Fall 2009 Office Hours - Tuesday 11:15 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. , Thurs. 3:30 - 4:30 p.m., ---  Bio/Psych #236. 
Office Phone: x-7657 (leave voice mail here), HCI Lab phone: x-7656.

I have an open door policy.  Feel free to drop in at other times.  If my door is open, I am available to chat. If it is closed, I am either gone or working on a project with a deadline.  Leave a message on my white board or with the departmental administrative assistant.

Day & Date

Topic 

M Aug. 31

Introduction - Memory and Name Games!

Get your Name Anagram (and post it on your Moodle Profile page)

Peruse the World Memory Championship Website. The 2009 World competition is in London From November 13 - 15th, be there!!

W Sep. 2

Morris (2005) Strategies for Learning Proper Names: Expanding Retrieval Practice, Meaning and Imagery.

REACTION PAPER (submit on the moodle before class time today)

This paper presents us with 3 experiments - In layman's terms, describe the name memorization techniques used in these studies. How do they differ in their operational definitions across the experiments. Briefly describe the reasons behind conducting the 2nd and 3rd experiments, why didn't they just stop at 1! Finally, if you were going to tell your mother the best method to help her memorize the names of people on her upcoming National Convention of ????? what would you recommend that she do based on this study?

Lab #1 Mnemonic Techniques

Presidents and Name Mnemonics, Coglab 2.0 Exp. Link Word

Lab Write up is found on the class moodle site. It is due (submit on the moodle by class time, Thursday, Sept. 10th.

Animaniacs teach the US presidents with music and mnemonics

Goll (2006) Mnemonic Strategies: Creating Schemata For Learning Enhancement

Beaton (1995) Retention of foreign vocabulary learned using the keyword method: a ten year follow-up

W Sep. 9

Beaton et. al. (2005) Facilitation of receptive and productive foreign vocabulary learning using the keyword method: The role of image quality.

Linkword Languagescommercial site derived from research on mnemonics and language learning.

Advance preparation notes (bring this to class as a printed copy)

Read the Beaton (2005) paper and pay special attention to Appendix 1. what features do you find that distinguish between the "good keyword" versus the "poor keyword" images? Try to come up with a short (5 - 9) list of differences along with recommendations about how to generate effective keyword images. after doing this, check out two languages of the free online demo's at the Linkword Languages website (notice who designed these courses!). Comment on the quality of the keyword images of the demo's using your criteria derived from the research paper (with several illustrative examples). Does Gruneberg practice what he preaches? A brand new updated slick web site for Gruneberg's company can be found at http://www.unforgettablelanguages.com/

Moe (2005) Stressing the Efficacy of the Loci Method: Oral Presentation and the Subject-generation of the Loci Pathway with Expository Passages

Kondo (2004) Changes in brain activation associated with use of a memory strategy: a functional MRI study.

REACTION PAPER (submit this one before class on the moodle site.)

For readings found on Flash Drive - Moe (2005) & Kondo (2004) Focused Question, submit before class on Moodle site.

(1) Ok, so these 2 papers study the mnemonic technique called "The Method of Loci" using very different methodologies. Compare and contrast the research methodology of the papers and what new information they give about the mechanisms underlying the most successful use of this mnemonic device.

(2) Use the Terminology of the Moe Paper to describe the task used and the 2 recall conditions in Kondo (2004). Incorporate the concepts of Oral vs written modality, rehearsal vs. method of loci, experimenter vs subject-generated pathways, expository vs. descriptive vs. narrative passages. Did Kondo use the "optimal" combination of stimuli and task characteristics in their study?

(3)Take the plunge and suggest a thought experiment that uses combines ideas from both papers to really highlight the differences in brain activation using fMRI recording of people doing Rehearsal vs. Method of Loci Memorization. What results would you expect?

Th Sep. 10

Mahadevan (2002) Radical Behaviorism and Exceptional Memory Phenomena

Maguire (2002) Routes to remembering: the brains behind superior memory

Lab #1.5 Exceptional Memory Film Fest!

Autistic man is a "Living Camera"

Bob Gray, Card Memorizing Skill and more on Ripley's Believe it or not!

Einstein's Brain Glial Cells Rock!

