Tutorial workshop on connectionist models (preliminary announcement)

[Devin McAuley]

A Tutorial Workshop on Connectionist Models of Cognition
        
Saturday October 3rd - Sunday October 4th, 1998

Sponsored by theDepartment of Psychology and the Cognitive Science
Center The Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio 43210

The Department of Psychology and the Cognitive Science Center at Ohio
State University are pleased to announce a tutorial workshop on
Connectionist Models of Cognition.

The workshop is open to both faculty and students interested in the
application of parallel distributed processing models to cognitive
phenomena either in a teaching or research capacity. Participants will
gain hands-on modeling experience with a variety of standard
architectures and have the opportunity to begin developing their own
models under the guidance of workshop staff. A background in
connectionist models is not required to participate in this workshop.

The intensive 2-day workshop will consist of tutorial lectures on
specific connectionist models followed by structured modeling sessions
in the computer lab. The network architectures covered will include
interactive-activation networks, backpropagation networks,
simple-recurrent networks, Hopfield networks, self-organizing feature
maps, and coupled-oscillator models.

Lab sessions will consist of a series of exercises using the BrainWave
connectionist simulator. BrainWave is a web-friendly software tool for
teaching connectionist models based on a paint-program
metaphor. Developed for an undergraduate course on connectionist
models, it targets novices and requires a minimal level of technical
skill to use.  The BrainWave package (and on-line teaching materials)
have been included as components of undergraduate courses in
psychology, cognitive science, linguistics, and computer science at
universities in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

By the end of this workshop, participants will have a general
introduction to the field of neural networks and the BrainWave
simulator, and have experience running simulations with several
connectionist models of cognitive phenomena that have been influential
in cognitive science. For faculty teaching cognitive modeling, the
workshop provides the opportunity to gain familiarity with the
BrainWave simulator and course materials.  For researchers, it offers
an excellent opportunity for professional development.
 
The registration fee for the students attending the workshop is $50
and for all others it is $150.  Included in the registration for the
2-day workshop are

1. A single-user copy of the BrainWave software package.
2. All course materials.

The workshop coordinators are Dr. Devin McAuley (Department of
Psychology, Ohio State University) and Dr. Simon Dennis (School of
Psychology, University of Queensland).  The Cognitive Science Center
faculty sponsor is Professor Mari Jones (Department of Psychology,
Ohio State University).

Send general inquiries and registration forms to:

Connectionist Models Workshop (c/o Devin McAuley)
Department of Psychology
142 Townshend Hall	
The Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio 43210 USA
Email: brainwav at psy.uq.edu.au 
Fax:   614-292-5601

* The registration deadline is September 15th (numbers are limited) *

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Workshop Registration Form

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CHECK ONE

STUDENT 	_____	($50)

ACADEMIC	_____	($150)

INDUSTRY	_____	($150)


Payment should be made to: the Department of Psychology, The Ohio State
University




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J. Devin McAuley, PhD
Department of Psychology
142 Townshend Hall
The Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio 43210
Email: mcauley.11 at osu.edu
Phone: 1-614-292-4320