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ICOS-202 Research Modules in Cognitive Science SPRING 2001 In the spring of 2001, each module was offered during one of four periods of the semester. These periods met during the following weeks. Period I: January 22, 29, February 5: Eden, Farre, Kainen Period II: February 12, 19, 26: Friedman, Hamed, Kuhn, Mackey Period III: March 12, 19, 26: Hamed, Howard, Kanwal Period IV: April 2, 9, 16, 23: Rauschecker, Ullman/Steinhauer Modules Offered in the Spring of 2001 Prof Guinevere Eden, Department of Neuroscience, GU Med Center MODULE TITLE: Methods and Application of Functional Bain Imaging to Study Human Cognition PROFESSOR CONTACT INFORMATION: Dr. Guinevere Eden edeng@giccs.georgetown.edu Department of Neuroscience & Center for the Study of Learning PERIOD OF SEMESTER: I MAXIMUM ENROLLMENT: 12 MEETING TIMES AND DATES: TBA. Will be arranged with students who enroll. DESCRIPTION OF CONTENT: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a new tool that allows non-invasive studies of the neurobiological basis of perception and cognition. In this module we will discuss how this novel technique has revolutionized our understanding of the brain processes responsible for skilled behavior, including reading, speech and voluntary movement. In addition we will examine how these processes are modulated by emotion and how they change over the life span. We will review studies using functional brain imaging to study complex phenomena such as working memory or chess playing. We will also visit the campus imaging facility to gain first hand knowledge of functional brain imaging methods.Prof George Farre, Department of Philosophy MODULE TITLE: four choices: Module A: The mind and its evolutionary substrate Module B: The Cartesian Cut, the Heisenberg Cut and the objectivity of scientific discourse Module C: On the role of computational strategies in cognitive science Module D: A new form of causality in the evolutionary process: the transmodal enabling relation PROFESSOR CONTACT INFORMATION: Dr. George Farre farreg@georgetown.edu Department of Philosophy NN 223 Tel 7-7498 PERIOD OF SEMESTER: I MAXIMUM ENROLLMENT: no limit MEETING TIMES AND DATES: To be decided with students. Will be conducted as tutorials. DESCRIPTION OF CONTENT: Actual contents to depend on scientific and philosophic background of students. will then be distributed to students and put on my website.Prof Rhonda Friedman, Department of Neurology, GU Med Center MODULE TITLE: Assessment and Rehabilitation of Acquired Disorders of Reading (alexias) in Patients with Stroke or Head Injury PROFESSOR CONTACT INFORMATION: Professor Rhonda Friedman Department of Neurology & GICCS (Georgetown Institute for Cognitive and Computational Science) 4-4134 Bldg D Room 207F friedmar@georgetown.edu http://www.giccs.georgetown.edu/labs/friedman/index.html PERIOD OF SEMESTER: II MAXIMUM ENROLLMENT: 8 MEETING TIMES AND DATES: 1:15 pm to 2:30 pm on the following days: Tues, Feb 13 Thurs Feb 15 Tues Feb 20 Tues Feb 27 In addition, each student will arrange to observe one patient treatment session sometime between Feb 21 and Feb 26. DESCRIPTION OF CONTENT: Students will read general articles on aphasia and alexia. We will discuss the process of reading, and the symptoms and syndromes of alexia. We will learn how to diagnose the various types of alexia, and students will make "diagnoses" based upon real patient data. Next we will discuss possible remediation strategies for the different types of alexia. Students will then sit in on one treatment session with a patient. In the final class meeting we will discuss our observations of the patients.Prof Kastro Hamed, Department of Physics MODULE TITLE: The Implications of Cognitive Science to Teaching and Learning PROFESSOR CONTACT INFORMATION: Professor Kastro M. Hamed hamed@physics.georgetown.edu (202)687-5985 554 Reiss Science Building Department of Physics PERIOD OF SEMESTER: II and III (students may choose either) MAXIMUM ENROLLMENT: 8 MEETING TIMES AND DATES: Scheduling will be arranged based on students' schedules. DESCRIPTION OF CONTENT: In the last few decades, the epistemological foundations of teaching and learning have undergone a paradigmatic shift towards emphasizing Constructivism and Schemata theories of learning. In this module I intend to provide an overview of the most pertinent learning theories and their implications for learning and teaching. Participants of the seminar are encouraged to have active roles in the discussion. The projected output of this module includes two main purposes. First, I hope to enhance the participant's awareness of the active role of cognitive science and learning theories on improving the teaching and learning. Second, each participant will choose a topic of his/her liking and show how to present that topic in a manner that utilizes the learning theories discussed in the seminars and the reading materials. The details of the assignments and of the readings will be discussed during our first gathering.Prof Darlene Howard, Department of Psychology MODULE TITLE: Cognitive Psychology: The Aging of Implicit Learning and Memory PROFESSOR CONTACT INFORMATION: Darlene V. Howard howardd@georgetown.edu Department of Psychology 311 White-Gravenor Bldg Website: http://www.georgetown.edu/departments/psychology/faculty/howard.html PERIOD OF SEMESTER: III MAXIMUM ENROLLMENT: 10 MEETING TIMES AND DATES: TBA (I'll contact preregistered students late in the fall semester to schedule mutually acceptable times.) DESCRIPTION OF CONTENT: My research investigates how and why learning and memory change (and how they don't) in the course