Deadline: July 12, 2024

Admissions are open at IIT Kanpur through Walk In mode. See the 'News' section of the website website for more details. Check out the Faculty page to see if there's someone whose research interests match yours!

For those not in the know, IIT Kanpur has been primarily an engineering and technological institute for a few decades now. The interdisciplinary program in Cognitive Science began this last decade and has also developed into a department of its own.

I wrote this paper a few years ago and thought I'd share it here...

https://vixra.org/abs/2008.0132

TLDR - Abstract

This is a serious draft attempt, from an autodidact, of a theory of everything. It begins with a self-evident idea at its core. The two-dimensional models depicted within the big picture of this paper attempt to encompass all perspectives of reality whilst taking into account all of our empirical observations of space-time. The hypothesis detailed within the body of this work predicts how certain specific subjective states of conscious experience will feel in respect to an individual. (Relative Conscious Time Travel)

I just graduated with a BS in Computer Science with a 3.6 GPA. I interned at a BioTech company last summer and worked with a research institute for my capstone project in my senior year, other than that I don't have any research experience. I want to do research in cognitive science and eventually pursue a Ph.D. but I'm not sure where to start. Should I apply directly to some programs even though I don't have any research experience? What should I do during this time to get my foot in the door with cogsci research? I don't have a job in the tech industry right now and was planning to work as a server or in retail until I figure out what to do.

I'm not sure who to email or what programs to look for, I'm interested in topics like the effects of anxiety on memory, which I think would lean towards more cognitive psychology. Additionally, I would love to go internationally for grad school (I'm based in the USA), which is also something I don't know how to approach. Any advice regarding how to get my foot into cognitive science and pursuing a PhD would be greatly appreciated. If anyone has gone international for grad school, how did you come across the opportunity and would you consider it more difficult to get into a school internationally?

Thank you!

Understanding and Diagnosing Deep Reinforcement Learning

Published in ICML 2024.

Paper: https://openreview.net/pdf?id=s9RKqT7jVM

This is an Open letter. Respond in comments. We'll take it to chat if you're interested.

I need to speak with a cognitive scientist who has a leaning toward neuroscience. This isn't for a job, but a science question that I need a really smart person, with more experience than me, to answer. It has to do with neural trauma response networks, emotional event regulation and PTSD, and the repurposing of brain structures for additional internal "compute". It's a really cool idea, and I think it'll be a really good discussion.

hello! I applied to the RPTU MSc CogSci program 2 months ago and am still awaiting the evaluation. A few days ago, they sent all applicants an email that they had been accepted and should start enrollment, but later another email was sent clarifying their mistake.

They have sent rejection emails to people who did not meet the requirement, but they are not sending acceptance or rejection mail to others, I have emailed them regarding the previous error and when I can expect the result, but it has been a week and I haven't received any response.

has anyone here applied to the same program and received any response, whether acceptance or rejection, Please respond

Thank you!

I’ll soon be starting uni and have to pick my major/minor. I’m confused between-

1. cognitive systems ( focus on computational intelligence and design) major + Data Science minor

OR

2)a normal CS degree with a data science minor.

the Only coding languages I know rn are python and SQL ( I know it’s not a language but ykwim). I do want to go into a tech related field in the future but not necessarily SWE. Im more interested in going into AI/ML, Data analyst/scientist, IT manager , swe is fine too but i dont wanna do front end.
So considering what I wanna do and what the job market will demand in 4-5 years from now when I graduate, WHICH ONE SHOULD I DO?
I’m confused PLEASE HELP OR GIVE SUGGESTIONS!! :)

Hi everyone, 😊

I found it super interesting how reflecting on questions framed in a cognitively useful way, such as emphasizing perceived usefulness or targeting sweet spots in knowledge, can induce a mindset change.

I created a video on how cognition and cognitive framing strategies can elevate our daily journaling practice, helping us build a growth mindset and enhance our innovative capacity.

Check out my video if you're interested: Watch here

I'd love to hear your thoughts and any ideas for further research directions!

Thank you! Have a great sunday!

