Teaching Plan Information

Presentation

This course exposes students to the central disciplines that form traditional cognitive science (philosophy, psychology, linguistics, computer science, mathematics, anthropology) and will show how the concepts and paradigms of these disciplines bring complementary visions of mind, brain and behaviour.

Associated skills

General

• Oral and written communication
• Analysis and synthesis
• Team work
• Independent work

Specific

• Apply an interdisciplinary approach that relates cognitive sciences, interactive technologies and digital media in solving problems that give rise to interactive artefacts.
• Apply the most current theories and computational models about the brain and how these are related to interactive artefacts through cognitive systems.

Learning outcomes

Areas in which the student will gain expertise:

• Research Methodology
• Cognitive science
• Experimental psychology
• Neuroscience
• Artificial intelligence

Specific learning outcomes aligned with the general purpose of the master: 

• Demonstrate knowledge in the seven core disciplines that make up traditional cognitive science.
• Apply the concepts and paradigms of the seven core disciplines that provide complementary views on mind, brain, and behaviour to the analysis of experimental data.
• Analyse the structuring of a system and its components to propose solutions to a problem based on biological, neurological and computational models.
• Use the points of contact and the complementarities of scientific and humanistic methodologies.
• Apply the integration of biological, neurological and computational models in the integration of cognitive and interactive artefact systems.
• Apply the concepts and paradigms of the seven core disciplines, which provide complementary views on mind, brain, and behaviour, and how these are projected into computer systems
• Apply in an integrated way the link between interaction models from the HCI vision and cognitive processes.

Sustainable Development Goals

1. Learning about theories, methods and discoveries in cognitive science, the historical context and the philosophical roots that allowed the rising of this multidisciplinary field of studies

2. Developing general scientific thinking and study skills that will be an important requirement for all the master courses

3. Discovering cognitive science applications to real-world problems

4. Developing a critical approach to scientific research and literature

Prerequisites

This is an introductory class. No previous knowledge is required to successfully pass the course.

Contents

1- the nature of knowledge in classical philosophy

2- the nature of matter and the mind

3- the innateness of concepts

4- structural and functional approaches in psychology

5- do we need representation?

5- what is intelligence?

6- creating an artificial mind

7- embodied cognition

Teaching Methods

The class is divided into two main activities: lectures and debates. The students will also have to complete a final research (or theoretical) project by the end of the course.

LECTURES

Lectures will occupy 50% of the time throughout the course and will be given by Prof. Paul Verschure. The main objective of the lectures is to provide the students with an overview of the foundational concepts of the course organized in a thematic and / or historical perspectives.

DEBATES

Debates will occupy the other 50% of the time and will be supervised by Giovanni Maffei PhD and Ismael Tito Freire Msc. The main objective of the debates is to get a deeper perspective on some of the main concepts of the course through discussion. Here students will play the central role and will be required to work in groups to read relevant literature and present to the rest of the class key ideas and interpretations. See info below under Mind & Brain Debate Club.

FINAL PROJECT

Experimental final project for CSIM students

As part of your training, you will have to design, conduct and present a real experimental investigation related to one of the topics covered in class. Projects will be performed in small groups (max. 4 people), and they are shared with the Research Methodologies in Humanities and Science (30845) course. Information on the final project will be shared soon.

Theoretical final project for NON-CSIM students

Please note that if you are a student from other masters other than CSIM (e.g. SCM, MIIS), probably you are not taking Research Methodologies in Humanities and Science (30845). As such, you will not be required to take part in the final experimental project. Instead, you will have to perform, in small groups, a final theoretical project consisting of writing a review or perspective short paper about one of the main topics of the class. Information on the final project will be shared soon.

Evaluation

1. Debates (weekly discussion on selected readings):  40%

2. Class participation: 10%

3. Research project: project proposal (30%) + project presentation and report (70%): 50%

Bibliography and information resources

The official textbook of the class is:

Tony Prescott, Nathan Lepora, Paul Verschure (2018). Living machines: a handbook of research in biomimetic and biohybrid systems. Oxford University Press.

In addition, every week we share with the students the slides from the lectures and a bibliography of selected scientific papers relevant to the topics explained in class.

