Please check site frequently for changes

last updated: Sun, Dec 16, 2007, 2:00 am

Announcements

• Sun, Dec. 16, 2007, 1:58am: If you have not turned in your assignment/takehome, you still can for a slight point reduction. The box is still in the computer lab to turn them in. Also if you still have not turned in any previous assignment, please do so asap. IF you have special circumstances and need more time let Alex know please and we'll arrange something
• Sat, Dec. 15, 2007, 1:31am: If you have any homework assignments you have not turned in from earlier parts of the course (before homework 6), you may turn them in for most of the points, if you turn them in by the midnight deadline for homework 6 and 7.
• Fri, Dec. 14, 2007, 3:05pm: Alex will be going STRAIGHT TO THE COMPUTER LAB, CSB115, but won't be able to arrive until 3:50pm probably
• Thu, Dec. 13, 2007, 8:35pm: There is a turn-in box for the last two homeworks (6 and 7/takehome) in the CSB115 computer lab. If you need to get a code the link is here
  • hw6 and takehome FAQs are up
• Tues, Dec. 11, 2007, 1:00pm: Additional office hours for homework help:
  • Alex
    • Thurs 4-6 (CRB 243A)
    • Fri 3-4 (Muir woods - if they are closed, I will be at CRB 243A)
    • Fri 4-5 (CSB115)
  • Leo
    • Thurs 10-11 and 3-4 (CSB115)
    • Fri 10-12 and 3-4 (CSB115)
• Mon, Dec. 10, 2007, 7:50pm: Leo's office hours tomorrow will be 10:30-11:30 and 1-2 both at CSB115
• Mon, Dec. 10, 2007, 5:14pm: Meeting is done, Alex is now leaving to come to the lab - ETA, about 1/2 hour (5:45-6:00). He will be there for another hour at least
• Mon, Dec. 10, 2007, 3:50pm: Sorry, Alex's office hours will start at 4:45 and go for an hour (minimum)
• Mon, Dec. 10, 2007, 3:00pm: Alex's office hours will be 4:30-5:30 pm today due to time constraints
• Mon, Dec. 10, 2007, 1:36pm: Final Review session schedules :
  • Monday, 8-10pm, Center Hall (CENTR) 216 (TAs will review)
  • Tues, 8-10pm, Center Hall (CENTR) 216 (Alex)
• Mon, Dec. 10, 2007, 3am: The equation in section 4.4.3 IMPORTANT NOTE: The p's in that equation refer to the parameters, which are calculated by k(1) and k(2). The notation was kept as p so you would recognize the parameters. When computing the line use k(1) and k(2)
• Sun, Dec. 9, 2007, 6pm: The SUNDAY 7pm review session will be in CSB 001, next to our usual lecture room
• Sun, Dec. 9, 2007, 2:02pm: We are still in process of arranging an appropriate room for the review tonight. It will be posted in a few hours, sorry for the delay
• Sat, Dec. 8, 2007, 7:48pm:
  • The takehome part of the final has been posted. You'll find it and the relevant data on the assignments page. Read the document carefully before attempting the assignment.
  • Grades will be updated again soon, check periodically for updates, the date/time of the latest update will be posted
  • There will be 3 review sessions, and the locations are still TBA. They are at Sun -7pm, Mon - 8pm, Tue - 8pm
• Sat, Dec. 8, 2007, 10:32am: The next set of grade changes will be posted later this afternoon, along with the homework 7/takehome
• Thu, Dec. 6, 2007, 2:47pm: an important update was made to the code in the assignment. If you downloaded the homework before this time, please download it again. There were a few hints added as well for the contour/plot figures.
• Thu, Dec. 6, 2007, 1:40am: a small update was posted to the assignment with a correction to one line of code - when typesetting, the first line of matlab code of 4.4.2 had the ^ symbol changed to some obscure other symbol. This has been replaced with the line: en2=(sum((e.^ 2)’))’;
• Wed, Dec 5, 2007, 3:53pm: assignment 6 is posted in the assigments page
• Tue, Dec. 4, 2007, 3pm: FINAL EXAM DATE IS WED, 12/12/07 in CSB001- Thursday was an error from tritonlink, which has been fixed now.
• Fri, Nov. 30, 2007, 12pm : You can check your grades with the grade checker now here. Some of the grade changes haven't been inputted yet, and people who took the midterm late have not had their scores added. But look over the grades and if there are zeros email Alex.
• Fri, Nov. 30, 2007, 6:06am: The grade responder script is working, now I'm just making the database of grades, so it will be posted by class time
