alone poster session” with regular
posters and dedicated time and discussion for each poster presented in
day one. A note for participants: this type of poster session (i.e.,
short talk plus regular poster) is strongly recommended for in progress
or research ideas (i.e., research that has no data yet).

Abstracts submission
Participants willing to present a contribution at CSA must submit an
abstract through the conference website (please, specify "talk" or
"poster" when submitting). Abstracts will be selected on the basis of
the principle "first come first served" until slots for talks and
posters will be available. In the case the number of submissions exceeds
availability, the scientific committee will operate a selection among
the received contributions. *Abstract can be submitted starting from the
13/12/2017 12:00 to the 12/01/2018 23:59 CET (deadline)*. The authors of
the selected abstracts will be email-notified within one week after
submission deadline, and will be asked to confirm their participation by
replying to our email (those who will not reply in the due time, will be
excluded from the final program).

Spirit and mood
The idea of CSA is to reverse the usual format of scientific
conferences. Young researchers first: they play the starring role (no
talks or posters from senior researchers are allowed), they compete for
a prize for the best talk and poster voted by the audience. We would
like to bring together young and promising minds now working in
cognitive science and to provide them with a fruitful and cooperative
environment.

Registration fees
- 10 euros registration fee is asked to presenters of talks and posters.
The fee has to be paid after the deadline, as soon as the participant is
acknowledged about the selection of the contribution; this fee
(introduced this year) is a deposit and a commitment to participate at
CSA with your contribution.
- 50 euro is asked to tenured researchers;
- no fee is asked for students, doctoral students and post-doctoral
researchers that attend to the conference without presenting any
contribution.
The fees will be used to cover part (or all) of the conference expenses.

“Valiant" and "Painter" awards 2018
During the conference, the audience votes for the best CSA talk and
poster. At the end of the conference, the best speaker and the best
poster presenter will receive a certificate and a monetary award.

Language
The official language of CSA is English.

Social events
CSA includes two social events. We hope to arrange once again the sleigh
ride (usually held the first evening of the meeting: be prepared!) and
for the "Cheers, cheese & wine" buffet at the end of the conference.

A tip for all
Brixen is well known ski-resort. Enjoy this chance (if snow would allow
it) and come to the conference snow-equipped.

Suggested accommodations
- Youth hostel: http://brixen.jugendherberge.it/
<http://brixen.jugendherberge.it/>
- Cusanus Academie: http://www.cusanus.bz.it/de/index.asp
<http://www.cusanus.bz.it/de/index.asp>

How to get to CSA:
The closest airports are Innsbruck (INN) and Verona (VRN). The city of
Brixen-Bressanone is along the railway line connecting the two cities
(see maps here: http://cogsci.altervista.org/cityinfo.html
<http://cogsci.altervista.org/cityinfo.html>)

Conference website
More information, abstract submission and registration forms can be
found here:
http://cogsci.altervista.org/

Contacts & info:
cog.sci.arena@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:cog.sci.arena@xxxxxxxxx>

The organisers:
Demis Basso: demis.basso@xxxxxxxx <mailto:demis.basso@xxxxxxxx>
Chiara Begliomini: chiara.begliomini@xxxxxxxx
<mailto:chiara.begliomini@xxxxxxxx>
Massimo Grassi: massimo.grassi@xxxxxxxx <mailto:massimo.grassi@xxxxxxxx>
Manila Vannucci: manila.vannucci@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:manila.vannucci@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Supporting institutions:
- Faculty of Education, UniBZ
- Department of General Psychology, UniPD
- Associazione Italiana di Psicologia - Sezione Sperimentale
- Centre for Applied Cognitive Neuroscience (CeNCA)

Feel free to forward this call to other colleagues of yours that may be
interested.

See you in Brixen!
The CSA team