Jonathan

I'm a psychotherapist who studied philosophy as an undergraduate, and I've been persistently bothered by the carelessness with which we (in the mental health field) discuss topics like thoughts, emotions, motivations, goal-setting, and mindfulness. Our definitions, distinctions between, use of, and examples of these terms are overly simplistic and haphazard.

This is a problem because, for starters, it makes it difficult to teach emotion regulation. Let's say, for example, that two patients are struggling with anxiety. I can teach both of them deep breathing, but they can differ wildly in response efficacy due, in part, to overlooked differences in execution. Patient A might focus on the feeling of their chest expand and contract while patient B might focus on the temperature of the air as it passes through their nostrils. Patient A might unknowingly shift their attention towards various thoughts entering and exiting their consciousness. Patient B might be preoccupied with cares about how they are being perceived by the therapist. So much can be happening cognitively or psychologically without the therapist's (or even the patient's) awareness.

I watched a lecture by John Vervaeke (yes, I understand why he's not a fan favorite on here but bear with me) in which he argues that the "spotlight" metaphor of attention fails to capture various features of attention, such as the ability to focus one's attention TO an object, versus THROUGH an object (for example, we can look at the surface of glass, or we can look through glass). He also says that we can shift our attention to varying degrees of abstraction: from the Gestalt to the finer details of an object or environment. He also argues that the frequency and duration of one's flow states correlate with one's overall sense of meaning in life, and he presents prerequisites to a flow state that I found helpful: clear contextual information, prompt feedback correction, and relatively high stakes (so that failure and success matter).

I mention these because they highlight some of the details I think, if understood, could be useful in treatment. If I am going to be teaching what are essentially attention-regulation strategies, it only makes sense for me to understand what attention is, how it works, and how it impacts emotions and behavior. For example, how does the brain determine salience? How does salience relate to short- and long-term goals? How do shifts in attention (purposeful or unconscious) impact salience and emotions? How do these concepts relate to impulse control and gratification postponement?

I know this post is, ironically, a bit haphazard but I wanted to leave this discussion as open as possible. Yes, I want to know "how can cognitive science help with coping skills?" but I also want to invite people to comment on anything tangentially related to anything I've mentioned on this post. Thank you so much for reading this far! Lol

By the way I'm aware that I may have misused various terms throughout this post and am receptive to corrections :)

It seems agreed upon that morbid curiosity is connected to avoiding:

• unsafe conditions (identifying dangerous behaviors/people)
• uncertainty (understanding all possible negative outcomes)

And potentially also can play a role in anxiety management by encountering stressful/scary information in a safe context, like through reading or seeing something from a distance.

I am curious if anyone is aware of information about harmful effects of morbid curiosity? Like, addiction, intrusive thoughts, excessive fear about people and the world, paranoia, etc. I am not looking for information about the relationship between morbid curiosity and psychopathy, more about this as a phenomenon in healthy individuals.

Also interested in information about addressing this if it does become an issue… Thank you.

Hi, I am in need of some advice on choosing a bachelor programme in Europe. I have the possibility to attend Osnabrueck for CogSci, Radboud for Psychology (I guess I would focus on the Brain and Cognition track) or Maastricht for Liberal Arts and Sciences.

I am super interested in developmental psychology (children) and language, the intersection of that, but also want to get the best groundwork for future (research) work. I have previously studied Computer Science and these are skills I would like to retain and deepen, however only as tools, not that much academically (not interested in pure AI). I would also like to do and present as much research as they will let me, since I already have some experience with doing my own EEG experiment and overall enjoy the process.

At Radboud I love the idea of the Donders Institute snd Max Planck close by, but I am not fully sure about the Psychology track. I feel like the professors would be world class, but again I am also not sure about the plenty multiple choice exams. In Maastricht I really like the personalised approach (the way of teaching is really important to me) and ability to choose psychology, culture studies and strong statistics courses, and their potential to learn and access something more than just the EEG, which for example the Osna uni does not give as far as I am concerned. But I feel like UM is not very well connected in the field I am going for. And I wonder in Osna about the quality of teaching in comparison to the Netherlands.

I would also love to (obviously) continue with some Master's, ideally some strong one haha I can dream. Also, I kind of like the idea of doing some part/internship in Edinburgh, but full time study is not really financially viable (eu student). I am not from Germany, but do speak some German.

