[visionlist] CORRECTION – Trieste Symposium on Perception and Cognition and The 34th Kanizsa Lecture – correct date is 6 November

[Trieste Symposium]

Please note a correction to our previous message. The date given was incorrect: TSPC and the 34th Kanizsa Lecture will take place on 6 November, not 30 October."


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             TRIESTE SYMPOSIUM ON PERCEPTION AND COGNITION
 
                                  AND
 
                      THE 34th KANIZSA LECTURE
 
                        (first announcement)
 
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Dear colleagues,
 
the Trieste Symposium on Perception and Cognition and the 34th Kanizsa Lecture will take place at the University of Trieste, November 6, 2026, starting at 9.00 am.
 
Traditionally, the Symposium is open to all perspectives and approaches, has no registration fee, and runs on an informal, relaxed pace. This year, it is organized together with colleagues from the University of Padua.
 
This year the Kanizsa Lecture will be delivered by prof. David C. Burr (University of Florence) on Friday 6 November, starting at 4.00 pm.
 
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The 34th Kanizsa Lecture
 
Predictive perception

Over the past eight decades research on sensory systems has been largely dominating by a mechanistic, bottom-up approach, well illustrated by Hubel and Wiesel’s Nobel Prize winning work. On the other hand, several psychologists, notably Gaetano Kanizsa, had a very different perspective, considering perception as an active, constructive process, where prediction plays an important role. While slow to catch on, this approach has recently become increasingly prominent in mainstream perception, with the advent of many techniques to understand and characterize the role of prediction in perception. One popular example is Serial Dependence, which demonstrates how perception can be biased by predictions based on recent stimulus history. Bayesian modeling shows how this bias leads to efficient perception, for a range of attributes, including numerosity, orientation, facial gender and expression. The bias acts at a low, sensory level, affecting perception itself, rather than merely perceptual decisions or responses. Much evidence suggests that the dependence on perceptual history may be mediated via alpha-frequency neural oscillations, akin to a “perceptual echo”. Recent work shows that in natural viewing conditions, when moving objects pass behind occluders, predictive processes like serial dependence maintain a rich perceptual representation of the virtual trajectory of the occluded objects, as well as a detailed map of important features such as colour. Taken together, the work supports Kanizsa’s general intuition that perception is a highly active, constructive process.

 
David Burr 
Professor Emeritus of Physiological Psychology
Department of Neuroscience, Psychology, Pharmacology and Child Health
University of Florence, Italy
 
 
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Besides the KL the Symposium will include talks on Friday, as well as a poster session during/after lunch.
 
If you wish to contribute a presentation, please submit your proposal by electronic mail to trieste.symposium at gmail.com (specifying whether you prefer a talk or poster). Each proposal should be submitted as an abstract (250-400 words). Proposal will be evaluated by a scientific committee.
 
 
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: FRIDAY 9 OCTOBER, 2026.
 
More information about the program will follow.
 
GUIDELINES FOR THE AUTHORS:
 
Talk (in English):
15-20 minutes for each presentation (details will be communicated in the final program).


Luca Battaglini
Paolo Bernardis
Giulio Contemori
Carlo Fantoni
Walter Gerbino
organizers