Jakub Szymanik

Meaning and Computation Lab

Output of ERC grant Cognitive Semantics and Quantities summing up much of my research on up to 2022.

me

I am an Associate Professor at the Center for Mind/Brain Sciences (CiMeC) and the Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Trento. Before joining CiMeC through a direct call in 2022, I held the same position at the University of Amsterdam (2013–2022), where I led research projects at the Institute for Logic, Language and Computation. I hold the Italian National Scientific Qualification as a Full Professor in Linguistics (10/G1) and as an Associate Professor in Computer Science (INF01).

Meaning and Computation Lab

About

The Meaning & Cognition group investigates the foundations of meaning at the intersection of language, computation, and cognition. We aim to understand why humans and machines possess the meanings they do, how these meanings are represented in minds and brains, and how they influence reasoning, communication, and behavior.

Our research combines formal methods—such as logic, computational modeling, and simulation—with empirical approaches, including neurobehavioral experiments and corpus-based analyses. By integrating these perspectives, we seek to uncover the cognitive and computational principles that underlie meaning and its role in intelligent behavior.

Recent representative papers

(More papers are listed in Papers and probably on Google Scholar)

  1. Sonia Ramotowska, Shane Steinert-Threlkeld, Leendert van Maanen, Jakub Szymanik. Uncovering the Structure of Semantic Representations Using a Computational Model of Decision-Making. Cognitive Science, 2023.
  2. Milica Denić, Shane Steinert-Threlkeld, Jakub Szymanik. Indefinite pronouns optimize the simplicity/informativeness trade-off. Cognitive Science, 45(3), 2022.
  3. Fausto Carcassi, Shane Steinert-Threlkeld, and Jakub Szymanik. Monotone Quantifiers Emerge via Iterated Learning. Cognitive Science, 45 (8), 2021.
  4. S. Steinert-Threlkeld and J. Szymanik. Ease of Learning Explains Semantic Universals, Cognition, vol 195, 2020.
  5. Jakub Szymanik. Quantifiers and Cognition. Logical and Computational Perspectives, Studies in Linguistics and Philosophy, Springer, 2016.
Past and current group members

Current: Greta Gaimarri (PhD CiMeC), Tamar Johnson (postdoc Amsterdam), Manuel Vargas Guzmán (PhD Warsaw)

Past: Alexandra Sarafoglou (professor in Amsterdam), Heming Strømholt Bremnes (postdoc in Trondheim), Maria Boritchev (researcher at Orange Labs), Sonia Ramotowska (postdoc in Paris), Milica Denić (professor in Geneva), Kim Archambeau (now ULB Brussels), Fausto Carcassi (professor in Amsterdam), Witold Kieraś (researcher in Warsaw), Dorota Komosińska (researcher in Warsaw), Arnold Kochari (researcher in Stockholm), Shane Steinert-Threlkeld (professor in Seattle).

Funding

ERC Starting Grant, Cognitive Semantics and Quantities; NCN grant: Hybrid Reasoning Models; Language in Interaction grant, Sharing vague meanings; ABC Project Grant, From rigid theory to cognitive models: individual differences in semantic; ABC Project Grant, Investigating the dynamics of decision strategies; NCN Opus Grant, Quantifiers in Language: Use and Meaning; NWO Research Gravitation Program Language in Interaction; NWO VENI What makes social interactions hard?

Service

Member of CiMeC Governing Board (Giunta), Chair of the Standing Committee of the European Summer School in Logic, Language and Information. Member of the Governing Board of the Association for Logic, Language, and Information, Associate Editor of Journal of Logic, Language and Information, Council Member for the Center for Research on Culture, Language, and Mind; Member of the Neurocognitive Science Section of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Member/chair of the grant panels for Polish National Science Center.

Full CV