Results for SYMSYS

The history, foundations, and accomplishments of the cognitive sciences, including presentations by leading Stanford researchers in artificial intelligence, linguistics, philosophy, and psychology. Overview of the issues addressed in the Symbolic Systems major.

Interactive systems from the standpoint of human cognition. Topics include skill acquisition, complex learning, reasoning, language, perception, methods in usability testing, special computational techniques such as intelligent and adaptive interfaces, and design for people with cognitive disabilities. Students conduct analyses of real world problems of their own choosing and redesign/analyze a project of an interactive system.

Original communications perspective for designing interfaces as thinking tools. Review new empirical findings showing that basic computer input capabilities can substantially facilitate or impede human cognition, including ability to produce ideas and solve problems successfully. Computer interfaces that encourage expressing richer information involving different representations, modalities, and linguistic codes can stimulate ideational fluency, clarity of thought, and improved performance on educational and other tasks.

Under the supervision of their faculty honors adviser, students work on their senior honors project. May be repeated for credit.

Recommended for seniors doing an honors project. Under the leadership of the Symbolic Systems program coordinator, students discuss, and present their honors project.

Independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. Can be repeated for credit.

Applying a Symbolic Systems education at Stanford and outside. The basics of research and practice. Students develop and present a project, and investigate different career paths, including academic, industrial, professional, and public service, through interviews with alumni.

Preference to Undergraduates. Focus is literature in philosophy and neuroscience whose topics include perception, memory, neurophenomenology, sensorimotor accounts of consciousness, computational models, and eliminativism, among others. Prerequisites: Familiarity with philosophy (Phil 80) or neuroscience.

Artistic and psychological learning approaches for emotion recognition from facial expressions. The advantages of learning by image-based microexpressions, subtle expressions, macro expressions, art drawing and actor mimicry when there are cognitive deficits due to conditions such as autism. Comparative analysis uses brain studies, learning theory, and human-computer interaction. Studio component conveys the artistic and psychological approaches. Prerequisites: PSYCH 1, SYMSYS 100 or consent of instructor. Go to www.stanford.edu/~dwilkins/Symsys210Enroll.doc to sign up for a Permission Number.

Original communications perspective for designing interfaces as thinking tools. Review new empirical findings showing that basic computer input capabilities can substantially facilitate or impede human cognition, including ability to produce ideas and solve problems successfully. Computer interfaces that encourage expressing richer information involving different representations, modalities, and linguistic codes can stimulate ideational fluency, clarity of thought, and improved performance on educational and other tasks.

A mixture of public lectures of interest to Symbolic Systems students (the Symbolic Systems Forum) and student-led meetings to discuss research in Symbolic Systems. Can be repeated for credit. Open to both undergraduates and Master's students.

Enrollment limited to students in the Symbolic Systems M.S. degree program. May be repeated for credit.

Independent work under the supervision of a faculty member. Can be repeated for credit.

Students obtain employment in a relevant research or industrial activity to enhance their professional experience consistent with their degree programs. Meets the requirements for curricular practical training for students on F-1 visas. Students submit a concise report detailing work activities, problems worked on, and key results. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: qualified offer of employment and consent of advisor.

Introduction to the study of judgment and decision making, relating theory and evidence from disciplines such as psychology, economics, statistics, neuroscience, and philosophy. The development and critique of Homo economicus as a model of human behavior, and more recent theories based on empirical findings. Recommended: background in formal reasoning.

The impact of information and communication technologies on social and political life. Interdisciplinary. Classic and contemporary readings focusing on topics such as social networks, virtual versus face-to-face communication, the public sphere, voting technology, and collaborative production.

The changing nature of information in the Internet age and its relationship to human behavior. Philosophical assumptions underlying practices such as open source software development, file sharing, common carriage, and community wireless networks, contrasted with arguments for protecting private and commercial interests such as software patents, copy protection, copyright infringement lawsuits, and regulatory barriers. Theory and evidence from disciplines including psychology, economics, computer science, law, and political science. Prerequisite: PSYCH 40, 55, 70, or SYMBSYS 202.

Learning to recognize facial emotions by drawing a live model versus the psychology method of using classified images of subtle and micro expressions. Dimensions of analysis include cognitive modeling and neuroscience. The design of human-computer interaction systems for people with cognitive deficits such as autism and Aspergers, which integrate the art and psychology approaches using methods such as robot heads, avatars, and facial recognition software. Prerequisites: PSYCH 1 or consent of instructor.

Introduction to the study of judgment and decision making, relating theory and evidence from disciplines such as psychology, economics, statistics, neuroscience, and philosophy. The development and critique of Homo economicus as a model of human behavior, and more recent theories based on empirical findings. Recommended: background in formal reasoning.