Real Rain Man Kim Peak

Brain Man Daniel Tammet learns Icelandic in a week!

M Sep. 14

Alpha and Omega of Memory Research

Hermann Ebbinghaus (1885) Über das Gedchtnis: Untersuchungen zur experimentellen Psychologie. English Translation (Memory: A Contribution to Experimental Psychology)

Everyone reads chapters 1-3, other chapters will be assigned to different groups who will each prepare a written summary of the findings before class. During class you will discuss the chapter in your group and give an oral presentation to the whole class.

Chapter 5. Rapidity of Learning Series of Syllables as a Function of Their Length
Chapter 6. Retention as a Function of the Number of Repetitions
Chapter 7. Retention and Obliviscence as a Function of the Time
Chapter 8. Retention as a Function of Repeated Learning
Chapter 9. Retention as a Function of the Order of Succession of the Members of the Series

REACTION PAPER

For chapters 1 - 3, your reaction paper should highlight how he defined memory and it's measurement and what experimental procedures and operational definitions he used to make the study of memory possible from an empirical, scientific standpoint.

For Chapters 5 - 9, each person should individually answer the following questions and then discuss them at the beginning of class to prepare a succinct oral presentation for the rest of the class.

(1) What new phenomena is studied in this chapter.

(2) what new concepts are defined

(3) choose 1 table of figures and write an explanation of what it reveals

(4) general conclusions and/or "laws" of memory does Ebbinghaus derive from this chapter?

 

W Sep. 16

Class is Distributed in Time and Space! We will not meet today.

Try to attend at least one of the

Lewis & Clark HHMI Undergraduate Science Education Program
Science Without Limits 2009 Fall Symposium
"Behavior, Perception and the Brain"

events to be held on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. We will be reading about Ramachandran's work later in the semester so this is a chance to hear one of the giants of neuroscience!

Th Sep. 17

Hunt (1995) The subtlety of distinctiveness: What von Restorff really did

Kishiyama (2004) The von Restorff Effect in Amnesia: The Contribution of the Hippocampal System to Novelty-Related Memory Enhancements

DIscussion topics to consider while reading - compare and contrast the methodologies and conclusions. Try to come up with 3 different examples of how the memorial distinctiveness that vonRestorff elcudated has real life practical application.

Lab #2 Serial Memory Lab

Coglab 2.0 Experiments - von Restorff Effect.

Lab write up is found on the class moodle site. It is due (submitted on the moodle by 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 24th.

M Sep. 21

Read the classic paper by George Miller entitled: The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information. This paper, written in 1956, helped launch the information processing paradigm in psychology and his 7+/- 2 chunks in STM is certainly the most widely cited "number" in memory research. I am asking you to read the original. This is very dense reading. To help us understand it better I am assigning each of you one of the sections to summarize (in writing) and present orally in class. Be sure to define any terms that need it and to explain any graphs that are in your section. You may need to do a bit of outside research to fully understand the material, try to put it into your own words. You will have 15ish minutes at the beginning of class to ask Erik questions and discuss the material before presenting it to the class. The section assignments are given below.

Information measurement (Erik)
Absolute judgments of unidimensional stimuli (Group 1)
Absolute judgments of multidimensional stimuli (Group 2)
Subitizing (Group 3)
The span of immediate memory (Group 4),
Recoding (Group 5)

 

Baddeley 1994 The Magical number seven: Still magic after all these years? I suggest you read this one first.

W Sep. 23

No Class, use today to dig into the How We Decide Book and your Book-related Research Papers that were assigned to you on Monday, Sept. 21st.

Th Sep. 24

Read CogLab Reader pages 216 - 239 in preparation for the lab today.

Lab #3 Working Memory Capacity

Coglab 2.0 Experiments - Memory Span, Operation Span

Lab write up is found on the class moodle site. It is due (submitted on the moodle by 11:30 a.m. Monday, Oct. 5th.

M Sep. 28

How We Decide Book - Individual presentations and critiques of book coverage of research results

W Sep. 30

How We Decide Book - Individual presentations and critiques of book coverage of research results

Th Oct. 1

How We Decide Book - Individual presentations and critiques of book coverage of research results

False Memories - In the Labs and Beyond!!

Roediger and McDermott(1995). Creating False Memories: Remembering Words Not Presented in Lists. Download from WebDISK class account.

