Announcements

May 3rd, 2003

• Thats it! You should have your final exam mailed back to you along with your final grade for the class. I hope you all enjoyed it, I know we have. If you have any questions or comments about anything just email or come and talk to myself or Zenzi. Have a great summer!

April 16, 2003

• You should have a reaction paper average from reaction papers 1-4, and reaction paper #4 graded in your mailbox. If you dont please let us know.
• I will also be calculating your pre-final exam average after we grade reaction paper #5 sometime hopefully early to mid-next week to give you an idea of your standing. I'll email these out as well.
• Here are two IS talks coming up tomorrow:
  
  Marty

April 15, 2003

• A very related course to take next fall from Dr. Nersessian:

• posted by ZMG

April 11, 2003

• Breaking news, we've decided to make the last reaction paper optional due to its proximity to the end of the semester and the final exam. What optional means is that if you do it, and you do better than your worst reaction paper, the grade will replace your worst paper. If you for some reason do worse on your consciousness reaction paper than other reaction papers, your consciousness reaction paper will be dropped. Thus your grade can only go up or stay the same, not go down.
• Note that formulating your thoughts on consciousness will probably give you a leg up on the final exam, as you will probably get a question on consciousness.
• I will also be calculating your reaction paper grades up through reaction paper 3 and emailing you your average so you know where you stand on the reaction papers. Reaction paper #4 will be graded by next wed, and in that I'll also include a new average, sorry that we cant get them graded until then.
• The final exam will be givin sometime around the begining of dead week and will be due sometime during the exam period (approximately). It will be a take home exam, as the midterm was.

April 7, 2003

April 3, 2003

April 2, 2003

• Cleverly we've skipped any news that may have arrived on April's fools day.. just in case....
• All reaction paper #3s should have been returned at this point. Please check your mailbox to make sure you have yours and let me know if for some reason you didn't get it.
• As soon as the cogsci student conference agenda is mailed out, I'll post it here as an announcement for those that are not on the mail list so you can see the talks and schedule. Right now it is tentatively scheduled to run from 10:00am to 3:00pm with talks and a poster session over lunch.

March 31, 2003

• We are 'moving' class on Friday to the MaRC Auditorium for the cognitive science student conference. That is, you should go see the morning talks for the student conference, and we won't be holding class this friday. Please do keep up with the readings assigned on dynamical systems and radical emodiment as we will be discussing them the following class.
• As a result, Jeff's much anticipated talk will be rescheduled for the wed after (april 9th) as well.
• This just in... Larry Barsalou (the perceptual symbol systems guy) will be giving a cognitive science virtual colliquim (similar to the last one by Anderson) on the web, a week from this Friday - April 11th at 1:00pm. Details in class, signup to see it here.
• My tuesday office hours this week conflict with a talk I'd like to go to. Thus, please email me if you want to setup an appointment and can't make my thursday office hours (11:00-12:00)

March 28, 2003

• Do you mean April 9? Jennie
  • Oops Yes! Sorry about that date problem. Wednesday April 9th the wednesday after it was originally scheduled to be due. Sorry about that typo.
• I didn't get time to mention in class a few other things of importance from the robotics domain.
  • Firstly, you should have a look at Braitenberg vehicles, there are several links off of the robotics page, they are a classic demonstration of emergent behavior in robotics and important to the field.
  • Also there are a few other very interesting commercial robots. There is a vaccum cleaner robot called Rumba that comes out of work at the MIT AI lab on behavior based robotics, it is an automated vaccum cleaner robot, you can own one if you want, they are commercially for sale, an interesting application of robotics.
  • In addition SONY has come out with entertainment robots called AIBOs that are dog robots that behave similar to dogs. They have very fine motor movements and are technically very well done. These are the robots used for robot soccer. http://www.us.aibo.com/
  • Lastly, Honda is coming out soon (a year or so) with humanoid robots that have precision motor movements very similar to humans. The demo video shows them dancing to a song displaying various fine joint movements with their ankles, legs, feet, heads, shoulders, arms, hands etc. Unfortunately I couldn't find the video to show you online, but its worth looking at their website http://hondacorporate.com/new/index.html?subsection=asimo
  • Robots that feed themselves at MIT are also interesting. One of the biggest problems with robots is that they must be recharged after a fairly short period of time (hours/day or two). Well you dont want to have to remember to plug your robot back in!! Work at MIT demonstrates self-recharging. There is also an option on AIBOs available to do this.
• Marty

March 26, 2003

• We've moved the due date for the next reaction paper to next Wed Apr 9 due to not being able to return your previous reaction paper yet.
• The next reaction paper on expanded view of cognition means to react to some aspect of the new cognitive theories we have been studying. Since the last reaction paper this means – perceptual symbol systems, situated/embodied and distributed cognition, artificial life, robotics and dynamical systems. You can either address all these in some fashion or address one in depth. Remember that reaction paper means reaction to. This means you should not just summarize papers on the subject, but give your opinions on the arguments for and against or about some of these areas and link your opinions with some explanation of research in the area. The best reaction papers link the readings in with interesting opinions or views on related subjects.
• Please remember that the cognitive science student conference is a week from this friday!! Consider giving a presentation or at very least attending the conference to see work going on at GaTech and Emory in cognitive science. Marty