Also let's consider the housing not such a big problem for the slightest moment, I know it is hard, but that is something I am already aware of. I want to know what should I shoot for haha

Any remarks? Which of these programmes is the strongest? Teaching wise, research wise and networking wise? Is there any other I should consider for next year? What am I missing? Thanks.

Symptoms: constant feeling of vein bumping in the head especially when lower than the neck, really bad brain power: 0 working memory, blank mind, every day waking up feeling drained, decreased muscle control: stiff face muscle, inability to stop shaking legs when sitting and hard to stay still, easy to get sweat, always feel hot-headed….

I started to watch porn and fap at 12 years old. In the first three years, it was about at least once a day for 3 years. In the first couple of months, I started to feel a decline in memory and concentration and was always tired. Between the ages of 14 and 16, I might take sibutramine for a couple of weeks. After 15 years old, achieving orgasm started to make me feel anxious and from then on, my fap frequency decreased to about twice a week.

From 18 years old, trying to heal, I did Nofap (4 months at most) a few times. I also tried a few diets for a long time (fodmap, keto, fasting…), and routines like sun exposure, cold therapy…and all kinds of supplements. Now I am 27, and none of them could improve my condition.

I took kinds of physical checks such as the Dutch test, it turns out almost everything is good (hormones, blood vessels…). A few months ago, I went to a psychiatrist, it turned out I had some depression and more importantly, the blood supply to my prefrontal cortex is somewhat decreased. I realized the problem is about neurotransmitters.

Here are my reactions to some supplements: vessel dilators(ginkgo, arginine…): no feeling, piracetam and choline (feel like drinking coffee which only makes me restless, muscle twitching even after one year of absence and increased HRV upon waking, GABAergic (theanine, glycine, Gaba): Gaba makes me drowsy while others made me more anxious, tryptophan (improved sleep but increased sweating and increased sweet craving), ashwagandha (no feeling), L-dopa and tyrosine: restless, memantine: a D2 agonist in PFC which abled me to prioritize tasks but didn’t improve brain power. Nicotine: more energized but restless.

I plan to try some dopaminergic drugs like bromocriptine or get a subscription for ADHD drugs. Do you fellows have any suggestions? Any advice will be appreciated. Thank you! Sorry for my English.

Is it just me? I find myself thinking thoroughly when I don't have the pressure of holding a conversion, continuing a flow of thought, or maintaining eye contact with someone else. Why do our brains work like this? Why can’t I say what I’m thinking even while staring at someone.

Article in Vox outlining the "substrate debate," or whether non-biological stuff can ever become conscious.

Argues that debates over AI consciousness — whether it poses a moral catastrophe of suffering beings, new kin to marvel with at the strangeness of creation, or is a non-starter — all come down to the assumption of "computational formalism." Can non-biological stuff ever become conscious?

Outlines three basic camps:

• Biochauvinists, who argue that to get consciousness, you need biology. (though there's no agreement on what, specifically, about biology is necessary).
• Substrate neutralists, who argue that consciousness can arise in any system that can perform the right kinds of computation. (though there's no agreement on what those specific computational properties are).
• Enactivists, who argue that only living things have consciousness (though there's no agreement on whether non-biological systems can be considered "alive")

A lot of research today makes an assumption on computational formalism one way or the other, and goes on to explore the implications. But can we make progress on the question directly? Thoughts?

I'm unsure how to market this major without first going to graduate school. Most of my courses were in psychology, neuroscience, and computer science so I do have some CS and data science projects that I can display in a portfolio but I'm unsure if it's enough to get me a job in tech or in data analysis. I've struggled greatly with health issues, both mental and physical, throughout my college years and as a result of this I did not gain any research experience while at school. My GPA however should end up around a 3.4, if not higher. So, applying to graduate school may be difficult since I have very little formal research experience. However, I do have research papers/literature reviews I've written for classes and I do know how to clean, transform/model, and visualize data in R and Python. I'm just not sure how I'll get strong letters of recommendation.

