BICA 2014

 2014 Annual
  International Conference on Biologically Inspired Cognitive
  Architectures (BICA 2014)


    Fifth Annual Meeting of the BICA Society //

*/November 7-9 (Friday-Sunday): /**/Massachusetts Institute of 
Technology,/* <http://web.mit.edu/>*//**/Cambridge,/* 
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge,_Massachusetts>*/MA 02139, 
/**/USA/*/(//http://bicasociety.org/meetings/2014//). Sponsored by: The 
BICA Society; The MIT; Elsevier B.V./

/Points of contact: Paul Robertson (//paulr@dollabs.com/ 
<mailto:paulr@dollabs.com>/) and Alexei Samsonovich 
(//alexei@bicasociety.org/ <mailto:alexei@bicasociety.org>/)/

//


  Call for Papers

Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architectures (BICA) are computational 
frameworks for building intelligent agents that are inspired from 
biological intelligence.Biological intelligent systems, notably animals 
such as humans, have many qualities that are often lacking in 
artificially designed systems including robustness, flexibility and 
adaptability to environments.  At a point in time where visibility into 
naturally intelligent systems is exploding thanks to modern brain 
imaging and recording techniques allowing us to map brain structures and 
functions, our ability to learn lessons from nature and to build 
biologically inspired intelligent systems has never been greater.  At 
the same time, the growth in computer science and technology has 
unleashed enough computational power at sufficiently low prices, so that 
an explosion of intelligent applications from driverless vehicles to 
augmented reality, to ubiquitous robots, is now almost certain.  The 
emerging on these grounds challenge of computational replication of all 
essential aspects of the human mind (the BICA Challenge) is 
interdisciplinary in nature and promises to yield bi-directional flow of 
understanding between all involved disciplines.

With the scope of BICA 2014 covering all areas of BICA-related research 
listed below, the major thrusts will be Perception and Attention.  Here 
the key questions are:

·What can we learn from biological systems about how perception, 
attention, decision making, and action work together to produce 
intelligent behavior that is robust in natural environments?

·What have we learned about information flow in biological systems that 
can aid us in building better artificial systems that combine 
perception, action, learning, and decision making in robots and 
intelligent agents?

·What have we learned recently about information flow in the brain that 
can lead to better cognitive models that combine perception, attention, 
decision making, action, and learning?

·What role is played by emotions in perception, attention, decision 
making, and learning?

·How have we, or can we incorporate into cognitive architectures new 
evolving understandings about flow of information in biological 
cognitive systems?

·What mathematical foundations are emerging today that can support 
perception and learning?

In addition to these focus topic areas of BICA 2014, we encourage 
submission of papers in all areas of BICA research, especially in the 
following areas.


    Neuroscience:

."B" in BICA: useful biological constraints for cognitive architectures

.Bridging the gap between artificial and natural information processing

.Cognitive and learning mechanisms informed by neuroscience

.Neural correlates of cognitive and meta-cognitive processes

.Robustness, scalability and adaptability in neuromorphic systems

.Neurophysiological underpinnings of reinforcement learning

.Physiological mechanisms of memory formation and (re)consolidation

.Representation of contextual and conceptual knowledge in neural systems


    Social, Economic and Educational Sciences:

.Mixed-initiative systems based on inspirations from biology

.Agents possessing human-level social and emotional intelligence

.BICA in learning and tutoring technologies and education

.BICA models of self and their application to perception and action

.Representation, perception, understanding and expression of emotions

.Virtual characters, artificial personalities and human-compatibility

.Agent-based modeling of intelligent social phenomena


    Cognitive Science:

.Perception, reasoning, decision making and action in BICA

.Combining natural and artificial approaches to cognition

.Comparison of different forms of learning and memory

.Theory-of-Mind, episodic and autobiographical memory in cognitive systems

.Introspection, metacognitive reasoning and self-awareness in BICA

.Models of learning and memory: robustness, flexibility, transferability

.Natural language and its role in intelligence, cognition and interaction

.Unifying frameworks and constraints for cognitive architectures


    Artificial Intelligence:

.Creativity, goal reasoning and autonomy in artifacts

.Embodied vs. ambient intelligence

.Language capabilities and social competence

.Learning by reading, by observation, by reasoning and analogy

.Robust and scalable machine learning mechanisms

.Self-regulated learning, bootstrapped and meta-learning

.The place for BICA in the textbook of artificial intelligence


    General:

.Mathematical basis for BICA and fundamental theoretical questions in 
BICA research

.Alternative substrates for implementation of BICA: smart materials, 
quantum and biocomputing

.Alternative approaches to development of BICA: evolutionary, 
system-theoretic, educational, etc.

