links: - text: LinkedIn url: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shiyun-dong-022108263/

I am a PhD student in Cogntive Science, cosupervised by Jonathan Ginzburg and Chris Eliasmith. I completed my BE in mathematical engineering at the University of Tokyo in 2023 and obtained my Master of Cognitive Science (mathematical modeling track) at École normale supérieure - PSL in 2025. My work explores how high-dimensional vector spaces can encode symbolic structures, enabling compositional reasoning within biologically plausible neural networks. In particular, I investigate how logic operations, such as negation and conjunction, can be approximated using vector operations, allowing inferential capacity to emerge. In parallel, I seek to integrate formal semantics theories of multimodal communicative interaction and biologically plausible neural models of memory and emotion.