CS319 - Cognitive Modeling

Randolph M. Jones

Colby College, Fall Semester, 2002

Course Overview

Instructor: Randolph M. Jones

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Course description

Cognitive science is a multi-disciplinary approach to the study of intelligence and the mind, bringing together the fields of psychology, computer science, philosophy, education, linguistics, anthropology, neuroscience, and logic, among others. The science derives its strength from a view of the mind as an information system, including processes that implement perception, memory, reasoning, language, learning, and consciousness. Cognitive modeling takes this view to an extreme, using computer programs to simulate these cognitive processes. In this course, you will read book chapters and research papers covering a variety of aspects of cognition, and you will engage in critical discussion of frameworks and algorithms for understanding these processes. Additionally, you will learn about model-based methods for studying the mind, by exploring some computer systems that emulate (in an attempt to explain) various components of human behavior and learning.

Course content

Most of the course will be in a lecture and discussion format, centered around the course readings. Additionally, there will be a few small projects allowing you to get hands-on experience with some simple cognitive models. Here is a rough list of the topics I hope to cover during the course of the semester:

Class discussion

Most class sessions will involve presentation and discussion of one or more readings from the textbook or other sources. Every student will have responsibilities associated with each reading. For some readings, pairs of students will be assigned to lead and/or manage the discussion.

For each class session, every student must bring a brief writeup and list of questions pertaining to the day's reading. The writeups should answer the following questions:

The list of questions should include 1 to 3 (or more) questions the student has about the reading. The questions should be used by the student during class discussion, and may be turned in at the end of class.

For selected readings, the student discussion leaders will present a summary and analysis of the reading (roughly along the lines of the writeups), and will lead a discussion involving the student questions about the writeup. Discussion leaders are encouraged to do extra work to find topics or answers to questions related to the reading, and may use whatever presentation materials they feel are most effective.

Other homework and small projects

I will assign occasional additional homework, usually asking questions to compare and analyze some of the variety of concepts and methods we will explore in class. In addition, there will be a few small projects where you use (and sometimes extend) existing computational models, in order to understand them better.

Semester project

Each student will also complete a medium-sized semester project. The specifics of the project depend on your tastes, knowledge, and interest. The project should explore (in more detail than we do in class) some specific aspect of cognition or cognitive science. The nature of your exploration can be philosophical, psychological, computational, or some combination of those or other approaches. The result of your project will be a report of at least a few pages in length (well written and complete with references and bibliography). You may also include data from a small experiment you have done, or perhaps a running computer program you have built. There are a wide variety of options, but you must clear your project with me. I encourage you to meet with me rather soon to discuss project possibilities. Group projects (involving 2 or 3 people) are encouraged.

Examinations

There will be a mid-semester examination during one class session, and a take-home final examination that you will receive on the last day of class and will turn in at the end of the scheduled final examination period for this class (final exam code 16).

Grading

I will compute final grades for the course using the following proportions: The grading scheme for individual assignments will usually include an "extra effort category" of roughly 10% of the total points, where you can earn extra points for particularly creative, industrious, or otherwise impressive approaches to the assignment. You are not compelled to invest time in these extra effort points, but you should keep in mind that I tend to use these points to distinguish A- students from A students in the final grading. I am jealous with A's, and you are more likely to receive one if you have used the extra effort points to demonstrate a mastery of the subject material.

Late assignments

It is very inconvenient for me to accept work past the deadline, because it complicates my grading. Late assignments will receive a penalty of 25% of the total points for each calendar day late (so you will receive 0 for anything more than 3 days late).

Absences

Because we only meet twice a week, and because discussion is an important part of this class, it is very important not to miss any class sessions. Absences will jeopardize your grade if they are not somehow made up. You should arrange with me how to make up a missed class. This will generally involve you giving me a written report (approximately five pages) on the topic covered that day. However, this is not an excuse for your to miss class. More than a couple of missed classes will affect your grade, regardless of whether you make them up, unless you make special arrangements with me.

Working together

Some of the work you turn in will be individual assignments, meaning the final work you turn in must be substantially your own. Some of the work you turn in will be group assignments, meaning the final work you turn in must contain substantial contributions from each group member.

In either event, I encourage you to use outside sources, papers, fellow class members, and others to help you complete your assignments. Relying on other people's help does not consititute cheating. However, presenting the results of other people's efforts as your own does constitue cheating. Thus, you must credit the contributions of other sources in the presentation of your work. The best way to do that is through a standard reference style. For this course I strongly recommend the APA reference style, because that is what is overwhelmingly used in cognitive science research presentations. If you have questions about using and citing references, please ask me and/or look at examples in the readings for this class.

Randolph M. Jones (rjones@colby.edu)
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