Cognitive modeling is the construction of computational models that "do the same things people do," in terms of perception, categorization, memory, language, action, etc., and typically in a fashion that is plausibly carried out by the neural networks in our brains. The model must fit behavioral, neurophysiological, and/or neuropsychological data, with the goal of understanding how the brain works. We will use a software package that implements these models in a unified way.

Prerequisites: 

Course participants are expected to have some background knowledge in computer science, cognitive science, psychology, or neuroscience.  A basic understanding of the most fundamental concepts of vector calculus, linear algebra, and statistics will be very helpful at times.

Computer programming skills may be useful to some students as they conduct their term projects, but such skills are not *completely* required. The software system that will be used in this course allows for the design and control of simulations through a rich "point and click'' interface. Unfortunately, it has a steep learning curve, so if you know Matlab and can "roll your own" simulations, you might find that easier!  Students are  expected to be sufficiently familiar with an appropriate computing environment so as to be able to perform such tasks as editing and managing files and manipulating objects in a window-based  (*not* Windows-based!) graphical environment.  

Evaluation

Your grade will be based on three components in the following proportions:

• Simulation exercises: 40%
• Reading reactions: 20%
• Final project: 30%
• Class participation: 10%

Simulation Exercises

The simulation exercises are interspersed throughout the text. Unless otherwise noted (see table below), you should answer all of the exercise questions for each chapter, and email them to gary@ucsd.edu (PLEASE put CSE 190: <your subject here> in the subject line for now) on the date due. Although you may work on these exercises with a partner (please let me know who your partner is on any writeup)  you must write them up individually. We want to see that each person individually understands the material, so this should be evident in your writeup. It is best to write down results and first drafts of answers as you work through the exercises -- they can take a while to run and you don't want to have to run them repeatedly. Exercises turned in late will be penalized 5% for each day after the due date.

Occasionally, for students who are adept programmers, I may give out alternative exercises that involve creating your own simulations. The exercises kind of "lead you by the nose" through the different examples, and that can get annoying at times!

Downloading the Simulator

We will not be using the simulator described in the book - we will be using the new version, called "emergent-5."

This simulator is available for download here:

http://grey.colorado.edu/emergent/index.php/Installation

The home page for the simulator is here:

http://grey.colorado.edu/emergent/index.php/Main_Page

And the exercises for the textbook (that you must write up!) are here:

http://grey.colorado.edu/CompCogNeuro/index.php/CECN1_Projects

Reading reactions

For each chapter, you will be asked to email a single paragraph about the topic you found most interesting in the chapter and why. These reading reactions are designed to ensure that you are keeping up on the reading and to inform us about your interests. Reading reactions should be emailed to gary@ucsd.edu prior to the class meeting when they are due. Please just send plain text emails, not attached documents.

Class participation

Class participation is just that. I expect you to be actively engaged in class, and to ask questions when you don't follow something. However, research has shown that frequent testing is a very good way to learn things - you store things better when you practice retrieving them. Hence I will include short quizzes in "class participation," in order to optimize your learning experience!

Final Project

The final project is an opportunity for you to use simulations to examine some psychological phenomenon of interest to you. This project will require careful preparation and thought, so I strongly recommend that you begin thinking about this early. Do not be overly ambitious -- relatively clear and simple but thoughtful work is preferred to a complicated half-baked mess. Do not be misled by the relative simplicity of running the canned exercises in the book -- simulation projects take a long time to complete!

Here are some project guidelines, edited from ones written for my grad class:http://cseweb.ucsd.edu/~gary/CSE-190-project-guidelines.html

And here is a discussion page to find a project partner, ask other people questions, etc.:

http://www.quicktopic.com/45/H/4pqnhGjyuU6H 

Homework Due Dates!!