March 13, 2003

Cognitive Science Student Conference

March 12, 2003

• For those keeping track, Etienne's presentation has been moved to next Wed, the presentation on situated cognition, so that it fits better with the readings and also because this Friday seemed overbooked.
• Next wed there is now an additional optional reading linked to the syllabus. It is a classic paper by Hutchins who is one of the big names in the situated cognition field. Etienne's talk will likely cover this article and it should be a good read. The complete reference is also added to the bottom.
• Joey is going to post something shortly and bring flyers for the cognitive science conference which is in April. This is a great chance to see what students from Georgia Tech and Emory are doing in the field of cognitive science
• Marty

March 8, 2003

• Connectionism reaction paper

Feb 26th, 2003

• Remember, the reaction paper originally due this friday on connectionism is not due until March 14th after spring break
• The exam grading is finished and those who submitted electronic copies should have them back by now, please let me know if you didn't get it. The paper copies will be handed back in class.
• 'Model' solutions to the exam will go up off of the website very shortly. Just ask if you have any questions. PLEASE please remember that grading is always a subjective thing in a class like this, arguing for a few points here or there will never change your grade. If you want to understand something better, of course, come and talk to us. Marty

Feb 21th, 2003

• Important!! We are postponing the next reaction paper on connectionism until March 14th after spring break.
• Next friday the 28th is John Anderson's virtual web talk. I'm told that the talk will be projected and broadcast from CoC 102 immediately following the normal cogsci brownbag there, which will be Tucker Balch's talk next Friday. Thus you get 2 for 1 cogsci talks next Friday in CoC 102 starting at noon!
• Marty

Feb 18th, 2003

• The remaining readings on the schedule for the rest of the semester are now online. If you have any trouble accessing any of them please let me know.
• We are working on grading the midterms it will probably be a little while longer before we can give them back.
• There is a cognitive science society virtual talk on Feb 28th at 1pm, same format as last time in the virtual conference room or by phone in. Anderson Talk
• Marty

Feb 7, 2003

• Reaction paper #2 should be in your mailbox graded. If its not let me know.
• Phillip's machine learning presentation is now up on the website
• The takehome midterm exam is now up on the website. It is due Fri Feb 14th
• Don't forget David Robertson's cogsci talk today at noon in CoC 102

Feb 4, 2003

• I've linked the problem solving ppt presentation to the syllabus that is for Wed Feb 5th. In addition, almost all the non-book readings are now linked off the syllabus. There are only 3 missing now that will be up in another week or two for those reading ahead. Marty
• Also note that there is a Cogsci colloqium this friday in CoC 102 - David Robertson will present his work on language, the talk is titled: "Process vs. content in text metamemory monitoring" Marty
• In addition there is an intelligent systems special talk coming up next tuesday, at 3:15pm in MARC auditorium about swarming behavior. I can provide more details in email if anyone is interested Marty

Jan 30, 2003

• I have begun linking presentations/notes for student presentations as a link in the schedule. Scroll down to the schedule and have a look at the links for more information about each individual student presentation. The first presentation on case-based reasoning is now up. Marty

Jan 25, 2003

• The Tech Library now lists the Blackwell Companion to Cognitive Science as on reserve for this course and as available!!! ZMG

Jan 23, 2003

• Website updates – including presentations linked with student names (please check to make sure yours is right!), the second part of the notes, and a link to the cogsci colloquia schedule for the spring semester. Dont forget tomorrow's talk! Marty
  • January 24, 2003 Brown bag Yakov Ben-Haim CoC 102
• There are two special lectures coming up next week. One is part of the IS distinguished lecture series - Ken Forbus is coming to Georgia Tech and is talking in MARC Auditorium (where Veloso gave her presentation) next Thursday at 11:00am. Forbus has done pioneering work in analogy and models of thought pertaining to qualitative physics.
• The second talk is a virtual colloquia series sponsored by the The Cognitive Science Society (a great society to be a memory of!). Frank Keil is talking via a webconference on: "The Misunderstood Limits of Folk Science: An Illusion of Explanatory Depth". You dont have to be a member to join but you have to fill out a small registration form so they know how many people are going to hit their conferencing system at once. Visit the link on the main course webpage to register and get the password for the seminar Marty

Jan 20, 2003

• Friday's reaction paper on the Chinese Room is postponed until the following Wed Jan 29 to allow us more time to get to the background topics in lecture.
  • ZMG

Jan 13, 2003

• The psychology domain is having trouble with their systems, psychology.gatech.edu, the old course webpage and Prof. Griffin's email address are all not working and haven't been since Friday sometime. Please make sure your pointing to the course webpage from the CoC, which is our official one anyhow: http://www.cc.gatech.edu/classes/AY2003/cs6795_spring/

• If you need to contact professor Griffin please use: zg9@mail.gatech.edu

Jan 10, 2003

• When looking in the bookstore for textbooks please make sure to check under the other course headings. Keep in mind this is a crosslisted course CS/PSYCH/ISYE so books maybe under a different department. If you've tired of waiting on the bookstore, Amazon.com is a good place to order textbooks and they are relatively quick to ship them to you. There isn't a significant price difference between the two. Marty

• Made some webpage updates, including adding in hypertext links to most readings. There are only a couple non-coursebook readings that are unavailable. So there is lots of time to read ahead! :) Notes and reading guide for the first few weeks coming soon. Please add your name to the who's who page if you haven't already. Its very valuable in discussions to know a little about one another. Marty