Biography

George Kachergis is a research scientist in the Language and Cognition Lab at Stanford. His research interests include language, learning, and memory. He is particularly interested in creating computational explanations of how these abilities work (together) in humans, with an eye towards making AI that is more human-like.

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Interests
  • Human Learning and Memory
  • Language Learning
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Educational Games
Education
  • Assistant Professor in Artificial Intelligence, 2016-2018

    Radboud University / Donders Institute

  • Postdoc, 2015-2016

    New York University

  • Postdoc, 2013-2014

    Leiden University

  • PhD in Cognitive Psychology and Cognitive Science, 2012

    Indiana University

  • BA in Computer Science and Cognitive Studies, 2007

    Carleton College

Recent Publications

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(2022). An automated classifier for child-directed speech from LENA recordings. Proceedings of the 46th annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (BUCLD).

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(2022). Behavioral Optimization in a Robotic Serial Reaching Task using Predictive Information. IEEE Transactions on Cognitive and Developmental Systems.

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(2022). Estimating demographic bias on tests of children’s early vocabulary. Topics in Cognitive Science.

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(2022). Estimating demographic bias on tests of children’s early vocabulary. Proceedings of the 44th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

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(2022). Peekbank: An open, large-scale repository for developmental eye-tracking data of children’s word recognition. Behavior Research Methods.

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(2022). Plurality is a good start, but it's time for unification. Language Learning.

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(2021). An Online Computerized Adaptive Test (CAT) of Children's Vocabulary Development in English and Mexican Spanish. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research.

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(2021). Characterizing the object categories two children see and interact with in a dense dataset of naturalistic visual experience. Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

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(2021). Comparing apples to manzanas and oranges to naranjas: A new measure of English-Spanish vocabulary for dual language learners. Child Development.

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(2021). Detecting social information in a dense database of infants' natural visual experience. Developmental Psychology.

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(2021). Exploring variation in infants' preference for infant-directed speech: Evidence from a multi-site study in Africa. Developmental Science.

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(2021). Peekbank: Exploring children's word recognition through an open, large-scale repository for developmental eye-tracking data. Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

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(2021). Predicting children's and adults' preferences in physical interactions via physics simulation. Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

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(2021). Toward a "Standard Model" of Early Language Learning. Current Directions in Psychological Science.

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(2021). Understanding the impacts of video-guided activities on parent-child interaction.

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(2020). What counts as an exemplar model, anyway? A commentary on Ambridge (2020). First Language.

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(2020). Consistency and variability between cultures during toddlers' naturalistic play. Infancy.

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(2020). Pragmatic communicators can overcome asymmetry by exploiting ambiguity. Cognitive Science.

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(2020). Consistency and variability between cultures during toddlers' naturalistic play. Infancy.

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(2019). Computational and robotic models of early language development: A review. Handbook on Language Development.

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(2019). Detecting deceptive agents in online games of Mafia.

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(2019). Detecting deceptive agents in online games of Mafia.

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(2019). Evidence of error-driven cross-situational word learning. Proceedings of the 41st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

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(2019). Exploring informal science interventions to promote children's understanding of natural categories. Proceedings of the 41st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

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(2018). The other human in the loop: A pilot study to find selection strategies for active learning. 2018 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN).

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(2018). Detecting reading strategies during task-oriented reading: Building an automated classifier. Workshop on Personalization Approaches in Learning Environments at AIED 2018.

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(2018). Predictive movements in human reinforcement learning of sequential action. Cognitive Science.

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(2018). Optimized behavior in a robot model of sequential action. Proceedings of the 40th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

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(2018). Anthropomorphization of artificial agents leads to fair and strategic, but not altruistic behavior. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies.

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(2017). Observing and modeling developing knowledge and uncertainty during cross-situational word learning. IEEE Transactions on Cognitive and Developmental Systems.

