Cognitive Science

bret.gillan@gmail.com — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 02:22:10 GMT

does anyone know of any good online resources to learn about computational linguistics?

wikipedia's blurb isn't quite doing it for me.
meanwhile, stanford's encyclopedia of philosophy is overwhelming me.

is there some phrase other than "computational linguistics" that i should be looking for?

bret.gillan@gmail.com — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 16:13:53 GMT

probably not the appropriate place to ask for help (delete if so), but i'm kind of desperate.
anyone here good with psychtoolbox for matlab, and have time this afternoon to help me deal with it?
pls hit me with IM or email if so.
thanks!

george lakoff's autograph?

bret.gillan@gmail.com — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 08:21:52 GMT

Hello,

This is my first time posting in this community. I apologize in advance if this is an inappropriate forum for my question. But my curiosity is killing me.

Does anyone here have George Lakoff's autograph? I recently purchased a used copy of Whose Freedom? and was perplexed to find this inside:

If I squint and use my imagination, I think I can wrest a "George Lakoff" from the scribble. On the other hand, maybe someone just used the page to test out a pen.

Anyone have a confirmed example of his autograph for comparison?

Thank you in advance!

Journal of Memory and Language

bret.gillan@gmail.com — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 04:23:22 GMT

Hi all -

I was wondering if anyone's library has access to the Journal of Memory and Language dating back to 1997. If you do, could you please, please, please send me a paper titled "How complex simple words can be" by Schreuder, R. and Baayen, H. Issue 37, pp. 118-139.

If anyone could do this, I don't know what I can do in exchange, but I'd clearly be indebted to this person.

You may send it to morphomir@gmail.com

Thank you.

Mir

bret.gillan@gmail.com — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 05:52:04 GMT

Hi, I just joined this group and I am quite impressed and excited by it. Please forgive me if I sound like a complete moron as I'm still quite new...to a lot of things lol. I'm still in my undergrad at Cal State Fullerton and I'm pretty new to LJ so a lot of my questions may be ones you roll your eyes at but I'm still taking the chance :). Ok, here goes: I'm a senior and I'm majoring in Communicative Sciences and Disorders, my major was psychology for a long time and then I switched. I decided I missed it and am now going to at least minor (two more classes, might as well) in psych. My major is the undergrad major for Speech Language Pathology, problem is I don't want to do that anymore. My goal focus is autism: research, therapy, observation, advocacy etc all interest me. What kind of grad program should I look into? Can I get into a psych program with only a minor or should I double major? Also, my psych gpa is ok (3.0 ish due to losing focus because of a family passing) so that worries me but my overall and my major are much higher. Like I said before, sorry if this is a pedestrian post but I'm the first person in my family to even go to college so they aren't really up on the whole grad school deal, I work when my counselors are available and I don't know who else to ask. Thank you so much.

Announcing: The Emergent Neural Network Simulation System

bret.gillan@gmail.com — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 19:09:40 GMT

http://grey.colorado.edu/emergent/index.php/Main_Page

Emergent is a major rewrite of the widely used PDP++ system.

Emergent is a comprehensive simulation environment for creating complex, sophisticated models of the brain and cognitive processes using neural network models. These networks can also be used for all kinds of other more pragmatic tasks, like predicting the stock market or analyzing data.
Emergent includes a full GUI environment for constructing networks and the input/output patterns for the networks to process, and many different analysis tools for understanding what the networks are doing. It has a new tabbed-browser style interface (in Qt 4), with full 3D graphics (via Open Inventor/Coin3D), and powerful new GUI programming tools and data processing and analysis capabilities. It supports the same algorithms as PDP++: Backpropagation (feedforward and recurrent), Self-Organizing (e.g ., Hebbian, Kohonen, Competitive Learning), Constraint Satisfaction (e.g., Boltzmann, Hopfield), and the Leabra algorithm that integrates elements of all of the above in one coherent, biologically-plausible framework.

Relative to PDP++, the main advances are:

Much easier to modify and extend the "scripting" of network training through a new GUI-based programming system -- everything is transparent and user-modifiable. Considerable support is included for implementing complex psychological tasks via this programming environment.

The tabbed browser allows everything to be contained within a single window, with full search functions, cut/copy/paste, drag-and-drop, etc, for a modern, highly efficient working environment.

