OVERVIEW

Videoclip (in Italian)

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to complete the competence on the cognitive processes through the deepening of the theoretical and methodological aspects of the application tools. The necessary empirical foundations and interdisciplinary aspects of these instruments will be considered.

A special emphasis will be placed on applications concerning individuals and organizations, related to the development of cognitive systems and models. Part of the course will be devoted to the analysis of the relationships between knowledge and work and technological contexts (task analysis, transfer of learning, innovation, cognitive ergonomics, etc.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of lessons students will be able to:

· deepen the different theories concerning cognitive processes

· compare and critically analyze the contents

· analyze the methodological foundations

· know how to identify interdisciplinary contributions

· connect theories studied to applications in ergonomic, clinical and social contexts

· read, interpret and discuss scientific contributions in the cognitive sciences

· know in broad terms how an experiment of cognitive psychology takes place

PREREQUISITES

Knowledge of notions of general psychology is opportune and knowledge of the essential concepts about cognitive processes is particularly recommended.

TEACHING METHODS

Combination of traditional lectures and classroom discussion of the article selected by each student. Attending the Laboratory of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences is required for at least 6 hours.

Given the introductory character of a course in General Psychology or Psychology of Cognitive Processes, for students enrolled in the course who have not attended one of these courses:
· A preliminary verification of the possession of the essential concepts will be carried out
· An integrative seminar will be organized and material will be provided for their acquisition.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

 Program for students who follow the course for 6 credits

Choice of one of the two parts of the course (see program for 9 credits)

1. Methods of applied cognitive science.
2. Knowledge and technology. Applications of cognitive psychology

Program for students who follow the course for 9 credits

This program is valid also for Psychology students who follow the course for 8 credits.

According to the interests of the students some of the following topics will be treated at different levels of depth.

Part 1. Methods of applied cognitive sciences
1. Empirical study of cognitive processes. Epistemology and methodology. Description and explanation. Observation, laws, and theories. Concept of variable. Correlation. Scales of measurement. Experimental method. Differential method. Experimental errors. Experimental and null hypotheses. Example of a laboratory research.
2.  Simulation methodology. Definition of cognitive systems. Systems theory. Cognitive science. Concept of "model". Concept of simulation, Functions of simulation models. Validation of simulation models. Simulation and Artificial Intelligence. Cybernetics. Concpets of feedback, information, entropy. Information, probability, and structure. Symbolic AI. Computational processes, automata. Turing machine. Von Neumann architecture. Neural networks: parallel distributed processing. Perceptrons. What neural networks do. Other architectures. Learning in neural networks. Dynamical systems. Cognitive architectures. Agent simulations. Social simulations. Serious games.
3. Questionnaires and content analysis. Questionnaire techniques. Methods of content analysis.
4. Cognitive task analysis. Hierarchical task analysis. Applied CTA. Cognitive walkthrough. Cognitive work analysis. Critical incidents. Other methods. Case studies.

Part 2. Knowledge and technology. Applications of cognitive psychology
1. Attention.  Cognitive tunneling, visual search, asymmetries, capture, dual tasks. Attention and magic. Situation awareness and mental overload. Human error and methods of error detection.
2. Perception. Direct perception and affordances. Marr's theory. Reference systems. Diagrammatic reasoning.
3. Categorization. Experiments on analytic and holistic processes. Diagnosis problems in medicine.
4. Memory and knowledge representation. Semantic networks: ARCH. Inferences: conceptual dependence theory. False memories. Cognitive and causal maps. Ontologies. Representation of time.
5. Problem solving and learning. Solving strategies. Means-end analysis. Production systems. Learning systems (SHRDLU, STRIPS). Frame problem. Learning transfer.
6. Cognitive ergonomics, man-machine interfaces, usability. Case studies. Assistive applications.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

 Bibliography for students who follow the course for 6 credits

For attending students lecture notes and slides of the course will be sufficient. Slides will be available on “Aulaweb” at the end of each block of lessons.

For non-attending students:

Materials (articles and texts) will be agreed with the teacher. 

Bibliography for students who follow the course for 9 credits

Attending students

For attending students lecture notes and slides of the course will be sufficient. Slides will be available on “Aulaweb” at the end of each block of lessons.

Non-attending students

Materials (articles and texts) will be agreed with the teacher. 

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

ALBERTO GRECO (President)

DAVID GIOFRE'

STEFANIA MORETTI

PAOLA VITERBORI

LESSONS

LESSONS START

 Start of class: October 2, 2018

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

The presentation and discussion in the classroom of a scientific article and an oral interview on the topics discussed in class is required.

Non-attending students will study recommended textbooks.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

The oral interview will be aimed at verifying that the student is able to

- know, understand, and deepen the different theories concerning cognitive processes;

- apply acquired knowledge in order to identify interdisciplinary contributions, link the theories studied to applications in ergonomic, clinical, social contexts;

- judge, compare and critically analyze the contents, analyze the methodological foundations, also on the basis of the experience made by participating in an experiment in the Laboratory;

- communicate correctly;

- correctly exploit teaching material (slide, reference texts) for the purpose of a successful learning.

The presentation in the classroom will be aimed at verifying that the student is able to read, interpret and discuss scientific contributions in the cognitive sciences.

Exam schedule