Workshop on Spatial Cognition and Spatial Communication in Ageing

logo_scala.png

For further and updated information, please refer to the SCALA website https://scala-project.eu/

We invite submissions for this international workshop on all aspects of spatial communication and spatial cognition development and change throughout the lifespan, from early development through to the oldest old (focusing on both typical and atypical development).

Submission topics include:

• Spatial language and spatial cognition in typical development (e.g. the acquisition of spatial terms in spoken and sign languages; development of navigation in infancy, etc.)
• Spatial language and spatial cognition in atypical development (e.g. ASD, William’s, etc.)
• Spatial language and spatial cognition in typical ageing (e.g. changes in spatial cognition and spatial communication in later life)
• Spatial language and spatial cognition in atypical ageing and atypical older adults (e.g. spatial cognition/spatial communication in dementia, PD, etc.)

Keynote speakers:

• Linda Smith, Indiana University, USA
• Albert Postma, Utrecht University, the Netherlands
• Beyza Sümer, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands

** Interpretations from English to International Sign Language (IS) and IS to English will be provided throughout the event.

Submissions

Submissions are welcomed in two formats:

• Standard talk (15 minutes plus 5 for questions)
• Speed talk (5-minute pitch with one slide)

Submissions (in the form of 150-word abstracts) should specify preferred format(s) (“Standard”/ “Speed”)

Deadline for submissions: 15^th January, 2026

Notification: 1^st February, 2026

To submit, please send your abstract to scala24@uni-muenster.de by no later than 12pm CET, 15^th January, with the subject heading ‘Rome Workshop’.

Cost
The workshop registration fee is 150 euros (payable by 1^st May, 2026), plus 50 euros for conference dinner on 21^st May (payable by 1^st May, 2026).

The organising team:
Olga Capirci (local organiser), CNR, Rome, Italy
Kenny R. Coventry, University of East Anglia, UK
Mila Vulchanova, NTNU, Norway
Mikkel Wallentin, Aarhus University, Denmark
Holger Diessel, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany
Matthias Pawlowski, University Hospital Münster, Germany