Watson (2004). Attempting to avoid false memories in the Deese/Roediger–McDermott paradigm: Assessing the combined influence of practice and warnings in young and old adults.

Loftus (2003). Make Believe Memories.

Lab #4 False Memory and Cognitive Construal

W Oct. 7th

Bernstein(2005). False beliefs about fattening foods can have healthy consequences.

Garoff-Eaton (2006). Not All False Memories Are Created Equal: The Neural Basis for False Recognition.

Greenberg (2004). President Bush’s False ‘Flashbulb’ Memory of 9/11/01.

Moodle Assignment

By class time today, each of you should find an example of a "famous person's false memory", and post the web address and a 2 paragraph description on the Moodle forum entitled <FALSE MEMORIES>. Use1 paragraph to describe the false memory and another one to analyze it from the perspective of a memory researcher, giving them the benefit of a doubt that they are not just engaging in a bald-faced lie.

Introduction to Neural Network approach to Cognition

Try out this Neural network simulation for "solving" the Necker Cube.

Try to train this simple neural network called MIMIC to recognize 4 patterns

We will also discuss the False memory lab and collect the data for analysis results section writeup

Rowley (1995) Human Face Detection in Visual Scenes

- Read about the Human Face Detection Project at Carnegie Mellon University. This paper describes a novel Computer Vision approach incorporating a neural network to recognize faces in pictures submitted by anyone on the Web. Technology willing, we will submit some pictures and see if the program successfully finds our faces.

(Sinha, 2006) Face Recognition by Humans: Nineteen Results All Computer Vision Researchers Should Know About.

Bring your Digital Camera's to class today. We will be taking a field trip to collect photographs to try out on the CMU face detection and recognition demonstrations of neural networks.

Neural Networks make the big time in a Psychological Review Article.

Cohen (1990) "On the control of automatic processes: A parallel distributed processing account of the stroop effect."

Reaction Paper:
For each simulation, write up and be ready to discuss the following questions:
1. What is the simulation trying to show?
2. How well does the simulation data match the empirical data?
3. What features of the neural network simulation are most responsible for producing the correspondence between empirical data and simulation results.

We will assign groups to lead the discussion for each of the simulation studies.

Read about TD-Gammon, a Neural Network Backgammon Expert that learns without input from Humans!
 
  Play at least 2 games of backgammon against a computer opponent

Search the web and online research databases for two recent examples (2002 or later) of the use of neural network/connectionist,PDP modeling. One of the examples should be focused on theory development and the other on an applied topic. Be prepared to give a brief overview of the research in class today or tomorrow using the computer projection unit to show us your "finds".

(Ekman, 2003) Darwin, Deception, and Facial Expression

Blow(2006) Perception of Robot Smiles and Dimensions for Human-Robot Interaction Design.

Smile Experiment (do not access before lab)

Obama-McCain "When I see your Smile" Music Video

Body Language Analysis of Oct. 15th debate

OK, OK, the requested Kyra Banks Teaches John McCain how to smile with his eyes Video

Dandeneau (2007). Cutting Stress Off at the Pass: Reducing Vigilance and Responsiveness to Social Threat by Manipulating Attention.

MindHabits Software to improve your self-esteem, work productivity and yes, maybe even your dating success! We will design a lab for this week based on the findings of the Dandeneau article and the claims of this web site.

Discussion and Design of MindHabits Lab.

In today's lab you will be participating in two experiments related to risky decision making and gambling.

The Iowa Gambling Task is a card game where you have 100 trials to make money.

The Game of Dice Task is a dice game where you have 18 trials to make money.

Exploring the Somatic Marker Hypothesis

Cognitive Neuroscientists use laboratory-based gambling tasks to understand the role of emotion and cognition in risky decision-making. This week we will be reading an assortment of papers exploring this topic.

Bechara (1997) Deciding Advantageously Before Knowing the Advantageous Strategy.

Wagar (2004) Spiking Phineas Gage: A Neurocomputational Theory of Cognitive–Affective Integration in Decision Making.

