Cognitive Systems 2

Course Overview

A Introduction
1. 24 Oct 05: Introduction to cognitive modeling, organizational stuff (T. Barkowsky) / Behavioral and neuropsychological methods (H. Schultheis) / Homework: Exercise 1.
2. 31 Oct 05: Introduction to production systems (presentation by M. Klenke & K. Gadzicki) / Presentation and discussion of exercise 1 / Homework: install Soar and get it running (work through Tutorial part I).

B Soar
3. 07 Nov 05: Introduction to Soar (presentation by T. Reineking) / Practical introduction to Soar: Tutorial part II (presentation by M. Gusaite) / Exercise 2.
4. 14 Nov 05: Practical introduction to Soar: Tutorial part III (presentation by A. Sonsalla) / A Soar application: Tutorial part VI (presentation by Holger Schultheis) / student team work.
5. 21 Nov 05: Presentation and discussion of solutions of exercise 2

C ACT-R
6. 28 Nov 05: Introduction to ACT-R (presentation by T. Burokas & S. Aleksiejunas) / Practical introduction to ACT-R: Tutorial part I and part II (presentation by S. Grossewinkelmann) / Tutorial part III and part IV (old) (presentation by A. Singeorzan)/ Homework: install ACT-R and get it running, Exercise 3.
7. 05 Dec 05: Practical introduction to ACT-R: Tutorial part IV and part V (presentation by U. Neitzel) / An ACT-R application (presentation by E. R. Wega) / student team work
8. 12 Dec 05: Presentations and discussion of solutions of exercise 3

[Xmas holidays]

D Cogent, connectionist models, and model validation
9. 09 Jan 06: Introduction to COGENT (presentation by T. Reineking) / Practical example in COGENT (presentation by A. Singeorzan) / Homework: install COGENT and get it running, Exercise 4.
10. 16 Jan 06: Introduction to connectionist models (presentation by Kai Hagemeister) / student team work
11. 23 Jan 06: The role of neural networks in cognitive science (presentation by O. Mourbare) / Presentation and discussion of solutions of exercise 4
12. 30 Jan 06: Presentation and discussion of solutions of exercise 4 (cont'd) / Methods for validating cognitive models (student team work)

E Summary
13. 06 Feb 06: Presentation and discussion of methods for validating cognitive models / Summary of the course.

Reading / Presentation Material, Tutorials, and Exercises

1 Soar
The Soar home page
A gentle introduction to Soar

Attention! The following tutorials refer to SOAR v8.5.x. If you install the latest SOAR version on your computer, you will find updated tutorials within the distribution.
The Soar tutorial part 1
The Soar tutorial part 2
The Soar tutorial part 3
The Soar tutorial part 4
The Soar tutorial part 5
The Soar tutorial part 6

2 ACT-R
The ACT-R home page
(There are several options for installing the ACT-R system on your computer given on the ACT-R software site. Please install ACT-R 6!)
Introduction: An integrated theory of the mind

3 COGENT
The COGENT home page
(there are installable version of COGENT for diverse platforms)
Introduction to the COGENT Modeling Environment

Assignments / Credits

To receive credit for this course you are expected to read the texts provided, to work on the tutorials, and to give a presentation (introduction, demonstration, or application of a cognitive architecture). Furthermore, there are four exercises you have to work on, including a written documentation of your solution (see return dates below) and a presentation in the course. In the four exercises you have to reach an average grade of at least 60%. The exercises will be done in groups of 3-5 students. At the end of the summer term we will have a technical discussion of 20-30 minutes with every group to check whether the mark achieved in each working group is applicable to all candidates of the group and to decide for individual marks.

In this course you will collaboratively work on the exercises. However, collaboration is to be sharply distinguished from cheating. All forms of cheating (including plagiarism) are strictly forbidden. If you are caught cheating, this may result in an automatic failure in the course.

Return dates for the exercises:
No. 1: 30 Oct 05; No. 2: 18 Nov 05; No. 3: 09 Dec 05; No. 4: 20 Jan 06 (Please send your solutions to barkowsky, freksa, and schulth @informatik.uni-bremen.de)

Exam

The technical discussions ("Fachgespräche") as well as the oral exams ("Modulprüfungen") in Cognitive Systems 2 will be on Monday, 13 Feb 06 (and Tuesday, 18 Apr 06, for repeaters). To take an oral exam or to participate in a technical discussion, please register by 27 Jan 06 (or by 31 Mar 06, for repeaters) by sending an email to cosy@informatik.uni-bremen.de. If you register for a technical discussion, the email should list the names of all participants of the group (one mail per group is sufficient). Please note that the successful work on the exercises is a precondition for registering for a technical discussion or an oral exam.

Thomas Barkowsky / 26 Jan 06