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(2017). 'Leveraging mutual exclusivity for faster cross-situational word learning: A theoretical analysis'. Proceedings of the 39th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

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(2017). Children's familiarity preference in self-directed study improves recognition memory. Proceedings of the 39th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

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(2017). Desirable difficulties in the development of active inquiry skills. Cognition.

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(2017). Quantifying the impact of active choice in word learning. Proceedings of the 39th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

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(2017). Executive function and attention predict low-income preschoolers' active category learning. Proceedings of the 39th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

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(2016). A Dream Model: Reactivation and re-encoding mechanisms for sleep-dependent memory consolidation. Proceedings of the 38th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

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(2016). Desirable difficulties in the development of active inquiry skills. Proceedings of the 38th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

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(2016). Human reinforcement learning of sequential action. Proceedings of the 38th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

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(2015). Robotic action control: On the crossroads of cognitive psychology and robotics. Cognitive Robotics.

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(2015). Should androids dream of electric sheep? Mechanisms for sleep-dependent memory consolidation. International Conference on Cognitive Modeling.

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(2014). Trajectory effects in a novel serial reaction time task. Proceedings of the 36th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

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(2014). A continuous time neural model for sequential action. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.

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(2014). Continuous measure of word learning supports associative model. protectIEEE Conference on Development and Learning-EpiRob (ICDL).

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(2014). Cross-situational word learning is both implicit and strategic. Frontiers in Cognitive Science.

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(2014). Everyday robotic action: Lessons from human action control. Frontiers in Neurorobotics.

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(2014). Reward effects on sequential action learning in a trajectory serial reaction time task. IEEE Conference on Development and Learning / EpiRob 2014.

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(2014). Developing semantic knowledge through cross-situational learning. Proceedings of the 36th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

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(2013). Actively Learning Object Names Across Ambiguous Situations. Topics in Cognitive Science.

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(2013). More naturalistic cross-situational word learning. Proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

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(2013). Naturalistic word-concept pair learning with semantic spaces. Proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

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(2013). Similarity and strategic effects in recognition memory. Proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

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(2013). The effects of repeated sequential context on recognition memory. Proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

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(2012). Re-learning Labeled Categories Reveals Structured Representations. Proceedings of the 34th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.

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(2012). An associative model of adaptive inference for learning word--referent mappings. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review.

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(2012). Cross-situational Word Learning is Better Modeled by Associations than Hypotheses. protectIEEE Conference on Development and Learning-EpiRob (ICDL).

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(2012). Gaussian Process Regression for Trajectory Analysis. Proceedings of the 34th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.

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(2012). Learning Nouns with Domain-General Associative Learning Mechanisms. Proceedings of the 34th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

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(2012). Actively learning nouns across ambiguous situations. Proceedings of the 34th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.

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(2011). Adaptive Magnitude and Valence Biases in a Dynamic Memory Task. Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

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(2011). Towards a Scalable Holographic Word-form Representation. Behavior Research Methods.

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(2011). OrBEAGLE: Integrating Orthography into a Holographic Model of the Lexicon. Proceedings of the International Conference on Artificial Neural Networks.

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(2010). Simultaneous Cross-situational Learning of Category and Object Names. Proceedings of the 32nd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

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(2010). A Cue Imputation Bayesian Model of Information Aggregation. Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

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(2010). Cross-Situational Statistical Learning: Implicit or Intentional?. Proceedings of the 32nd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

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(2010). Is categorical perception really verbally mediated perception?. Proceedings of the 32nd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

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(2010). Adaptive constraints and inference in cross-situational word learning. Proceedings of the 32nd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

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(2009). Frequency and contextual diversity effects in cross-situational word learning. Proceedings of the 31st Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.

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(2009). Temporal contiguity in cross-situational statistical learning. Proceedings of the 31st Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.

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(2007). Depth of Field and Cautious-Greedy Routing in Social Networks. Proceedings of 18th International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation.

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