Research Proseminar II
ICOS 321
Spring 2000
Biology
Mathematics
Neurology_A
Neurology_B
Neurology_C
Philosophy_A-C
Philosophy_D
Psychology
Physics
Biology
Prof. J. Neale
I am willing to participate in the spring term course. The research topic is "Chemical Neurotransmission", the two weeks involve a walk through the strategies and methods used to solve specific problems and to develop/test hypotheses. The students' work would be evaluated with a problem oriented essay test. No view on the maximum number of students. I can teach a module in the spring of 1997 depending on the dates.
nealej@gunet.georgetown.edu
75662 fax, 75574 phone
Joe Neale, Biology
I am interested in offering a two-week module in the proposed seminar.
(1) The topic of my research is the mathematical properties of neural networks.
(2) I would have students read an assigned text, namely Murray Smith's Neural Networks for Statistic Modeling, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1993, and I would review the mathematics of neural networks and discuss some issues pertaining to them: their limited resemblance to networks of neurons, their merits relative to the other modeling techniques.
(3) I would have the students build simple neural networks using MATLAB and/or write a short paper on an issue.
(4) About a dozen students seems like an appropriate number for a class of this type. Since two weeks is a rather short period of time, I'd expect to see students outside class to consult with them on their networks and/or papers.
(5) I would be available this spring to teach such a module.
(6) email: andy@gumath1.math.georgetown.edu
fax: 202-687-6067
tel: 202-687-6254 (ring six times) or 202-244-8665
Aphasia and Alexia
Session 1 (1.5 hours)
Dr. Friedman will talk about the types of aphasia and types of alexia
Session 2 (1.5 hours)
Together, we will review our diagnostic test battery. We will go
over one patient's results together. You will then be asked to examine
the results from two patients' alexia types. If this requires more than
the time allotted, it is possible that you will be asked to finish at home.
Session 3 (1 hour)
We will discuss your ideas about possible treatments for the chosen
alexia type. Dr. Friedman and Ms. Susan Lott (Research Speech Pathologist)
will then talk about the treatments we are currently trying for this alexia.
Session 4 (1 hour)
You will sit in on a treatment session of one patient with the designated
alexia type.
Session 5 (1 hour)
We will discuss the treatment that you observed; talk about your
own ideas and suggestions; answer questions that arose as you observed
the patient.
Dr. Ronda B. Friedman
Associate Professor
Department of Neurology and GICCS
The Research Building, Room EP04
Georgetown University Medical Center
3970 Reservoir Rd. NW
Washington, D.C. 20007
Tel: 202-784-4134
Fax: 202-784-1657
The major goal of Dr. Kanwal's research is to elucidate normal auditory processes involved in the coding/decoding and perception of communication sounds. The dogma challenged my his research is that animal studies can teach us little, if anything, about two of the most highly specialized functions of the human CNS, namely, perception of speech and music - two related facets of human cognition that make us unique from other animals. It appears, however, that to really understand the neural mechanisms and neurophysiological principles underlying speech-sound perception one must study its minimal analogs present in an animal CNS. This has led to significant progress in the last decade, in our understanding of early auditory processing that underlies speech production as well as perception in humans. Similarly, basic phenomena such as perception of the "missing fundamental" that can be equated to certain aspects of music perception have been recently demonstrated at the psychophysical and neurobiological levels in bats and primates, respectively. Dr. Kanwal's research uses multiple approaches to investigate auditory processing within higher levels of the CNS in auditorily specialized animals, such as bats. These approaches include single cell electrophysiology, evoked potentials and ERPs and functional MRI as well as behavioral techniques.
Additional information may be obtained by visiting the Web site at:
http://www.giccs.georgetown.edu/labs/kanwal/index.html
The theme for this year's module will be "MUSIC PROCESSING"
-Anderson, P.W. (1972): More is Different: Broken Symmetry and the Nature of the Hierarchical Structure of Science, Science 177, 40-47
-Farre, G. (1998): The Semantic Filter and the Structure of Observation, Fourteenth European Meeting of Cybernetics and Systems Research, Austrian Society for Artificial Intelligence, Wien.