Teaching Plan Information

Presentation

This course exposes students to the central disciplines that form traditional cognitive science (philosophy, psychology, linguistics, computer science, mathematics, anthropology) and will show how the concepts and paradigms of these disciplines bring complementary visions of mind, brain and behaviour.

Associated skills

General

• Oral and written communication
• Analysis and synthesis
• Team work
• Independent work

Specific

• Apply an interdisciplinary approach that relates cognitive sciences, interactive technologies and digital media in solving problems that give rise to interactive artefacts.
• Apply the most current theories and computational models about the brain and how these are related to interactive artefacts through cognitive systems.

Learning outcomes

Areas in which the student will gain expertise:

• Research Methodology
• Cognitive science
• Experimental psychology
• Neuroscience
• Artificial intelligence

Specific learning outcomes aligned with the general purpose of the master: 

• Demonstrate knowledge in the seven core disciplines that make up traditional cognitive science.
• Apply the concepts and paradigms of the seven core disciplines that provide complementary views on mind, brain, and behaviour to the analysis of experimental data.
• Analyse the structuring of a system and its components to propose solutions to a problem based on biological, neurological and computational models.
• Use the points of contact and the complementarities of scientific and humanistic methodologies.
• Apply the integration of biological, neurological and computational models in the integration of cognitive and interactive artefact systems.
• Apply the concepts and paradigms of the seven core disciplines, which provide complementary views on mind, brain, and behaviour, and how these are projected into computer systems
• Apply in an integrated way the link between interaction models from the HCI vision and cognitive processes.

Sustainable Development Goals

1. Learning about theories, methods and discoveries in cognitive science, the historical context and the philosophical roots that allowed the rising of this multidisciplinary field of studies

2. Developing general scientific thinking and study skills that will be an important requirement for all the master courses

3. Discovering cognitive science applications to real-world problems

4. Developing a critical approach to scientific research and literature

Prerequisites

This is an introductory class. No previous knowledge is required to successfully pass the course.

Contents

1- the nature of knowledge in classical philosophy

2- the nature of matter and the mind

3- the innateness of concepts

4- structural and functional approaches in psychology

5- do we need representation?

5- what is intelligence?

6- creating an artificial mind

7- embodied cognition

Teaching Methods

The class is divided into two main activities: lectures and debates. The students will also have to complete a final research (or theoretical) project by the end of the course.

LECTURES

Lectures will occupy 50% of the time throughout the course and will be given by Prof. Paul Verschure. The main objective of the lectures is to provide the students with an overview of the foundational concepts of the course organized in a thematic and / or historical perspectives.

DEBATES

Debates will occupy the other 50% of the time and will be supervised by Giovanni Maffei PhD and Ismael Tito Freire Msc. The main objective of the debates is to get a deeper perspective on some of the main concepts of the course through discussion. Here students will play the central role and will be required to work in groups to read relevant literature and present to the rest of the class key ideas and interpretations. See info below under Mind & Brain Debate Club.

FINAL PROJECT

Experimental final project for CSIM students

As part of your training, you will have to design, conduct and present a real experimental investigation related to one of the topics covered in class. Projects will be performed in small groups (max. 4 people), and they are shared with the Research Methodologies in Humanities and Science (30845) course. Information on the final project will be shared soon.

Theoretical final project for NON-CSIM students

Please note that if you are a student from other masters other than CSIM (e.g. SCM, MIIS), probably you are not taking Research Methodologies in Humanities and Science (30845). As such, you will not be required to take part in the final experimental project. Instead, you will have to perform, in small groups, a final theoretical project consisting of writing a review or perspective short paper about one of the main topics of the class. Information on the final project will be shared soon.

Evaluation

1. Debates (weekly discussion on selected readings):  40%

2. Class participation: 10%

3. Research project: project proposal (30%) + project presentation and report (70%): 50%

Bibliography and information resources

The official textbook of the class is:

Tony Prescott, Nathan Lepora, Paul Verschure (2018). Living machines: a handbook of research in biomimetic and biohybrid systems. Oxford University Press.

In addition, every week we share with the students the slides from the lectures and a bibliography of selected scientific papers relevant to the topics explained in class.