The European Conference on Cognitive Ergonomics

15 – 18 September 2026 Siena, Italy

1st ECCE Workshop on Cognition and Large Language Models

New at ECCE26

Large Language Models (LLMs) arguably pass the Turing test and provide a level of general artificial intelligence (AI) that is capable of performing different kinds of tasks. Whilst LLMs have modelled natural language, they have emergent capabilities (e.g. reasoning, arithmetic, and passing benchmarks/exams from various domains such as medicine and law). LLMs can also be used for vibe designing, vide coding and for using ‘AI as a judge’ etc. Nevertheless, we obviously do not know the long term effects that LLMs may have on humanity, work, education, psychological wellbeing and cognition. We need to understand the capabilities of LLMs and how people interact with them. In addition, we should investigate the effect LLMs may have on our cognitive abilities (attention, working memory etc.), for example through AI dependence, automation bias and ‘cognitive offloading’. This workshop is fairly open in nature and may feature work related to user-LLM-interaction as well as research that study the effects of LLMs on human cognition and wellbeing. In addition, applications of LLMs (e.g. AI companions, interactive assistants etc.) may also be discussed as well as research related to the cognitive skills, personality and psychoanalysis of LLMs (for example, research related to ‘AI scheming’/manipulation,  ‘AI consciousness’ etc.).

When

Tuesday 15 September
2:30 PM to 5:30 PM
Palazzo San Niccolò, Siena, Italy

Chairs

Tentative Programme

  • Introduction to LLMs and cognition
  • Keynote talk
  • Presentations on related research topics
  • Interactive session/s may include:
    • LLM impact assessment on the future of human cognition   
    • LLMs with relevance to cognition and ergonomics 
    • Generating hypotheses/research questions in relation to LLMs and cognition
    • Experimenting with LLMs

We look forward to seeing you at this exciting workshop

Join us in Siena, Italy!

Speakers

We have confirmed that we will be joined by Prof. Antonio Rizzo, co-author of the book, “Thinking with Artificial Intelligence: A Potential Ally“.  We are hoping to be joined by one very well-known consciousness researcher for his views on whether AI has consciousness.

Activities

The workshop will be focused on discussion and small group work. In addition to two brief keynote presentations with discussion, participants will be able to present flash talks. We also will have two interactive activities (e.g. world café and ‘design a collaborative project’), and there will be a coffee break.

Publication and Contributions

Participants may choose to:

  1. Submit a short paper for publication (CEUR format) beforehand, and then present a flash talk (e.g. using PowerPoint) at the workshop
  2. Present only a flash talk
  3. Choose not to present and simply take part in group activities and discussions.

The proceedings of this workshop shall be submitted to CEUR-WS.org for online publication. CEUR is a respectable online publisher of computer science workshop proceedings. Flash talks are 2 slides in 3 minutes.

Submissions of short papers must be received by 2 September 2026 (in the CEUR format, see below). Submission will be via Easychair (see below). We will peer-review as we receive papers so you can expect feedback within 10 days of when you submit. To be published, you must attend the workshop and give a flash talk about your submission. Submissions from researchers “only” presenting a flash talk can occur up to the day of the conference if approved by the organisers (the organisers will need to see the slides in advance); submissions of flash talks alone will not be published. 

Participants, In-Person Format, and Language

The workshop is strictly limited to a maximum of 25 participants.  The language of the conference and its publications will be English.  This workshop is in-person only.

Cost to Participants

Currently cost is still being decided but it will be €15, and no person (e.g. early career researchers and students) will be excluded if they cannot meet the costs or they have financial hardship. Write to the organisers if you may have financial needs for this.

Format of submissions for publication

Submissions must be formatted using one of the two CEUR templates for short papers (see below); these are in Overleaf and LaTex or in LibreOffice. Authors must follow the CEUR rules regarding allowable use of AI in the creation of documents. Short CEUR papers are 5-9 pages (single-column), where each page has an estimated 2500 characters. Page counts include all elements of the paper (title, abstract, figures, references, etc). Please look at the CEUR documents below to verify that you are following their required method. With your submission you must include a completed CEUR Author Agreement. Note that, as with all publications, you cannot submit work for this workshop that has been, or is in the process of, being submitted or published in another publication.

Accompanying Documents

Questions?

ecce2026@unisi.it