Psychology

This course provides students an understanding of the biological bases of behavior and discusses some of our cognitive functions such as memory, learning, decision making, emotion, and the cognitive aspect under social behavior. 

The course explores experiments on language and psychological theories about language processing. At the theoretical level a special emphasis is devoted to differences in the architecture and mechanisms of cognitive models of language processing. At the empirical level a specific attention is devoted to the different experimental methods that are apt to study specific linguistic processes. The course discusses topics including general linguistics, speech production and comprehension, word processing, sentence processing, discourse processing, advantages and difficulties of bilingualism, and models of literary language reception. The course requires students to have knowledge of experimental methods in psychology and of cognitive psychology concepts as a prerequisite. Knowledge of linguistics is welcome but not necessary.

This course provides an overview of the major issues in developmental psychology, with a focus on infancy and childhood. It reviews the development of individual differences; evaluates stage and process theories of cognitive, social, and linguistic development; and considers the extent to which research findings have pan-cultural and local application. The course also stresses the importance of empirical research. This course requires a prerequisite of Introduction to Psychology.

This course introduces students to a variety of ways where psychological knowledge is applied to everyday problems. Topics covered include understanding mental health problems and how they can be treated, how psychology can be used to influence health and well-being, the role of psychology in the workplace, and the relevance of psychology to educational practice, including understanding why ‘bullying’ occurs and how we can prevent it. Students learn about the research and theories that support these applications of psychology to everyday problems, and be introduced to the areas of professional applied psychology that underpin them.

This course examines the psychological theories of human development and applications to real-world problems that provide a context for understanding changes in social, emotional, physical and cognitive aspects of human development throughout the lifespan.

This course presents the theoretical and computational foundations of brain-inspired artificial intelligence. The focus is on machine learning based on artificial neural networks, from simple models up to state-of-the-art deep learning models. The final part of the course introduces the use of neural networks as models of perception and cognition. Laboratory classes introduce students to computer simulations with artificial neural networks. The course discusses topics including artificial neural networks: mathematical formalism and general principles; supervised learning: perceptron, delta rule, multi-layered networks, and error backpropagation; generalization and overfitting; supervised deep learning; recurrent networks; unsupervised learning: associative memories and Hopfield networks, latent variable models, and Boltzmann machines; unsupervised deep learning; reinforcement learning; computer simulation as a research method in cognitive science; and connectionist models of perception and cognition. This course requires basic knowledge of mathematics (high school level), including notions of linear algebra, calculus, and probability, as well as knowledge of statistics and neuroscience as prerequisites for the course. Computer literacy is required for the lab practices.