Seminar Description:

 
Formal Modeling is an essential research tool in cognitive psychology and cognitive science. In this seminar we shall discuss and critically evaluate a variety of key formal models and modeling approaches to cognition (e.g., algebraic, geometric, analytic, qualitative, statistical, probabilistic, computational, connectionist, dynamical, multi-agent, evolutionary, structural, process, and robotic). We shall do this with three goals in mind: 1) to become aware of the wide range of modeling techniques at our disposal, 2) to achieve a basic understanding of these techniques and the modeling process in general, and 3) to get us to start thinking strategically and analytically about how to construct an effective formal model (i.e., one that predicts and explains our empirical results). Discussions will assume little or no previous modeling background.

(Prerequisites: Graduate standing and a passion for scientific discovery!)

Requirements:

Your grade will be determined by:

• a) class participation (33%)

• b) a class presentation on an assigned paper (33%)

• c) a modeling proposal for empirical work that you are familiar with (34%)

PDFs of assigned readings will be listed in this web page one week before our first meeting.