.Fundamental practical and theoretical questions in BICA research and 
technology

.Cognitive Decathlon and Grand Challenges for BICA as components of the 
BICA Challenge

.Critical mass for a universal human-level learner and a roadmap to the 
BICA Challenge

.Metrics, tests, proximity measures and the roadmap to human-level / 
human-compatible AI

.Leveraging the cloud, world-wide-web, and social-media: possible role 
for BICA?

.Interdisciplinary research opportunities

.International trends in funding BICA related research


  Format

A 2.5-day meeting including paper presentations, panel discussions, 
invited talks, and demonstration showcases. Symposia and other 
mini-events (special sessions, breakout groups, brainstorms, 
think-tanks, socials, contests, and more) as parts of the conference 
will be added as needed (proposals are solicited). In addition, BICA 
2014 will host a special track "Doctorial Consortium" for which a "best 
student paper" award will be presented.  We will also host technology 
demonstrations, for which we solicit proposals, and a poster session.  
We solicit additionally proposals for panel topics. A rich 
social-cultural program is expected. The working language is English.


  Venues

The conference will be held on the MIT campus (the Stata Center, 
Building 32, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA -- shown in the 
BICA 2014 logo on the first page) on November 8 and 9, and in a the 
Cambridge Marriott on Friday, November 7.


    Submission and Publication Venues:

Publication venues  include: (1) the Elsevier journal BICA 
<http://www.journals.elsevier.com/biologically-inspired-cognitive-architectures/> 
- papers may be distributed among several journal issues; and (2) a 
volume of Procedia Computer Science 
<http://www.journals.elsevier.com/procedia-computer-science/>, indexed 
by Web of Science and Scopus. One EasyChair submission site will be used 
for all categories of submissions, including (1), (2) and also 
stand-alone abstracts that will be included in the conference program 
brochure, without being published. All submissions will undergo one 
round of peer-reviews. The category may be changed based on reviews. All 
conference materials (including papers and abstracts) will be together 
made available locally for conference participants (included in the 
registration package) via USB and/or the Internet. Invited speakers are 
not required, but are encouraged to submit papers or abstracts. Other 
participants can have presentations accepted based on an abstract only, 
without a paper submission.


    Paper Preparation:

None of the 3 submission categories require producing a camera-ready 
version or typesetting by the Author. However, Authors should consult 
requirements specified in the BICA Guide for Authors 
(http://www.elsevier.com/journals/biologically-inspired-cognitive-architectures/2212-683X/guide-for-authors) 
for the category Letter (preferred; 3,000 - 6,000 words) or Research 
Article (approximately 8,000 -- 12,000 words). In addition, Procedia 
papers will be limited to 6 journal pages; any extra pages will need to 
be covered by an Extra Page Fee of $50 USD per page. Alternatively, 
Authors are encouraged to submit longer Research Articles as journal 
papers, avoiding any Extra Page Fees. Position Papers or Reviews may be 
submitted as journal papers by invitation only; however, Position Papers 
can be submitted as Procedia papers without personal invitation (the 
same page limit applies). After the initial peer-review, accepted papers 
will be assigned to a specific publication venue by the Program Committee.


  Core Organizing Committee

/Paul Robertson (DOLL, Inc.)/ 
<http://www.dollabs.com/drpaulrobertson.htm>/: General Chair/

/Patrick H. Winston (CSAIL/MIT)/ <http://people.csail.mit.edu/phw/>/: 
Co-Chair/

/Howard Shrobe (CSAIL/MIT)/ <http://www.csail.mit.edu/user/796>/: Co-Chair/

/Alexei Samsonovich (GMU)/ <http://mason.gmu.edu/%7Easamsono/>/: PC Chair/

/Antonio Chella: OC Member/

/Christian Lebiere: OC Member /


  Important Dates


    Proposals for Sub-Events:

Symposia, Workshops and Socials -- March 1

Doctoral Consortium Submit -- May 05

Technology Demos -- June 13

Panel Session Interest -- June 27


    Paper and Abstract Submission:

Paper and abstract submission opens -- March 1st

Letters of Intent due (via email to the Chairs) -- No required

Abstract Submission Due -- June 12

Paper Submission Due -- June 27

Paper Review Feedback -- July 14

Final Papers Due -- September 1st

Late-breaking stand-alone abstracts due-- September 31?*?*


    Registration and Conference:

Early-bird registration due: June 17

Regular author-presenter registration due -- June 27

Guest and non-presenting attendee online registration due -- October 1

Sessions of the conference BICA 2014: November 7-9