-Farre, G. (1998) Foreword to W. Schempp, Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Mathematical Foundations and Applications, John Wiley, New York
-Schweber, S. S. (1993):
Physics,
Community and the Crisis in Physical Theory, Physics Today (November)
34-40
-Atmanspacher, H. (1996): Exophysics, Endophysics, and Beyond, Revue de la Pensee d'aujourd'hui (Japan), 24-11, 347-354
-Atmanspacher, H. and Dalenoort, G. J. (eds.) (1994): Inside versus Outside. (Berlin: Springer Verlag)
-Bell, J. S. (1990): Against Measurement, Sixty-Two Years of Uncertainty (A.I. Miller, ed), (New York: Plenum Press), 17-31
-Farre, G. (1998): The
Semantic Filter and the Structure of Observation, Fourteenth European
Meeting of Cybernetics and Systems Research, Austrian Society for Artificial
Intelligence, Wien.
-Fodor and Pylyshyn (1988): Connectionism and Cognitive Architecture: A Critical Analysis, Cognition, 28, 3-71
-Fodor and McLaughin (1990): Connectionism and the Problem of Systematicity: Why Smolensky's Solution doesn't work, Cognition, 35, 183-204
-Smolensky (1988): On the Proper Treatment of Connectionism, Brain and Behavioral Sciences, 11:1, 1-70; also (1990): BBS, 13, 163-198
-Smolensky (1988): The Constituent Structure of Connectionist Mental States: A Reply to Fodor and Pylyshyn, Southern Journal of Philosophy, 26 Supplement, 137-160
-Penrose, R. (1990): The Non-argorithmic Mind, Behavioral and Brain Sciences 13, 692-705
We will read some of the literature on automatic theorem proving, focusing on the search for efficient proof procedures for propositional and predicate logic and/or the use of these systems in general problem solving. Topics covered will, to some extent, depend on the current interests of instructor and students. We may, for example, work towards extending the theorem checker now in use in the Symbolic Logic course at Georgetown.
Prerequisite: Symbolic Logic with a grade of B or higher. Some knowledge of Prolog or LISP programming language would also be desirable, but is not necessary.
(2) Class meetings: There would be two approximately three-hour-long meetings. Before the first the students will read a review article of original research reports from our lab. In class we will discuss questions the students bring with them and some major issues in the studies of implicit forms of remembering. We'll also design a very simple study for which the students will collect data from friends before the next class. During the second meeting, we'll assemble and discuss the data the students had collected and re-examine the earlier readings in light of the students' experience and data.
(3) Evaluation: Students will be expected to turn in a journal entry (two typewritten pages) at the beginning of each class summarizing and reflecting on the reading and/or data, and to include two questions for class discussion. Students will also turn in a short (5 typewritten pages) paper after the module is complete. The grade will be determined by these 3 written assignments and the quality of the student's contribution to the class.
(4) Maximum number of students: 10
(5) Darlene Howard
howardd@gunet.georgetown.edu
202-687-4271 (phone)
202-687-6050 (fax)
In the last few decades, the epistemological foundations
of teaching and learning have undergone a paradigmatic shift towards emphasizing
Constructivism and Schemata theories of learning. In this module
I intend to provide an overview of the most pertinent learning theories
and their implications for learning and teaching. Participants of
the seminar are encouraged to have active roles in the discussion.
The projected output of this module includes two main purposes. First,
I hope to enhance the participant's awareness of the active role of cognitive
science and learning theories on improving the teaching and learning.
Second, each participant will choose a topic of his/her liking and show
how to present that topic in a manner that utilizes the learning theories
discussed in the seminars and the reading materials. The details
of the assignments and of the readings will be discussed during our first
gathering.