If I were to apply to graduate programs, I'm most interested in human factors engineering, cognitive neuroscience, and neuropsychology or clinical psychology. My original career goal was to be a psychiatrist or neurologist because my grandfather was an assistant professor of psychiatry at UChicago and I wanted to follow in his footsteps, but I'm not sure if medical school is in the cards for me anymore. Partly because of my health issues and partly because I don't have the bio or chem prerequisites to apply to medical school. I could self study or pick them up at a community college but I almost feel like I'm running out of time. I'm 24 and if by some chance I did go to medical school, I wouldn't start earning real money until my 30's.

I'm unsure if I want to go into research/academia or industry, so right now my interests are forked between human factors engineering (industry) and cognitive science/neuroscience (research). I'm interested in neuropsych and clinical psych for the same reasons I was interested in psychiatry and neurology, but again I worry about the time commitment and my current underqualification.

I feel like an idiot for not taking advantage of networking and getting research experience from a top 10 psychology school but I was struggling severely and it just passed me by. I'm on campus this summer, is it much too late to email labs to see if any will take a last second RA, and only for the summer? I also considered applying for postbacc research positions at my university but again, I don't currently have formal experience so I'm unsure if I'm even a qualified candidate.

I'm sorry if this post is not well thought out enough or if it's not allowed in this sub. Thank you for reading this far, I'd appreciate any insight about what I could do

Heyy guys!

It seems that, luckily enough, I got accepted into the McGill neuroscience major! However, I have been conflicted between doing a neuroscience or a cognitive science degree since I got into McGill last year.

I feel like I need some advice, so please leave some if you have thoughts about it! I will really appreciate that 😭😭

For my personal interest, I have interests in both math/CS and neuro, and I want to do some computational stuff in the future regarding jobs or advanced degrees. I feel like I am fine with both AI-related stuff and computational neuro.

When debating between these two majors, my concerns are about future job perspectives (inc. salary) in Canada and grad school applications.

*Just to add, I can do CS, Mathematics or Statistics minor for both two degree

Specifically, I have two questions:

1. if I am doing a cognitive science degree, is it really practical for me to pursue an AI-related career? I doubt that because I won't have a decent math background compared with those Math&CS guys.

2. If I am doing a neuroscience degree, what is my future career for neuro ppl like, and what about the salary in computational neuro-related jobs?

Lastly, please please drop some comments about your school experience if you are in either of this two program!

Thank you guys sooo much!

Cannabis and Consciousness Study

You are invited to participate in research! Researchers at the University of British Columbia are conducting research on cannabis and consciousness. Participation will take 2 sessions of 90 mins, and you will be compensated $40 CAD upon completion. 

You can participate if you are over the age of 18 and are a cannabis user (1x a month).

All responses will be confidential, and no personal identification will be attached to the data. 

ETHICS NUMBER: H22-02628

TO PARTICIPATE, SCAN THE QR CODE OR EMAIL – christofflab@psych.ubc.ca 

To protect your privacy and confidentiality, please do not post responses or questions regarding this ad on this site; rather, reply in confidence to jenbur@psych.ubc.ca. Be aware that if you choose to like or comment on this post, you are interacting with this study on a public forum, affecting your privacy and confidentiality in this setting.  

Primary Investigator: Dr. Kalina Christoff  

Co-investigators: Jen Burrell and Andre Zamani  

If you have any questions, please get in touch with Jen Burrell (jenbur@psych.ubc.ca).  

If they can generally sometimes understand what someone is about to say, or if they can understand ideas once they hear them, but have no motivational pressure or intentional pressure to direct their thinking and attention towards such outcomes themselves, can they train themselves to think?

Thanks

These models will be used on scientific projects that will aim to achieve results, solving problems, innovating and creating new ideas, new architectures. Join me over here https://discord.gg/WC7YuJZ3

I've been using EEGLab in Matlab for years to analyze EEG data, but we got news a while back that our university is getting rid of our Matlab license because they claim that not enough people are using it. This leaves a lot of us to figure out what we will be using to analyze data going forward. Is it possible to effectively analyze EEG data in R or Python? I haven't been able to find much information on this just by Googling the topic. I am most familiar with R, so that would be my first choice, but can do Python as well.

I hope this is an okay place to ask this- I saw that there have been other analysis questions here before, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Apologies if this isn't an appropriate place for this question.