Reaction Paper - In the Wagar article, the authors present a neural network model that is different in several dimensions from the other 3 neural network models that we have studied. Please discuss the differences that you see including (1) the aspects of real neurons that are modeled, (2) The architecture (connections and number and density of neurons) of the neural network, and (3) the way that the neural network is used to address the underlying theory it is testing. Finally, strive mightily, using all of your mental prowess to understand and explain in writing what is going on in figure 4 on page 71!

Phineas Gage Video (Halloween version) Short Digital Videos of Path of Tamping Rod

Concise and accurate summary of what we know about Phineas Gage.

We will use today to give you a quick overview of the papers assigned for preparation for our SMH debate next Wednesday and Thursday and for your teams to get together to plan your strategy and divvy up the work.

We will also finalize the procedure for our Mindhabits Study, bring your laptops to class!!

Th Nov. 5

Lab #6

Peacemaker Lab - Instructions will be given about advance preparation and scheduling by Wed. Nov. 4

M

Nov.

9

Final Project Focus Forum

By class TODAY, each person needs to create a discussion item on the Moodle activity that contains the basic idea for their research topic. This must include (at a minimum) the general area you are interested in studying and some research questions to explore. Ideally, it will also include some specific hypotheses to test and the type of methodology you will use to test them (brain imaging, field work, computer simulation, clinical observations, laboratory study). I also want to see at least 1 journal article reference in this initial posting. This is an initial idea and does not need to be set in stone just yet. We will use this to see if there are overlapping interests and will help each other find literature, refine hypotheses and suggest methodologies over the next 2 weeks.

W

Nov.

11

The Great Debate Group 1: Peacemaker Exp. Group 2.

Research findings using the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) provide valuable and valid evidence for the causal mechanisms and physiological basis for the somatic marker hypothesis (SMH).

Some of you have been assigned to the Pro and others to the con side of this question, and the rest of you are intrepid judges. Read the papers below as well as any other sources of information that you can find to make your case with facts and conviction and be prepared to shred the opposition's lame, tired attempts. Along with the 3 papers (below) that I expect all of you to read and incorporate into your oral presentations, I also recommend Dunn (2006) in the coursepack readings as a comprehensive source for point and especially counterpoint!

Judges should come prepared to evaluate the facts and arguments for both sides and be ready to ask insightful questions and to render your reasoned judgment and evaluation of the strength's and weaknesses of the teams.

Tchanturia (2007) An investigation of decision making in anorexia nervosa using the Iowa Gambling Task and skin conductance measurements

Maia (2004) A reexamination of the evidence for the somatic marker hypothesis: What participants really know in the Iowa gambling task

Bechara (2005) The Iowa Gambling Task and the somatic marker hypothesis: some questions and answers

Dunn (2006) The somatic marker hypothesis: a critical evaluation.

Th

Nov.

12

The Great Debate Group 2: Peacemaker Exp. Group 1.

M

Nov.

16

Breazeal(2000).pdf Infant-like Social Interactions between a Robot and a Human Caregiver.

Smith & Breazeal(2007).pdf The dynamic lift of developmental process.

You have 2 Kismet Papers to Read for Today's class. Class discussion will revolve around how Kismet embodies theories of emotion and expressive states. Pay particular attention to the experiments described (and graphed) of Kismet interacting with faces and stuffed animals!

Kismet is a sociable robot being developed at MIT which uses facial expressiveness as a central feature. Browse around the Kismet web site to get a feel for the goals of the project and what they have accomplished to date! Be sure to check out Kismet's "space of emotive facial expressions" and look at the pages concerning social interaction and how Kismet "learns".

Leonardo is Kismet's kin that has taken some major steps forward in abilities, most notably, it has arms, understands some language and has a fairly sophisticated representation about the beliefs of others in reference to it's world of faces and objects. check out the Leonardo project web site and this video of Leo learning a new concept from a human!

W

Nov.

18

Read one of the classic papers in cognitive science by written by Alan Turing in 1950 entitled "Computing Machinery and Intelligence". Turing poses the question"Can machines think?" <Turing(1950).html in coursepack>

Here is what one reviewer had to say about the paper when nominating it for the 3rd most influential paper in cognitive science for the 20th century.

This paper is often said to mark the beginning of the cognitivist revolution in psychology by arguing that computing machines that think are possible, thus defending the appropriateness of computational models of intelligence and, by extension, other cognitive processes. The paper also recommends the controversial Turing test, according to which a computing machine that can simulate a thinking, speaking human so well that a human judge cannot detect the simulation should be deemed to possess genuine intelligence.

