Time/Place: Winter Semester 2023/24, Tuesday 9:00-11:15, room I-9 (Corona-related note: The classes will take a physical/hybrid form until further notice. If you cannot be present in class and would like to participate online, please get in touch with the lecturer beforehand to arrange the details).
Credits: 5
Lectures:
doc. RNDr. Martin Takáč, PhD., Centre for Cognitive Science, Dept. of Applied Informatics, room I-37, takac@ii.fmph.uniba.sk, MT's homepage
Seminars:
Mgr. Matej Fandl, Centre for Cognitive Science, Dept. of Applied Informatics, room I-5, matej.fandl(at)fmph.uniba.sk
Cognitive Science is a new interdsciplinary field focusing on the study of mind and intelligent behavior. Its roots are in
psychology, computer science, linguistics, neuroscience, antropology and philosophy. Content-wise, the students will learn about:
Method-wise, the students will acquire the following skills:
Readings: until Sunday 23:59 before the respective lecture (Late submission policy: the maximum achievable points decrease linearly in 1 hour steps from full amount at the deadline to zero at 24 hours after the deadline).
Written assignments:
learning goal: 24. 9. 2023 23:59
paper topic selection: 7. 11.2023 23:59
paper first version: 10. 12. 2023 23:59
paper peer-review: 7.1.2024 23:59
paper final version: 28.1.2024 23:59
integration reflection: 4.2.2024 23:59
Late submission policy: daily linear decrease to zero 7 days after the deadline.
0-50 % | Fx |
51-60 % | E |
61-70 % | D |
71-80 % | C |
81-90 % | B |
91-100 % | A |
Indicative course shedule. Some details might change during the semester.
Session | Date | Topic | Presentation | Readings | Supplementary |
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1. | Sept 19 | Information meeting, preliminaries | |||
2. | Sept 27 (wednesday!) 13:10-17:00 in room I-9 (!) |
Experimental group work with prof. Markus Peschl (Vienna) | no reading, send us your personal learning goal | Note unusual date/time | |
3. | Oct 3 | Introduction: Resources, Methods, Sciences and History of Cognitive Science. Assignments and preliminaries | workshop (Seminar Intro, Science practice, How to search for literature) |
Thagard, P., 2005. Being interdisciplinary: Trading zones in cognitive science. Interdisciplinary collaboration: An emerging cognitive science, pp.317-339. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. |
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4. | Oct 10 |
Philosophy of Mind, Functionalism
Concepts to work on:
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Frankish K. The consciousness illusion. Aeon, 26. Sept 2019. |
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5. | Oct 17 |
Cognitive Science Paradigms: Cognitivism
Concepts to work on:
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Peter Juriga Marvin Marz |
Harnad, S. The Symbol Grounding Problem. Physica D. 1990, 42: 335-346. |
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Oct 24 | no class | ||||
6. | Oct 31 |
Neuroscience
Concepts to work on:
|
Sarah Marie Wingert
Alexandra Dyalee |
Hubel, D.H., Wiesel, T.N.: Receptive Fields of Cells in Striate Cortex of Very Young, Visually Inexperienced Kittens. J Neurophysiol. 1963 Nov;26:994-1002. |
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7. | Nov 7 |
Cognitive Science Paradigms: Connectionism Hybrid Systems
Concepts to work on:
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workshop (How to write a paper) |
Gatys, L. A., Ecker, A. S., & Bethge, M. (2015). A neural algorithm of artistic style. arXiv preprint arXiv:1508.06576. |
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8. | Nov 14 |
Computational Modeling
Concepts to work on:
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Dörner, D., Bamberg, D., and Mayer, M. A Simulation of Cognitive and Emotional Effects of Overcrowding. Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Cognitive Modeling ICCM. 2006, 92-99. |
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9. | Nov 21 |
Cognitive Science Paradigms: Embodiment & Situated Cognition:
Concepts to work on:
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Lakoff, G. (1987).Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things.Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press Preface and chap. 1 and 4 |
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10. | Nov 28 |
Cognitive Science Paradigms: Dynamical Systems
Concepts to work on:
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Beer, R. D. (2000): Dynamical approaches to cognitive science. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 4(3), 91-99. |
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11. | Dec 5 |
Cognitive Science Paradigms: Enactive Approach
Concepts to work on:
|
Di Paolo, E. A., Rohde, M., De Jaegher, H: Horizons for the enactive mind: Values, social interaction, and play. In J. Stewart, O. Gapenne, E. A. Di Paolo (Eds.), Enaction: Towards a new paradigm for cognitive science. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2010. (excerpt: Sec. 2.1-2.2) |
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12. | Dec 12 | Closing colloquium: Future and Ethical Aspects of Cognitive Science and AI Research | Bryson, Joanna J: Robots Should Be Slaves. In Yorick Wilks (ed.), Close Engagements with Artificial Companions: Key social, psychological, ethical and design issues. pp. 63-74 (2010) |
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Before each session, a student should carefully read the article from the column Readings (Note: not Supplementary readings - these are optional) and formulate at least one discussion point or a question related to the chosen article. The overal length of the discussion points and questions should not exceed 750 characters. The discussion points should be entered into the google doc ICS2023/24 not later than on Sunday 23:59 before the respective session.
Once per semester, each students will individually pick a current cognitive science topic of their own interest, prepare a short (max. 10 min, approx. 5-7 slides) presentation. The topics should be new and interesting and supported by existing research (scientific paper(s) listed in references). Students are to send their slides to the teachers via e-mail prior to the day of presentation. Please name the file appropriately - e.g. ICS-minipres[N]-[your name/surname].pdf
Examples: False memories, Gut feelings, Mental time travel, Mind reading, Morning Morality Effect, Musical training, biligualism and EF, Neuromyths, Sensory deprivation, Targeted muscle reinnervation, Who are you, mom.
The students will write a scientific paper on a topic chosen from the list or their own. (The sign up for the topic is via email to the teacher - suggest three topics ordered by priority and wait for the teachers' approval). The paper should contain approximately 1000 words (excluding references). The focus will be on the content, structure and correct referencing (see the guidelines). Each student will receive one review by another student (peer review) and one by the teacher and is obliged to rework/improve the paper taking into account the reviews. Since the peer review should be anonymous please do not write your name in the first version of your paper.
Examples: Is none treatment for mental health problems better than a controversial one? (Klára Petrovická, 2022), Drugs of our brain (Xenia Daniela Poslon, 2016), Soft robotics (Matúš Štefek, 2015), Do we choose our mates consciously? (Milan Mitka, 2014)
Each student will be assigned a paper of one of their colleagues to peer review. A review should contain a short abstract of the reviewed paper and the feedback to the writer. The feedback should emphasize the strenghts and weaknesses of the paper; the reviewer should suggest changes how to improve the paper (see the guidelines).
Students will be evaulated for their activity during the group work (Sept 27) and closing colloquium (Dec 12)
Think about what would you like to achieve in this course. Set up a goal in concrete testable terms, so that at the end of the semester you'll be able to evaluate whether you achieved it. Send us your goal by email by Sunday 24 Sept 23:59,
Students will write a one-page personal reflection on these three questions:
This is not to be a standard scientific essay with references, but an informal reflective personal statement. Do not write clichés, be personal and honest. The reflections should be submitted to teachers via email (document or pdf).