of normal human aging. I'll assign several articles/papers from my laboratory for students to read ahead of time, and I'll ask students to prepare questions for discussion. We'll have a total of 3 class meetings, each approximately 2 ½ hours long. During the first we'll discuss the assigned readingsand students will visit our lab and see a demonstration of the tasks we are using in our current studies. During the second meeting, the class will design and set up a simple experiment for which students will then collect data from friends before the next class. In the final meeting, we'll discuss our findings and how they relate to broader issues in the study of learning and memory. Each student will be required to write a short paper (7 typewritten pages or fewer) on the readings and the class experiment. The grade will be determined by the quality of the discussion questions the student proposed for the class, the quality of the student's contribution to our class meetings and experiment, and the quality of the written paper. Prof Paul Kainen, Department of Mathematics MODULE TITLE: Mathematical aspects of psychophysics PROFESSOR CONTACT INFORMATION: Prof. Paul C. Kainen Department of Mathematics 72703 (phone or voice-mail) kainen@math.georgetown.edu http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/kainen/ Kober-Cogan B04 PERIOD OF SEMESTER: I MAXIMUM ENROLLMENT: 7 MEETING TIMES AND DATES: TBA (I'll contact preregistered students during the Fall to set up mutually acceptable times.) DESCRIPTION OF CONTENT: I am interested in how biological systems, including human beings, are able to make quantitative calculations. My research is involved with mathematical models for some of the aspects of such computations. The term ``psychophysics'' refers to the process by which external information, obtained via the senses, is transformed to produce neuromuscular responses in human beings. It offers a natural window into biological computation through controlled experiments. While most people can perform pychophysical tasks in an ``effortless'' fashion, it is not at all clear HOW we are able to carry them out. Indeed, artificial vision systems do not yet have such capabilities. Neural network models have been proposed for some of these problems, but there are many other mathematical approaches.During three two-hour lecture/demonstrations, I'll start with the perception of color. This topic has long been of interest; even Goethe wrote about it. After describing the mechanics of color perception, as we now understand it, I'll describe some anomalies and explain why they might be important. We will consider several different theories (including one of mine) as to how it is possible for humans to recognize hue independently of lighting conditions. (This phenomenon is called``color constancy.'') A second topic will be ``topological constancy'' which has not yet been studied in the psychophysical literature, perhaps because its description is somewhat mathematical. By making an analogy with musical chords, I will describe the interesting visual effects produced by oscillating or rotating mirrors when they are reflecting a beam of light. In addition, I will also give a reasonably thorough treatment of the movements of the eyes, and show how they might be used in certain active-sensing aspects of perception. The third topic will be linear models in speech recognition and human movements. Here, my text will be two papers, in entirely unrelated journals and by separate research groups, which obtain surprisingly similar linear models. We will consider the advantages and disadvantages of heuristics based on linearization. Calculus is not required. I'll explain the ideas concerning any necessary analysis. Mostly, we will be considering qualitative geometric models. Mathematical aptitude is more important than what courses you have taken. Each student will be required to write a paper, either critiquing an experiment or theory or else proposing an experiment or theory of your own, based on my lectures and related reading. Grades will depend on classroom participation and the paper. Prof Jagmeet Kanwal, Department of Neuroscience, GU Med Center MODULE TITLE: Origins of Music PROFESSOR CONTACT INFORMATION: Professor Jagmeet Kanwal kanwalj@giccs.georgetown.edu Department of Neuroscience & GICCS (Georgetown Institute for Cognitive and Computational Science) Room WP09, Research Building PERIOD OF SEMESTER: III MAXIMUM ENROLLMENT: 6 MEETING TIMES AND DATES: Tuesday 12:15 (TENTATIVE) - Bring Your Own Lunch DESCRIPTION OF CONTENT: Music, even more than speech, remains an elusive phenomenon that only humans appear to exploit. We know little of its neurobiological foundations. How did this ability originate in humans and for what? This module will focus on the origins of music from the perspective of music perception and brain/human evolution. The contents will be based on a recently published book as well new ideas that the students might have. Active participation is expected. A brief overview of the auditory system will be provided. We plan to meet for 2 two hour informal lectures and a final discussion session. Students will submit a short, one to two page, write up. Grading will be based on participation and write up.Prof Steven Kuhn, Department of Philosophy MODULE TITLE: Logic and Programming PROFESSOR CONTACT INFORMATION: Professor Steven Kuhn kuhns@georgetown.edu Department of Philosophy 687-4522 203 New North PERIOD OF SEMESTER: II MAXIMUM ENROLLMENT: 6 MEETING TIMES AND DATES: TBA DESCRIPTION OF CONTENT: This module will introduce students to Prolog, a programming language based on a fragment of classical