Date/Time
Date(s) - 30/10/2025
2:00 pm - 4:00 pm

The title of this talk: Beyond Sensory Refinement: The Crucial Role of Learning and Memory in Early Perceptual Development

There will be snacks and refreshments before the talk (2:00 PM) and a reception after the talk (3:30 PM), both in PC Lobby, where you can mingle with colleagues and chat with the speaker. We look forward to seeing you there!

Abstract: 

Perception, a fundamental cognitive capacity, undergoes rapid development within the first year of life, often characterized by its adaptation to environmental factors. This developmental trajectory, particularly phenomena like perceptual narrowing in infancy, has traditionally been attributed primarily to changes within the perceptual systems themselves, often conceptualized through feedforward models of sensory refinement. This keynote challenges this established view, proposing a significant advancement: the early and integral involvement of learning and memory systems in shaping perceptual abilities from the outset.

While models emphasizing unidirectional sensory processing have been influential, emerging evidence, fueled by novel methodologies, points towards a more dynamic interplay. Neuroimaging techniques, for instance, reveal that learning can modulate infants’ sensory responses from birth. At the behavioral level, studies utilizing rapid, single-trial assessments demonstrate that visual perception in infancy is rapidly and flexibly modulated by contextual predictive cues. Furthermore, this involvement of learning is itself profoundly shaped by experience with specific learning strategies becoming crucial in determining how infants perceive salient stimuli, such as faces. This body of work indicates that even preverbal infants’ perception is not solely a reflection of sensory input but is actively and continuously shaped by their learning history.

Therefore, this talk will argue that perceptual development is not simply a refinement within perceptual areas, but rather an experience-dependent calibration of the interaction between perceptual and higher-level cognitive systems. This reconceptualization moves beyond a purely sensory-driven account, highlighting how infants actively leverage learned information to navigate and make sense of their complex sensory world from the earliest stages. Understanding this interaction between perception and learning opens new avenues for investigating the foundations of cognitive development and the adaptive mechanisms shaping early human experience.

Bio:

Dr. Gabriel Xiao is an Associate Professor and University Scholar (2025-2029) at McMaster University, Canada. A leading expert in infant perceptual and cognitive development, he previously held a Canada Research Chair (Tier II, 2020-2025). Dr. Xiao’s research investigates how early experiences and learning mechanisms shape perception in infancy, particularly exploring the interplay between sensory processing and developing cognitive systems like memory and attention. Utilizing innovative methods such as eye-tracking and infant neuroimaging, his work has garnered significant support from national funding agencies including the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), as well as multiple internal university funds. Published in top-tier journals, Dr. Xiao’s research on fundamental cognitive development offers crucial insights into early human learning and perception, while also illuminating the developmental roots of important social issues, such as the emergence of social biases.