Each year in May since 1982, Western Canadian universities have jointly hosted a conference known as BASICS (Banff Annual Seminar in Cognitive Science). The 2001 meeting of BASICS will be held Friday May 4 to Sunday May 6.

The theme of this year's conference is task switching; the following speakers will be featured:

There will be a poster session and reception Friday evening, May 4 (7:30-10 pm), sponsored by the Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology and the Canadian Psychological Association. Submissions for the poster session are invited on any aspect of cognitive science (please see the registration form). Graduate and postdoctoral students are especially encouraged to present.

Invited presentations begin Saturday morning, May 5, and finish Sunday, May 6 around noon. These presentations are like colloquia and allow a scientist ample time to lay out a course of research, rather than simply to discuss the results of one or two experiments. An extensive question period and break follows each 60 minute presentation and provides sufficient time for detailed questions and discussion.

BASICS will be held at the Banff Park Lodge (222 Lynx St., Banff, Alberta). The Banff Park Lodge is located in the heart of the Rocky Mountain resort town of Banff and is conveniently close to local restaurants and shopping. A block of rooms at the Lodge has been reserved for the conference dates under the "BASICS" name at the conference rate of $115/night (Canadian) for a single or double occupancy, excluding tax. This block of rooms will be held only until Mar 23, 2001, although rooms are still likely to be available for some period of time after that date; the conference rate is extended to delegates two days before to two days after the conference, subject to availability.

The registration fee is $70 (Canadian) for faculty and $25 (Canadian) for students. A program and additional information will be available here as the date of the conference approaches.

If you plan to attend the conference, please send in your registration before Friday, April 20, 2001. A pdf version of the registration form is here; an html version is here. . For room reservations, please phone the Banff Park Lodge (Toll free: 1-800-661-9266; Fax: 403-762-3553; Alberta residents: 403-762-4433), or go to their web site to register on line. Be sure to mention BASICS. The Lodge will accept reservations at the conference rate until Apr 4, 2001; the Lodge is typically sold out at this time of year, so be sure to make your reservations in time. Those wishing to make accommodation arrangements at other hotels will find many to choose from within the town of Banff (for general reservation information call: 1-800-661-1676). For Alberta Tourism information call: 1-800-661-8888; and for Banff Tourism information call 403-762-8421.

Questions may be e-mailed to: Peter Dixon or Mike Masson.

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