Cognitive Systems 2

Syllabus

A Introduction
1. 29 Oct 07: Introduction to cognitive modeling / organizational issues / Behavioral and neuropsychological methods (presentation part 1 and part 2 by Thomas Barkowsky, Sven Bertel) / Homework: Exercise 1.
2. 05 Nov 07: Introduction to production systems (presentation by Manfred Eppe) / Presentation and discussion of exercise 1 / Homework: install Soar and get it running (work through Tutorial part I).

B Soar
3. 12 Nov 07: Introduction to Soar (presentation by Tim Nulpa) / Practical introduction to Soar: Tutorial part I and Tutorial part II (presentations by Sven Bertel) / Exercise 2.
4. 19 Nov 07: Practical introduction to Soar: Tutorial part III (presentation by Sven Bertel) / A Soar application: Tutorial part VI (presentation by Sven Bertel) / student team work.
5. 26 Nov 07: Presentation and discussion of solutions of exercise 2

C ACT-R
6. 03 Dec 07: Introduction to ACT-R (presentation by Susanne Spiller) / Practical introduction to ACT-R: Tutorial part I and part II (presentation by TBA) / Tutorial part III and part IV (old) (presentation by TBA)/ Homework: install ACT-R and get it running, Exercise 3.
7. 10 Dec 07: Practical introduction to ACT-R: Tutorial part IV and part V (presentation by TBA) / An ACT-R application (presentation by TBA) / student team work
8. 17 Dec 07: Spatial representations in ACT-R (presentation by Thilo Kaupisch) / Presentations and discussion of solutions of exercise 3

[Xmas holidays]

D Cogent, connectionist models, and model validation
9. 07 Jan 08: Introduction to COGENT (presentation by Dan Wasswa) / Practical example in COGENT (presentation by Christian Jaentsch; missionaries & cannibals) / Homework: install COGENT and get it running, Exercise 4.
10. 14 Jan 08: Introduction to connectionist models (presentation by Maya Itani) / The role of neural networks in cognitive science (presentation by Sven Bertel)
11. 21 Jan 08: A connectionist cognitive architecture (presentation by Javier Daza) / Presentation and discussion of solutions of exercise 4
12. 28 Jan 08: Higher level languages for cognitive modeling (presentation by Sven Bertel, Thomas Barkowsky) / Methods for validating cognitive models (student team work / slide with items to consider)

E Summary
13. 04 Feb 08: 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

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 exist installable COGENT versions for diverse platforms)
Introduction to the COGENT Modeling Environment

Assignments / Credits

To receive credits for this course you are expected to carefully work through the provided texts and tutorials, and to give a presentation in class on a specific topic (which will be either on introduction to, demonstration, or application of a cognitive architecture). Additionally, there will be four exercises which you need to complete, including a written documentation of your solution (see below for submission dates) and a presentation in the course. In the four exercises you have to reach an average score of at least 60%. The exercises will be done in groups of 3-5 students. At the end of the winter term, there will be a technical discussion of 20-30 minutes with every group to check whether the mark achieved by a group is equally applicable to all individual group members, and to decide on individual marks.

In the 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 your automatic failure in the course.

Return dates for your completed exercises:
No. 1: 04 Nov 07; No. 2: 23 Nov 07; No. 3: 14 Dec 07; No. 4: 18 Jan 08 (Please send your solutions in time to cosy-exercises@informatik.uni-bremen.de)

Exam

The technical discussions ("Fachgespräche") as well as the oral exams ("Modulprüfungen") in Cognitive Systems 2 are scheduled for Monday, 11 Feb 08 (and Monday, 31 Mar 08, for repeaters); please note that both dates are still subject to change. To take an oral exam or to participate in a technical discussion, please register by 27 Jan 08 (or by 16 Mar 08, 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 email per group is enough). Please note that the successful completion of the exercises is a precondition for registering for a technical discussion or an oral exam.

Sven Bertel, Thomas Barkowsky / 03 Feb 08