Everything has been boiled down to the most basic, general-purpose elements, which can now be combined in more powerful, "emergent" ways. Environments and monitor data and all other forms of data have been consolidated in a single powerful DataTable object that supports many different kinds of operations (e.g., database-style Joins and Sorts, vector and matrix math, 3d graphing, statistics, etc). With convenient interfaces for DataTables in the GUI programming environment, flexible and efficient data processing and analysis functions can be readily performed.

Has a greater variety of network visualization tools, and a built-in virtual environment simulator (based on the popular ODE toolkit) allows networks to interact with a realistic simulated environment, to explore more embodied and robotic functionality.

Standard GPL license, ./configure build process, native look-and-feel on all 3 major platforms (Linux, Mac, Windows), easily-installable binary packages (including apt & yum on linux), and dynamically-loadable plugin modules.

Relative to the prevalent use of MATLAB and other general-purpose tools for neural neural network simulation, Emergent offers several important advantages:

completely open source, free software.

highly optimized execution speed, including distributed memory computation, while also supporting complex biologically-based neural architectures.

designed specifically to make research simulations easily accessible to other users with minimal additional effort: built-in documentation system, pervasive comment fields, accessible, transparent interface.

In brief, if you're doing large scale, complex neural network models, Emergent offers many advantages.

EEG Neurofeedback

bret.gillan@gmail.com — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 15:11:55 GMT

Has anyone gone through training and certification for EEG Neurofeedback? I'm thinking of doing so this year, and I'd really love to talk to anyone who is (or is considering getting) certified.

Thanks!

Going to VSS conference next week?

bret.gillan@gmail.com — Mon, 07 May 2007 01:16:17 GMT

(x-posted to neuroscience and cogsci)

By the way, are any of you folks going to the Vision Sciences Society conference next week in Sarasota, FL? I'll be heading there myself with a bunch of other people from my lab. I'm pretty excited, as it's the first time I'll be presenting (albeit in poster form) at a conference.

If anyone's curious, I'll be doing a poster presentation on how "TMS induces detail-rich 'instant replays' of natural images," during the "afterimages and aftereffects" poster session on 5/12 (Saturday).

Are there any E-Prime experts??!

bret.gillan@gmail.com — Wed, 02 May 2007 11:31:59 GMT

This is a plea for help to any E-Prime whizzes out there which is cross posted hence the cut to save everyone's Flists!

I am a complete novice with E-Prime. Our Uni have given us E-Prime programs to tweak but they have been basic - very basic! I do have a few sample programs with colours and shapes in so I know they can be made but I need some help to find out whether an experiment could potentially be done in E-Prime. I have to submit my project proposal in a few weeks, however I don't get access to a tutor for technical support until July - and if the experiment in my project proposal isn't possible in E-Prime / too complicated then I will lose valuable marks (our tutor marks our proposal and then offers suggestions and then in July we build it with E-Prime tutors - but we only get a day in which to build it in before we run it on participants.) If its not going to be possible then I really need to know asap!!

I need to build essentially a clock face of circles - with no circle in the 12 o'clock or 6 o'clock positions. The minimum number of circles will be 5, and the maximum is still to be determined but it will probably be 19 maximum. However they don't all have to be even if that makes sense. i.e. you could have a possible position for 19 circles but only 5 places may be filled. These need to be filled with 3 different colours. Having pulled apart the program that a friend sent me, I see she has inserted the colour RGB's in the programming. I also see she has specified the shape she needs.

My real problems at present seem to be:
a) I don't have a clue where to begin to write a program - ie what you need to put in the programming although I can see how she has done certain bits (but hers is a very different progam)
b) How on earth do I get the shapes all evenly around a clock face (its because the distance from the fixation target will then be equidistant).

We have programs at the Uni similar to this in Visual basic - however we have to use E-Prime. However I understand there are similarities. Would it be any use (or just confusing) to get a copy of these?

I have tried the E-Prime website and also Googled to try and find help or a handbook or something and I can't see anything.

All help would be enormously appreciated, even if its just a - yes that can be done and its not going to take days to set up with an experts help!! Thanks in advance!

bret.gillan@gmail.com — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 22:44:51 GMT

Does anyone know a free and easy to use (eg, point-and-click) neural networks software? I was thinking of studying ANNs, but I have null programming experience...

Compartmentalization MBTI T/F axis

bret.gillan@gmail.com — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 20:23:03 GMT

I'm pretty good at compartmentalizing and contextualizing thoughts, feelings etc, as most analytic types do, putting them into dense a honeycomb like structure, some marked black some filled with golden honey. My mood generally switches based on the average of all the cells currently illuminated by the mental flashlight, and shifts as fast as I switch the beam. e.g. I'm having a tough problem at work and I get frustrated, a friend sends me a funny joke I laugh, and then it's back to frustrated, shift focus someplace else it's whatever I'm looking at.

