Past tense - Intro to Cognitive Science: Cognitive Modeling - Fall 2009

Contents

Slides

Overview of Today's Class [1/7, 2009/09/24]

• Discussion of Verb Inflection paper
• Questions about Project 1

More CogSci in the news [2/7, 2009/09/24]

If there's time later: A story about depression on Morning Edition

Verb Inflection [3/7, 2009/09/24]

A game/demo

Past and future of the past tense

Questions about... [4/7, 2009/09/24]

Project 1?

Some more verbs (if this works)

Key reminders:

• Report template follows cognitive science format, reporting results of an experiment.
• Test all your verbs with one set of rules. Check out batch mode!
• What I want you to get out of it:
• Experience with a formal model of a cognitive process.
• What are its strengths and limitations?
• How does cognitive modeling elaborate a theory of cognition?

Reflection exercise (if time) [5/7, 2009/09/24]

Much of language can be described as rule-like.

Small group discussion: Groups of 4

1. Think of a cognitive task besides language (maybe one of your "expertises").
2. Speculate on how that task could be "modeled" with a rule-based system.

For next time: [6/7, 2009/09/24]

• Project 1 due
• AND discussion of the Anderson paper. Be prepared for some serious, in-depth, intense focus on Figure 3.

Prep for Anderson paper

• Looking for something like "programming language of thought".
• Production rules: IF conditions, THEN action(s)
• Example: recursive programming: function that calls itself.
• Declarative knowledge, shown in three different forms.
• Knowledge acquisition
• Knowledge deployment: using it at the right time. Odds of recall based on what?
• See also the reading guide.

Hand in critical analysis, not questions and main points. Reminder:

• Identify two "talking points": key points/issues/ideas or confusing areas that you want to bring out in discussion
• Write a half-page critical analysis of the assigned reading, as follows:
• Your analysis should include a brief summary which identifies the main points of the paper, and should bring out any problems, insights or questions that you have about the paper. I want to see that you have read the paper and thought about it.
• Note: this should not be simply a summary of the paper. It should include enough detail about the paper so I can see you've read it, but it should also include your own analysis of the paper.
• Please don't take up a bunch of space by repeating the title of the paper and the authors' full names.
• Finally, you don't need to tell me how difficult/ challenging/confusing the paper is. I know this already.
• An example critical analysis

Hand ins [7/7, 2009/09/24]

Include your self-assessment: At the top of your paper, list the numbers of the items that apply to you today. e.g. Write down 1 if you were in class on time (or late through no fault of your own).