Philosophy 446 / Psychology 446 / Philosophy 673

Cognitive Modelling

Winter, 2005

Professor: Paul Thagard

Office hours (HH368): MF 1:00-2:00; and by appointment.

Email: pthagard@uwaterloo.ca. Phone: extension 3594.

Web page: http://cogsci.uwaterloo.ca/courses/phil446.html.

Time: TTh, 1:00-2:20. PAS 1241.

Textbooks: T. Polk and C. Seifert, Cognitive Modeling. P. Winston and B. Horn, LISP.

Assignments: Marks will be based on:

Description: Students will implement computational models of human cognition, using concept-based, rule-based, neural network and other programs, and discuss their philosophical and psychological significance.

Reading:

 Week  Dates  Topic Polk & Seifert, chapter (required; recommended)

 Assignment
 1  Jan. 4-6  Introduction Preface  
 2  Jan. 11-13  Semantic nets  1  
 3  Jan. 18-20  Rules  2; 3, 38

 1
 4  Jan. 25-27  Rules  19; 20, 37  
 5  Feb. 1-3  Concepts  31; 18

 2
 6  Feb. 8-10  Analogy  27; 28, 30  
 7  Feb. 15-17 Neural nets  6; 7, 8

 3
 8  Mar. 1-3  Neural nets  10; 11, 17, 29, 35  
 9  Mar. 8-10  Emotions  14

 4
 10  Mar. 15-17  Language 12; 21, 22, 24

 
11  Mar. 22-24  Vision  13
 12  Mar. 29-31  Student reports  

 5

To get a head start on learning the programming language LISP:

Cognitive Science resources

Lecture notes and assignments

"2005" indicates that the notes have been updated for this year's class. There will be some reorganization of the lecture notes as the term progresses.

Week 1: Introduction. LISP. 2005

Week 2: Semantic networks. 2005

Week 3: Rule-based systems. 2005

Week 4: Rule-based systems as cognitive models. 2005

Week 5: Frame-based (schema) systems. 2005

Week 6: Analogy-based systems. 2005

Week 7, Cognitive wheels; Neural networks (local). 2005

Week 8, Neural networks (distributed representations). 2005

Week 9, Emotions. 2005

Week 10. Consciousness and Language. 2005

Week 11, Vision. 2005

 

Assignments. #1, 2, 3, 4: 2005

Project. 2005

Previous year's projects. 2003

From the Faculty of Arts:

All students registered in the courses of the Faculty of Arts are expected to know what constitutes an academic offense, to avoid committing academic offenses, and to take responsibility for their academic actions.  When the commission of an offense is established, disciplinary penalties will be imposed in accord with Policy #71 (Student Academic Discipline).  For information on categories of offenses and types of penalties, students are directed to consult the summary of Policy #71 (Student Academic Discipline) which is supplied in the Undergraduate Calendar (p.1:11).  If you need help in learning how to avoid offenses such as plagiarism, cheating, and double submission, or if you need clarification of aspects of the discipline policy, ask your course instructor for guidance.  Other resources regarding the discipline policy are your academic advisor and the Undergraduate Associate Dean.

Faculty of Arts information on plagiarism and other offences.

Computational Epistemology Laboratory.

Paul Thagard

This page updated March 21, 2005