To contrast this some of my strong F based friends, while they compartmentalize to some degree as well, often the contents overflow into other cells. e.g. they get frustrated by something, they get a call from a distant friend, then the whole world seems rosy. Of course this overflow goes both ways, when an area is particularly bad it runs off into other areas as well.

If perception is like a black and white camera, the F axis might be likened to the degree of blur and either oversaturating or underdeveloping.

Normally I'm wary of emotions distortion, I realized this morning, that evolutionarily both these 'strategies' have strong advantages but not all the time.

Fixation

bret.gillan@gmail.com — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 22:39:07 GMT

(x-posted to personal journal)

This is hilarious:

http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/070312ruel/

When photos do contain people related to the task at hand, or the content users are exploring, they do get fixations. However, gender makes a distinct difference on what parts of the photo are stared at the longest. Take a look at the hotspot below.

Although both men and women look at the image of George Brett when directed to find out information about his sport and position, men tend to focus on private anatomy as well as the face. For the women, the face is the only place they viewed.

Coyne adds that this difference doesn’t just occur with images of people. Men tend to fixate more on areas of private anatomy on animals as well, as evidenced when users were directed to browse the American Kennel Club site.

T-shirts with optical illusions? (or other cog-sci apparel?)

bret.gillan@gmail.com — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 21:06:08 GMT

I've been trying to find some good t-shirts (or other apparel?) with optical illusions. Have you seen any good ones lately? I've listed some of what I've found so far down below:

* Here's a scintillating grid shirt: http://www.cafepress.com/losethegameshop.56969429

* Here's some more on zazzle: http://www.zazzle.com/pd/find/qs-illusion/ps-40/pt-235/st-POPULARITY?sz=1

I particularly like the rotating snake illusion shirt.

* Another snake shirt: http://mistupid.com/shop.php?i=mistupid/mistupid5.8211841

* Here's another shirt which makes clever use of the fork prong illusion.

* Rabbit in Escher scupture: http://www.threadless.com/product/503/Illusion_of_Rabbit_Optical

* Several from the Archimedes' Laboratory store on CafePress: http://www.cafepress.com/mariejo2/221803

* http://www.cafepress.com/eluzions

* Also, a Stroop Effect shirt: http://www.cafepress.com/buy/grey/-/pv_design_prod/p_709997.9300625/pNo_9300625/id_3697534/?click=true&CMP=KNC-F-ALL

Please give me some advices!

bret.gillan@gmail.com — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 19:10:58 GMT

I have recently graduated at Organizational and Social Psychology, but unlike most of my colleagues, during my degree I developed an interest in the computing field. As such I would like to apply my skills to this area. I just don’t know what exactly.

That’s why I’m asking for your assistance: Do you have any ideas or guidance to give me?

I found areas such: artificial intelligence, game play or websites usability…but I’m feeling really lost.

Thanks in advance for your attention.

P.S. I like cognitive science, dreams research, internet, computer games, drawing and music... I hope these things might help. ^^

Radio Curious: This is Your Brain on Music

bret.gillan@gmail.com — Tue, 07 Nov 2006 01:08:28 GMT

This is a recent interview on Radio Curious with Professor Daniel J. Levitin of the Laboratory for Music Perception, Cognition and Expertise at McGill University in Montreal Canada discussing cognition and music. Levitin "asserts that our brains are hardwired for music" similar to those who claim that our brain is "hardwired" for language, though more primitive.

http://www.radio4all.net/proginfo.php?id=20418

Positive afterimages?

bret.gillan@gmail.com — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 19:02:48 GMT

Typically when people talk about afterimages, they're negative afterimages. What are some good examples of positive afterimages?

The uncanny valley

bret.gillan@gmail.com — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 13:32:31 GMT

I'm new to this group, so thought I'd write and introduce myself - my name's Stephanie Gray, I live in the UK and I'm planning a research project which I feel may be of interest to this community.

I am just about to start a PhD looking into the Uncanny Valley effect: this is the feeling of being 'creeped out' or unsettled when you see a face that is almost but not quite human. It's a concept that first came from robotics, and it's probably best illustrated with an example from that field: the Repliee Q1expo, a humanoid android that still looks subtly and unsettlingly 'wrong' despite the detailed features and facial expression.