• Thu, Nov. 29, 2007, 12:56pm: The midterms returned to you do not have the multiple choice score written on them. The short answer is out of 30 points possible, the multiple choice was out of 75 (the last 5 are bonus points). Later today alex will post a page with an auto-score responder-watch for the announcement. Until then, to learn your muliple choice score, email alex with your name and PID and he'll respond with the score.
• Sun, Nov 18, 2007, 5:24pm: The assignment has been posted in the assignments page. The due date is now Mon. Nov 26 (see assignment for details)
• Sun, Nov 18, 2007, 2:43 am: The assignment will be posted later today, and it will be due the Monday AFTER Thanksgiving, but if you turn it in on this Wednesday, you get 5 bonus points!!!
• Thurs, Nov. 15, 2007, 12:08pm: Alex will hold his office hours at 5:15-6:15pm. I'll be in my office area from 2:30-3:50 or so having a meeting, so if you need to drop something off and can't make 5:15pm that's fine.
• Tues, Nov. 13, 2007, 2:51am: Alex will hold a makeup office hour Tues night at 8pm in the CSB115 computer lab (sorry I'm booked until then) to help with the assignment
• Sun, Nov. 11, 2007, 10:02pm: THERE WILL NOT BE LECTURE OR SECTION TOMORROW BECAUSE OF THE HOLIDAY
• Sun, Nov. 11, 2007, 2:23pm : There is now a FAQ for homework 4
• Thu, Nov. 8, 7:43pm: You do not actually have to purchase a scantron - I found out that we can purchase them for you, so I'll be bringing those tomorrow.
• Thu, Nov. 8, 2:51am: SCANTRON FORM TO BUY: purchase the half-sheet green form X-101864-ERI-L at the UCSD Bookstore or General Store.  (Sometimes the form says PAR instead of ERI - either is correct.)
• Wed, Nov. 7, 8:51pm: REVIEW SESSION IS IN RM122 Pepper canyon
• Wed, Nov. 7, 2:33am : practice midterm is up at the handouts page
• Tue, Nov. 6, 12:25am : Shoesize is in cm, I added a Recursive low pass filter example to the handouts page to help you study for your midterm
• Mon, Nov. 5, 5:45pm: here is a sample for creating the histograms with subplot, and using labels: click here for the code
• Mon, Nov. 5, 5:45pm: posted updates to cogs109hist.m function, please download again from the handouts page (it is now designed to be used with the subplot command, so if you try to plot in a new figure each time, use the figure; command to create a new figure)
• Mon, Nov. 5, 3:45am: Homework 4 is up finally on the assignments page
• Sun, Nov. 4, 12:20pm: Don't forget - if you would like additional input about matlab, take a look at the matlab tutorials listed here
• Sun, Nov. 4, 12:15pm: Survey 2 questions can be viewed here
• Sun, Nov. 4, 2:14am: Added a function example to the handouts page - how to create and access a function.
• Sat, Nov. 3, 2:29am: A list of midterm review topics have been posted in the handouts section
• Thu, Nov. 1, 2:54am: If you are still having trouble printing, be sure you have set up an ACS printer account (here's the direct link)
• Mon, Oct. 22, 9:49am: THE CAMPUS IS CLOSED TODAY DUE TO THE FIRES, HOMEWORK IS DUE AT THE NEXT DAY WE HAVE CLASSES AGAIN. I will probably hold online office hours tonight - I will announce about the time. Remember my AIM screenname is tcdsensei.
• Sun, Oct. 21, 1:39pm: The FAQ page has been updated quite a bit, and the lecture notes are up.
• Thu, Oct. 18, 1:55pm:
  • Started FAQ for homework 3, will add to it as the day moves on.
  • Added handout for colormap example and how to use meshgrid
• Mon, Oct. 15, 3:17am: The homework is now posted on the assignments page. I will go over it in class. It looks long but that is just because it is carefully explained.
• Sun, Oct. 14, 1:24 pm: The homework is NOT posted yet, and will be at some point soon. I apologize for confusion, but please check this page every few hours for the homework announcement. I will announce when it is posted here. Also, you will have one week to complete the assignment (if I post it on sunday, you will have an extra day though - so if I post it today, Oct 14, it will be due Monday, Oct. 22, for example)
• Thu, Oct. 11, 9:59pm: Fixed the links for the recordings - please let me know if there are ever broken links.
• Thu, Oct. 11, 4:00 am: The reading will be posted Thursday (Oct.11th)...stay tuned
• Wed, Oct. 10, 2:59am:

• The lecture recordings for the first 4 lectures are posted for those who entered the class late. If you missed lectures please listen to them with the lecture slides open as you play the recording.
• Also you can upgrade your user accounts to OCE accounts if you have anough units to technically be a Junior. Please see the ACS website about doing this. That will give you access to icogsci1.ucsd.edu which has matlab and you can run it remotely on that server.
• Tues, Oct. 9, 1:39am: Alex will be holding extra office hours Thurs to make up for Leo's missed hours (ie Alex's Thursday office hours will be from 4-7pm at his office CRB243A)
• Mon, Oct 8, 4:34 am: Added the survey data to the handouts section.
• Sun, Oct. 7, 10:54pm: I've been updating the FAQ, so keep checking it if you have questions. Also, if you are having issues with the homework and won't have it done in time for lecture, please attend lecture and talk to me after, we'll figure out a good solution. I would rather have you at lecture
• Fri, Oct. 5, 6:25 pm: A homework 2 FAQ has been started (see the bottom of the FAQ page), and I'll add answers to common questions as they come up.
• Fri, Oct. 5, 3:41pm: Lecture is posted in PDF format. In a few hours I'll be able to post the recordings of the first 3 lectures.
• Fri, Oct 5, 11:52am : I added a handy pdf to the books section of the handouts page for matrices and materials relating to them. Useful as a quick reference for rules and such. Free online so you can get new versions in the future. Based on a more exhaustive online reference, in the bibliography of the matrix cookbook
• Fri, Oct. 5, 1:24am : Here is the link for running matlab remotely. Sorry it somehow was hard to find on the web page. Unfortunately some of you do not have access to the server icogsci1.ucsd.edu, so you should, in that case, go to acs.ucsd.edu and go to the account lookup tool, which should tell you which servers you have access to. If those are just basic general use servers, they probably don't have matlab. If you get all the way to the command prompt in ssh, then you try to open matlab and it says something like 'command not found' then matlab isn't installed on that server. For now please either 1)Buy the student edition, or, 2) Use matlab from a computer lab on campus that has it installed. There are many, CSB115 is a good one. I will post a tutorial about matlab through VPN soon.
• Fri, Oct. 5, 12:03am : Check Leo's office hours for changes. Also he won't be able to hold office hours until after he is back from his conference in Spain in a week, Thurs of next week. We'll plan to cover those lost hours for you next week with either one of the other TA's or myself
• Wed, Oct. 3, 9:13 pm : The lecture has been posted for today's lecture
• Wed, Oct. 3, 1:20pm : Office hours for Alex are now posted! Take a look and see if they are useful times, we'll discuss in class briefly
• Tues, Oct. 2, 12:16am : Here is a copy of the cogsci109_fa07_survey1 for those of you who weren't able to make it today. Please respond to the questions in a text file, with responses ranging from 0-5, (i.e. if you are very knowledgeable about matlab, put a 5, etc), separated by commas. Then save the text file with the name "cogs109_s1_yourPID.txt" This will allow me to handle the files in an automated fashion.
• Mon, Oct. 1, 5:13pm : Leo and Slavic have made slight changes in their office hours/locations, please check the office hours area
• Mon, Oct. 1, 12:34am : Assignment 2 is online on the assignments page, as well as a hint handout reviewing limits and continuity, with an example which should prove useful in your homework...hint-hint...wink-wink:)
• Sun, Sept 30, 8:30pm : There is section this week, please go to the section you've signed up for
• Fri, Sept 28, 4pm : The links should work now on the site, the reading assignment is up.
• Fri, Sept 28, 12:50am : Welcome to CogSci 109!!!
• Fri, Sept 28, 12:50am : Important last minute information will be placed here, usually with a time/date stamp so you know when it appeared

Syllabus

Course Description

This course will cover modeling and data analysis for Cognitive scientists, scientists of other disciplines, and Engineers. Emphasis will be given to the Cognitive perspective, with examples drawn from topics relevant to cognitive scientists.