first order logic that has found applications in certain areas of artificial intelligence. Students will examine, and try to improve, a Prolog program called "Logician Magician," which has been used in Georgetown's symbolic logic course for a number of years. Prerequisite: symbolic logic or prior consent of instructor. Prof Alison Mackey, Department of Linguistics MODULE TITLE: Second language acquisition and working memory capacity PROFESSOR CONTACT INFORMATION: Professor Alison Mackey mackeya@georgetown.edu Department of Linguistics 460 ICC Website: http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/mackeya/ PERIOD OF SEMESTER: II MAXIMUM ENROLLMENT: 6 MEETING TIMES AND DATES: Tuesdays, Feb. 13, Feb. 20, and Feb. 27, from 4:15-6:45 in ICC 450 DESCRIPTION OF CONTENT: My research investigates the ways in which humans learn second languages. I am currently exploring the relationship between conversational interaction and second language learning. A number of empirical studies have shown that when language learners take part in certain kinds of conversational interaction, positive effects on their grammatical abilities can be seen. An interesting and open question concerns how (and why) conversational interaction is helpful. In particular, why does it benefit some language learners, but not others? Some researchers have suggested that working memory capacity may play a part in second language learning through interaction. It has also been suggested that interaction may be beneficial because it helps learners to notice, or pay attention to grammatical forms. In this module, students will learn about the interaction hypothesis of second language acquisition. The discussion will be focused on the role of working memory capacity and learner attention to L2 form. We will have three (two hour) meetings. During the first meeting, we will discuss several key articles in the area of second language acquisition. They will be available for borrowing and copying in advance of the class meeting. Towards the end of the first meeting, I will distribute sets of data from two experiments involving second language learners, with some sample analyses. During the second meeting we will discuss these data, the findings of the studies, and how the findings should be interpreted for the field. We will also discuss the design of experiments to further explore the research questions. During the final meeting, each student will present their ideas for further analyses, interpretations and possible experiments. Each student will submit a final (6-7 page) paper on the readings and the data. Students may work in pairs on both the presentations and the final paper. The grade will be assessed by oral contributions to the three classes and the quality of students' presentations and papers.Prof Josef Rauschecker, Department of Physiology, GU Med Center MODULE TITLE: Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition: Functional Organization and Plasticity of the Cerebral Cortex PROFESSOR CONTACT INFORMATION: Professor Josef Rauschecker Department of Physiology and GICCS (Georgetown Institute for Cognitive and Computational Science) Phone: 202-687-1580 WP15, Research Building http://www.giccs.georgetown.edu/labs/linc/index.html PERIOD OF SEMESTER: IV MAXIMUM ENROLLMENT: 10 MEETING TIMES AND DATES: TBA DESCRIPTION OF CONTENT: My research tries to understand the neurobiological bases of perception, cognition, and memory. The cerebral cortex is the main site in the brain that is thought to be involved in these higher functions. Therefore, we are trying to figure out how the cortex works, especially with regard to visual and auditory perception, as well as visual-auditory integration. The cortex is also a very smart structure in that it is capable of self- and re-organization during development, and after injury or sensory deprivation. During three two-hour sessions we will discuss some of the above topics. One session will concentrate on vision, one on audition, and the third on brain plasticity. Students will also visit our laboratories and (hopefully) do a few simple experiments or at least look at results from recent studies performed in our lab. Each student will write a short paper on one of the topics, integrating the contents of the group discussions with the lab results. The grade will be based on this paper and on the contributions during class. Prof Michael Ullman & Karsten Steinhauer, Department of Neuroscience, GU Med Center MODULE TITLE: Seeing Language in the Brain PROFESSOR CONTACT INFORMATION: Professor Michael T. Ullman Departments of Neuroscience, Linguistics, and Neurology Building D, Room 207D michael@giccs.georgetown.edu http://www.giccs.georgetown.edu/labs/ullman/ Dr. Karsten Steinhauer Department of Neuroscience Building D, Room 206 steinhau@giccs.georgetown.edu 687-5926 PERIOD OF SEMESTER: IV MAXIMUM ENROLLMENT: 8 MEETING TIMES AND DATES: TBA DESCRIPTION OF CONTENT: The module will introduce you to the study of language and the brain -- that is, neurolinguistics. You will read introductory articles on neurolinguistics, including the neuroimaging technique of examining Event-Related Potentials (ERPs). ERPs are measures of the electrical activity in the brain that occurs during the processing of language or other domains of cognition. We will discuss these articles and issues in class.You will then be shown the system which we use to acquire ERPs here at Georgetown. You will learn to use the system, and will help us to run an experiment with it. Finally, you will be expected to write up a very brief paper on a relevant topic of your choice. |
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