2025 GAC 2

What shapes the ventral visual system in infancy - innate biases or experience?

Marieke Mur, Western University

Talia Konkle, Harvard

Bria Long, UCSD

Daniel Yamins, Stanford

Moritz Köster, University of Regensburg

Michael Arcaro, U Penn

Nicholas Turk-Browne, Yale

Rebbeca Saxe, MIT

Rhodri Cusack, Trinity College Dublin

Short description

A long-standing debate in cognitive neuroscience concerns the origins of high-level visual representations: are they scaffolded by innate inductive biases or shaped primarily by experience? While researchers working with infant neuroimaging often emphasize 

the role of intrinsic neural constraints, those studying naturalistic visual experience and computational modeling highlight the importance of data-driven learning. This adversarial collaboration will bring together leading researchers from both perspectives to critically assess existing evidence, define testable hypotheses, and explore how artificial neural networks can help adjudicate between these views – while also capturing the dynamic interplay between innate constraints and experience over time. The goal is to identify empirical and computational approaches that can move the field beyond parallel debates toward integrative models of infant visual development. 

GAC kickoff workshop, August 13th at CCN

Schedule of events

4:00 pm - 5:00 pm    Introduction into the debate (15 mins) by Marieke Mur and Rhodri Cusack

[Room A0.01]

5:00 pm - 6:30 pm `   Main discussion

[Room A1.03]

Structured around three key questions:

1. What are inductive biases, and which ones matter for visual development?

What do we mean by “inductive bias”? Where do they come from? When do they emerge?

2. What kind of understanding are we aiming for?

Are we after general principles of development, or is it enough to build systems that work?

3. How can we identify and test inductive biases?

What methods — brain data, behavioral data, modeling — are most promising?

Each GAC member will prepare brief contributions (with optional slides), and we’ll leave time for audience Q&A after each question.

Speakers: Marieke Mur, Bria Long, Daniel Yamins, Moritz Köster, Rhodri Cusack

Team

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