Read the paper and write a response paper commenting on the adequacy of the Turing Test "Imitation Game" for determining machine intelligence. Which of the objections that Turing presents do you find the most compelling and why? Which is the least convincing objection? Submit this one on the Moodle assignment entitled Turing Thoughts

Come up with an objection of your own to the Turing Test. What would it take to convince you that a Machine was truly intelligent? Be ready to discuss and defend your position!

A recent critique of the Turing Test by Mark Alpern

In class today we will play a version of the "Turing Test " and also test your human wits against the machine in a domain specific Turing Test for Poetry Writing. Come prepared to defend humanity!!

Th

Nov.

19

Chatting with ChatterBots

Travel to the Loebner Prize Home page to learn about the $100,000 award offered to the first computer program that passes an unrestricted Turing Test. Follow the links to learn about the rules and history of the test and peruse the transcripts of the Winners (really the best losers) from previous contests. The 2008 contest was held in Reading University, UK on Oct. 12th. Here is an eminently readable article about the competition and Elbot, this years "almost" winner.

There is a moodle assignment under today's date entitled ChatBot Snippets. Your lab assignment for today is to chat with at least four different chatbots and post:

1.) examples of impressive snippets of conversation. Be sure to specify what Bot you were chatting with.

and

2.) OK, the easy part of the lab is finding examples of silly and/or ridiculous ChatBot responses.

Be sure to engage in a conversation with 2006 Loebner Contest Winner, Joan!(AKA Jabberwocky). Jot down any interesting dialogue that comes from your "conversation" to share on the moodle site. Search the web site to learn what you can about how Joan "thinks".

A video-enabled, speaking version of Joan that requires high bandwith is also an option.

Other bots you might chat with include the 2007 Loebner winner UltraHal in several flavors!

A.L.I.C.E., the 2004 Loebner Prize winner

and yes, even iGod!

and a whole list of popular bots found at the chatbots.org web site.

M

Nov.

23

Lab #7 Crossed Connections! Sensory and Tactile Illusions

Phantom Fun, Somatosensory Strangeness, and Kinesthetic Quirks.

Touching a Rubber Hand: Feeling of Body Ownership Is Associated with Activity in Multisensory Brain Areas. Ehrsson(2005).pdf

Rubber Hand Video (don't watch until class time)

Even Wiggier Out of Body experience via Virtual Reality

Synesthesia & Phantom Limb Therapy

Hearing Colors, Tasting Shapes. RamaHubbardSciAm_2003.pdf. Vilayanur S. Ramachandran and Edward M. Hubbard. Scientific American. p 52 - 59. May, 2003.

SYNESTHETIC COLORS DETERMINED BY HAVING COLORED REFRIGERATOR MAGNETS IN CHILDHOOD Witthorft(2006).pdf

Synesthesia Overview and Case Studies

Synesthesia Immersion Video - Colorful Acoustic Letters!

A controlled pilot study of the utility of mirror visual feedback in the treatment of complex regional pain syndrome (type 1). McCabe(2003).pdf

Investigating the efficacy of a virtual mirror box in treating phantom limb pain in a sample of chronic sufferers. Murray(2006).pdf

Phantom Sensory Remapping

VR for Phantom Pain Relief

W

Nov.

25

M

Nov.

30

Meditation and the Brain

Neural correlates of attentional expertise in long-term meditation practitioners. Brefczynski(2007).pdf

Short-term meditation training improves attention and self-regulation Tang(2007).pdf

Loving-Kindness Meditation Increases Social Connectedness Hutcherson(2008).pdf

Buddha’s Brain: Neuroplasticity and Meditation Davidson(2007).pdf

W

Dec.

2

Th

Dec.

3

What's so funny, and why, and where?

Humor comprehension in older adults. Mak(2007).pdf

Humor Modulates the Mesolimbic Reward Centers. Mobbs(2003).pdf

You should have your Methodology outlines posted on the FInal Project Focus Forum by class time today.

M Dec. 7

Preparation for Research Presentations

W Dec. 9

Data Crunching and figure creation workshop