My project will look in detail at the uncanny valley effect, including an exploration of a possible cognitive load explanation for why it occurs, can it be extinguished over time, and what biological basis can be found for the effect.

I'd be very interested to make contact with anyone who is already looking at this area, so please do comment or email me. If you would like to read more about my work, I'm running a research journal at this account and you're very welcome to add it as a friend. In addition to regualr posts about my studies, I'm planning to post a weekly roundup of relevant of general relevance to the area.

(Apologies to those of you who see this cross-posted, I'm also talking to several other communities with relevant interests which may overlap.)

anticipation

bret.gillan@gmail.com — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 23:18:19 GMT

Hi all,

I'm hoping to do some background research on anticipation but I don't know where to start. Does anyone know of any good articles or books in any field (psych, neurobio, whatever) that might be helpful?

Definition of post-stimulus

bret.gillan@gmail.com — Tue, 05 Sep 2006 11:46:56 GMT

Hi all, may I ask whether the standard definition (if one exists) of post-stimulus means:

1. After the onset of the stimulus, or
2. After the stimulus disappears?

In context, does 24ms post-stimulus of a stimulus lasting for 1000ms mean:

1. 24ms after the stimulus starts to be presented, or
2. 24ms after the stimulus disappears?

Thanks.

Stimulus Onset Asynchrony (SOA)

bret.gillan@gmail.com — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 13:49:40 GMT

Does anyone know any good sources to look up if I wish to familiarise myself with the concept of SOA (Stimulus Onset Asynchrony)? It's a term used in the semantic priming paradigm.

Any good sources on semantic priming would also be great, especially review papers or chapters listing different kinds of priming experiments (e.g. lexical decision task).

Thanks!

(Cross-posted to some linguistics and psychology communities.)

copyright-free images?

bret.gillan@gmail.com — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 20:38:36 GMT

Greetings. I have been charged with the task of finding copyright-free images for a neuro-ling “text book”. Any suggestions? (if this post is inappropriate for the community, please let me know. Thanks.)

it's not the size of your cortex, but how you use it...

bret.gillan@gmail.com — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 23:07:51 GMT

Hey folks,

Thought you may be interested to play with a very nice, and very free,
bit of 3-D brain visualization software:

http://www.brainvoyager.com/BrainTutor.html

(apologies if this has been posted here before)

I used it in the presentation I just gave last wed. on "The
Psychoneuroimmunology of Meditation"

We focused on these two studies:

Alterations in Brain and Immune Function Produced by Mindfulness Meditation:

http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/cgi/content/full/65/4/564 (also
available in pdf)

and

Meditation experience is associated with increased cortical thickness
http://lazar-meditation-research.info/Lazar_Meditation_Plasticity_05.pdf (<-pdf)

It went well enough that I'd like to expand it with more studies
(Ekman, J K-Z, etc.) and put together a video -- a kind of multiledia
journal review, including on the disc all of the (freely available)
papers referenced.

Any ideas on what else to include in such a package?

bret.gillan@gmail.com — Sun, 30 Apr 2006 20:27:08 GMT

Hi. :) It seems like there are a lot of students here, which is awesome. I'm one myself. (I first (and last) posted here almost exactly a year ago, when I was in the process of petitioning my college to let me do a "cognitive studies" major - the petition was successful.) But I'm curious if there are any of you out there who have careers involving cognitive science. I've got one year of college left. I'm not interested in pursuing grad school right now, and I'm wondering what the heck to do with my bachelor's degree. My main hobby is knitting/spinning yarn. I'd love to have a job which would incorporate cognitive science and art/aesthetics in some way, but I have no clue what that would be. Any suggestions? It's worth noting that I'm not heavy on the math/CS side of things. AI fascinates me (I'm taking an amazing class right now called Android Epistemology), but I can't for the life of me seem to get through Calc 1, so I'm not really considering a career explicitly involving AI development or robotics. I'm also not really interested in doing abstract research. I feel like there must be something out there for me, but all I seem to be able to conclude is what I don't want to do. *sigh* Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

bret.gillan@gmail.com — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 19:04:52 GMT

Hi everyone! I am new here, about to enter grad school, and I thought I would introduce myself.

Here's my question, sorry if it has been asked before:

Does anyone have any psychology/psychiatry/neuroscience or related podcasts to recommend?

Free ones, preferably.

Thanks! :)