Call for Proposals
The TRACE workshop brings together a vivid mixture of scientific disciplines concerned with human and animal cognition. After two years of pandemic hiatus, the 2022 edition of the workshop features the issue of Attention and Action.
William James famously stated that “everyone knows what attention is” and goes on defining it as a kind of mental activity that “takes possession” of surrounding things. But in that same work William James pointed out that there is more to attention, and that a connection to action and bodily movement is also crucial.
Research on attention has proliferated in several disciplines since the days of James, and the 2022 edition of the TRACE workshop aims at bringing together diverse theoretical and empirical perspectives on attention and action. These perspectives include all areas of cognitive science and philosophy concerned with embodied cognition, 4e cognition and other fields that work toward bridging the gap between mind and body.
Up until now there has been limited cross-talk between the relevant scientific communities on this topic, especially regarding philosophy, psychology and cognitive robotics. We also encourage contributions from related fields such as linguistics, neurosciences, sociology, anthropology, and ethology. The workshop is open to multi-method perspectives – experimental work, modelling, philosophical inquiry, observation, and linguistic analysis – to allow for a comprehensive take on the topic of human action and attention. Relevant questions include, but are not limited to the following: How can phenomenological accounts and empirical approaches to action and attention work together? Is there a purely intellectual facet of attention, or is it necessarily linked to bodily movements? How can we arrive at purer theorizing about attention and action? More empirical questions, such as what role does attention play in action observation, or how is attention distributed during multitasking are also very welcome.
The 2022 edition is the 7th instantiation of the TRACE workshop. After being held at Paul Valéry University Montpellier (2014-2016), Paris Nanterre University (2017), and Free University of Brussels (2018), it was held last time (2019) at the University of Würzburg. The 2022 edition will be the second one held in the capital of Franconian wine and it will run on the 24th and 25th of June. We especially encourage young researchers – post-doctoral researchers and PhD candidates – to present their work at this stimulating, interdisciplinary meeting.
Submissions are open from now until April 1st, 2022!
Disclaimer: We are monitoring the pandemic situation and will adjust our plans accordingly. Final decisions on the workshop format (number of participants, types of presentations) will depend on the hygiene regulations effective in Summer 2022.
Instructions to authors:
Since 2018, the TRACE Workshop is held in English.
Abstracts can be of any length as long as they do not exceed 500 words.
We allow oral and poster presentations (please state your preference when submitting your abstract):
Individual Talk: individual talks will be organized in sessions of 60-90 minutes with 3-4 presentations. Please note that the presentation and discussion time in minutes will depend on the final number of accepted presentations.
Poster: this format is ideal for work in progress and for first results that will benefit from extended discussions. The poster format may also be allocated if we are running out of spacetime for talks. When planning the poster, please bear in mind that the content of your poster needs to fit into DIN A0 portrait format (84.1 x 118.9 cm).
All proposals (.doc, .odt or .pdf) must be sent by e-mail to asso.trace@gmail.com.
The extended deadline for abstract submission is: April 1st, 2022