First Announcement , February 2006
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Outlines of the EG - Meeting, February 22-25, 2007
at the Konrad Lorenz Forschungsstelle A-4645 Grünau/Austria; klf.gruenau@telecom.at
Venue: Grünau International Conference Center (Grünau Elementary School)
First Anouncement, February 2006
Social Organization and Cognitive Tools
General Patterns in Vertebrates?
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Schedule:
1. Arrival, Registration, Welcome Party and Public Lecture: Thursday, Feb. 22nd, late afternoon.
2. Meeting: Friday 23rd and Saturday 24th (3 full days)
3. Post-Conference Activities (Group Meetings, Skiing, etc.: Sunday, 25th and Monday 26th (if appropriate)
Local organizing committee:
Thomas Bugnyar, Josef Hemetsberger, Ludwig Huber, Katharina Hirschenhauser, Kurt Kotrschal, Iulia Nedelcu, Christine Pribersky-Schwab, Isabella Scheiber, Christian Schlögl, Claudia Wascher, Brigitte Weiss
The conference context
With this conference we aim at assembling researchers in the field of social and cognitive mechanisms. This is particularly necessary in the light of increasing evidence for sweeping within-vertebrate convergence of social organization and of the relevant cognitive tools. Such convergence seems to be rooted in a number of conservatively maintained elements. For example, the basic structures and mechanisms of the socio-sexual brain remained virtually unchanged from fish to mammals (Goodson 2005), resulting in conservatively preserved emotional systems (Panksepp et al. 1998, Panksepp 1999), preserved social bonding mechanisms (oxytocin, arginine-vasopressin; Curley & Keverne 2005) and conservatively maintained systems for dealing with (social) challenge, the sympathico-adrenergic and the HPA axes (von Holst 1998, Sapolsky et al. 2000). In addition, the vertebrates seem to share common principles of social modulation of steroid hormones and their feedback on behaviour (deVries et al. 2003, Hirschenhauser & Oliveira 2005).
It seems that social organization had a particularly strong influence on the evolution of cognition (and vice versa ; Huphrey 1976, Dunbar 2000, Whiten & Byrne 1988, de Waal & Tyack 2003). There seems to be some consensus on the general hypothesis that convergent social evolution favours convergent cognitive evolution. Therefore, any attempt to understand cognitive abilities on the ultimate, functional level demands a synthesis between research in social organization and cognition. Behavioural biologists, physiologists and psychologists are all dealing with the same phenomena, but from different directions with respect to theories, approaches and terminologies. Such a synthesis is indeed, underway, as indicated by symposia titles such as “Towards “real” comparative social cognition: integrating theories, terminology across a wide range of human and non-human animal species” (ESF-Workshop, A. Miklosi & Z. Viranyi, Budapest, Oct. 5-7 2006). With our meeting we intend to expand on the links between social organization, background physiology and and cognitive tools.
Conference goal
We aim to employ an evolutionary framework for linking social phenomena with cognitive abilities. From the characteristics of social organization, predictions can be made towards cognition and vice versa. Throughout the vertebrates we want to explore in interdisciplinary way, whether and to what degree, social organization is co-evolving with cognition and whether and how cognition feeds back on social life.
Post-conference activity options
Group meetings, skiing, etc.
Topics and invited speakers
A number of high-profile speakers were already contacted and quite a few responded favourably, among them F. Aureli, F, de Waal, N. Clayton and N. Emery.
Contributions
We will provide 15 min time slots for oral presentations (12 min talk, 3 min discussion) and solicit appropriate contributions. As there will be no parallel sessions a selection will have to be made and a poster area will be available as an alternative. Please supply your abstract till Nov. 30, 2006.
Conference site, Venue
Elementary school building in the centre of the village of Grünau, within walking distance to train station, accommodations and restaurants. The building will have a central lecture hall, public space for posters and coffee/tea, meeting rooms. Accommodation and restaurants within walking distance
The village of Grünau is situated in a beautiful landscape and will guarantee a concentrated conference atmosphere. The closest towns are Gmunden (18 km), Wels (approx. 40 km) and Linz (approx. 50 km). A skiing area is close by (“Kasberg”, 5 km from the village centre).
Accommodation
In a number of small to medium-sized hotels, most within walking distance from the conference centre and the train station, ranging from cosy-moderate (from 20 Euro per night including breakfast) to high-standard (to 70 Euro ).
Because this is winter holiday season in Austria, it will be necessary to make a reservation for accommodation ASAP, at least till end of September 2006. For room reservations please contact the Grünau Tourist Office directly. Mail to: gruenau@almtal.com and label your mail with: “EG-Meeting”
Meals
Breakfast: Comes with accommodation.
Lunches Friday and Saturday: Will be arranged via catering directly at the site.
Dinner: In surrounding Gasthauses (restaurants). Full meals range between 10-20€, a beer (0.5l, just as a familiar reference point) is around 2.5€.
Coffee, tea and snacks will be available at the conference site.
How Grünau can be reached
Grünau has a direct train connection, is close to Linz airport and reasonably close to the airports of Salzburg, Munich or Vienna. Grünau can be reached
- directly by train to Wels, from there to Grünau (train terminal in the village centre). There are sleeper connections, mainly from Western Europe and the UK, for example directly from London: leaving 1423, arriving in Wels 0728 the other day (16 hours), one more hour from Wels to Grünau (for train enthusiasts). Trains from the Netherland or northern Germany will leave at around 2200 and arrive at Wels at about 0600 the other day.
- by air into Salzburg, there proceed to Salzburg train station by public transport or taxi, take a train to Grünau there (1 hour Salzburg to Wels, hourly connections, there change train to Grünau, which is another hour). Or into Linz, where a bus takes you to the train station from where you will have regular connections to Grünau.
- by car via A1 (highway Salzburg-Vienna, exit at “Voralpenkreuz” to A8, take first exit to Pettenbach, from there to Scharnstein and finally, Grünau), or via A8 (highway Graz-Wels, take last exit north, to Pettenbach, from there to Scharnstein and finally, Grünau).
Conference Fees
Payable upon arrival
50-100€, depending on support by sponsors,
Reduced fees for students, depending on support by sponsors we may be able to provide a limited number of student travel grants. If this would help you attending pease provide a short justification, together with your abstract indicating why you would need support and how much you would ask for (up to 200€).
Free for student helpers. If you would want to volunteer (from Wednesday to Sunday), please indicate.
Registration
Please register via a mail until Sept. 30, 2006. This includes ALL of the following:
1. a mail to us (klf.gruenau@telecom.at) with the following information:
name,
affiliation,
complete snail-mail address
e-mail address.
Please indicate whether you plan to present an oral (13 min) or a poster and include
a (tentative) title of your presentation. Also, please indicate whether you do not want to giv a a presentation.
2. Please make a reservation for accommodation. Note that your registration can only accepted if you have made a reservation for an accommodation in parallel to your registration (please mail directly to: gruenau@almtal.com and label your mail with: “EG-Meeting”).
All colleagues who registered will be kept updated on the program (via e-mail).
Abstract
In case of a presentation an abstract needs to be supplied before Nov. 30, 2006. The abstract needs to include a title, authors names, with the presenter underlined and affiliations. The abstract text must not exceed 250 words including refs or acknowledgements, if needed. Please do not include figures. Use Times New Roman as a font, size 12 and line spacing 1 throughout wit one empty line between affiliations and text. Text should be sent as an attachment to the mail (to klf.gruenau@telecom.at) in “word” or “word perfect” format
