30.4683, Summer Schools: Groningen Spring School on Cognitive Modeling / Netherlands

Wed Dec 11 20:25:58 UTC 2019

LINGUIST List: Vol-30-4683. Wed Dec 11 2019. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 30.4683, Summer Schools:  Groningen Spring School on Cognitive Modeling / Netherlands

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Date: Wed, 11 Dec 2019 15:25:18
From: Stephen Jones [s.m.jones at rug.nl]
Subject: Groningen Spring School on Cognitive Modeling / Netherlands

Groningen Spring School on Cognitive Modeling

Host Institution: University of Groningen
Coordinating Institution: University of Groningen
Website: http://www.cognitive-modeling.com/springschool

Dates: 30-Mar-2020 - 03-Apr-2020
Location: Groningen, Netherlands

Focus: Fifth Groningen Spring School on Cognitive Modeling:
ACT-R, Nengo, PRIMs, error-driven learning, and dynamical systems.
30 March - 3 April 2020

We are happy to announce the fifth Groningen Spring School on Cognitive Modeling. This year, the Spring School will again cover four different modeling paradigms: ACT-R, Nengo, PRIMs, and error-driven learning. It thereby offers a unique opportunity to learn the relative strengths and weaknesses of these approaches.

This year we are offering a lecture series on dynamical systems, which should be interesting for anyone looking into modeling cognitive dynamics at some level of abstraction. We recommend this lecture series as an excellent combination with Nengo, for those interested in neuromorphic computing.

The first day will provide an introduction to all five topics. From day two, spring school students will be asked to commit to one topic, for which they will attend lectures as well as tutorials. In addition, students can sign up for a second topic, for which they will attend lectures only. All students are invited to join a series of plenary research talks on the different paradigms.

On the first day, spring school students are asked to introduce themselves and their research interests in a poster session.

Please feel free to forward the information to anyone who might be interested in the Spring School.

We are looking forward to welcoming you to Groningen.
Minimum Education Level: MA

Description:
ACT-R
Teachers: Jelmer Borst, Maarten van der Velde, Stephen Jones, & Katja Mehlhorn
(University of Groningen)

ACT-R is a high-level cognitive theory and simulation system for developing
cognitive models for tasks that vary from simple reaction time experiments to
driving a car, learning algebra, and air traffic control. ACT-R can be used to
develop process models of a task at a symbolic level. Participants will follow
a compressed five-day version of the traditional summer school curriculum. We
will also cover the connection between ACT-R and fMRI.

Nengo
Teacher: Terry Stewart (University of Waterloo)

Nengo is a toolkit for converting high-level cognitive theories into low-level
spiking neuron implementations. In this way, aspects of model performance such
as response accuracy and reaction times emerge as a consequence of neural
parameters such as the neurotransmitter time constants. It has been used to
model adaptive motor control, visual attention, serial list memory,
reinforcement learning, Tower of Hanoi, and fluid intelligence. Participants
will learn to construct these kinds of models, starting with generic tasks
like representing values and positions, and ending with full production-like
systems. There will also be special emphasis on extracting various forms of
data out of a model, such that it can be compared to experimental data.

PRIMs
Teacher: Niels Taatgen (University of Groningen)

How do people handle and prioritize multiple tasks? How can we learn something
in the context of one task, and partially benefit from it in another task? The
goal of PRIMs is to cross the artificial boundary that most cognitive
architectures have imposed on themselves by studying single tasks. It has
mechanisms to model transfer of cognitive skills, and the competition between
multiple goals. In the tutorial we will look at how PRIMs can model phenomena
of cognitive transfer and cognitive training, and how multiple goals compete
for priority in models of distraction. 

Error-driven learning
Teachers: Jacolien van Rij and Dorothée Hoppe (University of Groningen)

Error-driven learning (also called discrimination learning) allows to simulate
the time course of learning. It is based on the Rescorla-Wagner model
(Rescorla & Wagner, 1972) for animal cognition, which assumes that learning is
driven by expectation error, instead of behaviorist association (Rescorla,
1988). The equations formulated by Rescorla and Wagner have been used to
investigate different aspects of cognition, including language acquisition,
second language learning, and reading of complex words. Although error-driven
learning can be applied for all domains in cognitive science, in this course
we will focus on how it could be used for modeling language processing and
language learning.

Dynamical Systems: a Navigation Guide 
Teacher: Herbert Jaeger (University of Groningen)

This lecture-series gives a broad overview over the zillions of formal models
and methods invented by mathematicians and physicists for describing
“dynamical systems”. Here is a list of covered items: Finite-state automata
with and without input, deterministic and non-deterministic, probabilistic),
hidden Markov models and partially observable Markov decision processes,
cellular automata, dynamical Bayesian networks, iterated function systems,
ordinary differential equations, stochastic differential equations, delay
differential equations, partial differential equations, (neural) field
equations, Takens’ theorem, the engineering view on “signals”, describing
sequential data by grammars, Chomsky hierarchy, exponential and power-law
long-range interactions, attractors, structural stability, bifurcations, phase
transitions, topological dynamics, nonautonomous attractor concepts. In the
lectures, I try to work out the underlying connecting lines between the “dots”
listed above.

Linguistic Field(s): Cognitive Science
                      Language Acquisition
                      Linguistic Theories
                      Neurolinguistics

Tuition: 250 EUR

Tuition Explanation: Fee rises to EUR 300 after 15 February 2020.

Registration: 10-Dec-2019 to 27-Mar-2020

Contact Person: Katja Mehlhorn
                Email: springschool at rug.nl

Apply on the web: http://www.cognitive-modeling.com/springschool

Registration Instructions:
Registration and payment online. If you require an invoice to be generated,
please e-mail springschool at rug.nl

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