Topics may include programming tools, matlab, linear algebra, linear regression, nonlinear regression (polynomial and exponential fits), basic statistical analysis (mean, standard deviation, mode, median, variance, covariance, correlation, hypothesis testing), numerical solution of differential equations, optimization, curve fitting, and data visualization. Neural networks will be included as well if time permits.

The objective of this course is to give fundamental tools to the student which will allow the student to effectively analyze data from experiments, extract information, understand standard analyis tools commonly found in the literature of science and engineering, and communicate results effectively. The student will also be given many resources from which to draw in the future, thus allowing them to expand their knowledge and skills.

Theory lectured on in class will be followed up with readings to expand on the concepts, homeworks to give experience with the techniques, and additional references/readings of research work in the field applying these techniques (demonstrating how these techniques are applied in real life).

Prerequisites

• Functional Brain
• CogSci 18 or consent of instructor

Assignments

• Homework assignments will generally be in a report format, structured to teach you how to communicate scientific information in a clear and concise fashion
• (click here to go to the assignments page
• See the grading section for information about grading and %'s

References/Textbooks

Weekly readings will be provided in pdf format on the handouts page. These will include book chapters and scientific papers which elaborate on (or demonstrate applications of) the concepts presented in class, section, and on assignments.

Grading

Grading will follow the fill-the-bucket principle. For each homework assignment and for the Midterm and Final test you will get score points. These will be added. The grade will be based on your score and the maximum achievable score. The course average will be scaled (only up if need be, not down!)

Tentatively:

 Cheating and Academic Honesty Policies

First of all please DON'T CHEAT!!! It detracts from your learning in this class. When you go into the world you won't have the skills you should have gained here. Our goal is to help you learn, so if you have any problems, please come speak with us and we will help you resolve them to the best of our ability. That being said, the definition of cheating must be defined clearly:

Cheating on exams involves any form of copying from another student, giving or getting answers from another student, acquiring information in any way from an external source during the exam, or giving information to or receiving information from another individual which you should not receive during an exam (ie theories, data, answers, etc). You may ask questions during an exam of the instructor or TA's at any time. The TA's are not to give answers directly, but may provide hints.

Cheating on homeworks involves duplicating another person's code. You are to write your own code, unless the instructional team provides a starter code, or sample code for you to use. You may not use code from sources other than this course. You may not copy another student's code. However, you ARE encouraged to help each other and discuss the homeworks and material from the course. It is often through explaining something that one learns that concept even better than before. But when it comes to writing the code, you must do the actual writing of your own code. Programming is very much something you must do as well as study to learn it well, very similar to driving.

The Standard academic honesty policies of the university apply during this course as well. Click here for details

Instructional Team

Instructor:

C. Alex Simpkins, MS, C. Phil.

email: csimpkin "at" ucsd "dot" edu

Office hours:

UCSD Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, UCSD 0411

9500 Gilman Drive

92093-0411

TA's:

Nick Butko

email: nbutko "at" cogsci "dot" ucsd "dot" edu

Office Hours:

• Mon 10-12 CSB115
• Wed. 3-4 Art of Espresso

Slavik Bryskin

email: vbryksin"at" ucsd "dot" edu

Office Hours:

• Mon 3-4 Roma Cafe
• Fri, 12-2 Roma Cafe

Leo Trottier

email: leo"at" cogsci "dot" ucsd "dot" edu

Office Hours:

• Tues. 11:30-12:30pm Art of Espresso
• Thurs. 12:00-1:00 pm Art of Espresso
• Fri. 11-12 CRB 248, (call to get in) 858-822-2421 (knock on glass back door),

Labs and locations

• Lab locations: The labs (discussion sections) will all be in a computer lab, unless otherwise announced. The CSB 115 Room is reserved during above times/days.

Final Exam :12/12/2007 Wed 3:00p - 5:59p, location CSB 001