Presentations                 local copies
Perception of Magenta: 28 jul
Keerti Choudhary and Koppula Venkata: http://home.iitk.ac.in/~kvenkata/se367/topic.htm
The brain constructs holistic representations --> qualia = "subjective perception". Unlike other colors, magenta is not a frequency on a spectrum.  Red is close to blue (via magenta).

FEEDBACK:

Presentation: good.  main points were clear, and it was interesting.
Webpage: much plagiarized, e.g. the paragraph starting "If the eye receives light of more than one wavelength" is from cited reference 1. "given colored contacts..."  from uncited source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/10/051026082313.htm Sometimes borrowing is legitimate (e.g. definition of qualia) - pls cite source as an online link e.g.(from [http://www....]) figures need to be similarly SOURCED REFERENCES: Instead of giving links at the bottom, it is better to source them at the part of the text 3 online links Please give author / publisher where available, and give the date on which you accessed the page. Also add the other plagiarism source link above. Possible link: http://www.light-measurement.com/perception-of-color/
new:Webpage is improved copied texts are removedi. Penalty is just for earlier plagrism.
Webpage : B+(revised)
Talk: A-,


Searle's Chinese room argument : 30 jul
Pulkit Agarwal and Devesh K Singh http://home.iitk.ac.in/~deveshks/se367/topic
The functional view of AI - any machine that can function like a human (as in the Turing's test) - is capable of consciousness.  In opposition, consider a computer following instructions.  But did not introduce Searle's main innovation - that _he_ is the computer.

FEEDBACK:

The talk presented the logic of the argument well, but failed to excite. webpage is completely cut and paste.  Also the formatting needs some breathing room - see comments for snayak below.
WEBPAGE C+(revised)
TALK: B+



Aug 4 : Cognitive Psychology presentations


Mental rotation
Ruchir Gupta and Sushobhan Nayak http://home.iitk.ac.in/~snayak/se367/topic.html
reading: MITECS article: [Mental rotation|http://cognet.mit.edu/library/erefs/mitecs/tarr.html] by Michael Tarr
Before this 1971 expt - behaviourism thought processes are primarily through language  - showed that image-based thought is also possible  - continuous rotation going through intermediate stages of motion, not switching between discrete poses Cooper 1975/6 : mental rotation is analog Shepard and Cooper: Cohen 1996: FMRI studies Brodmann's areas are involved in this process; as well as middle central gyrus, extrastriate

FEEDBACK:

perhaps too much was covered, could have done fewer datapoints, and covered some more in depth.
Webpage: Clearly, the language is yours, but the structure lacks overall goals.  It just lists the experiments, without a overarching theme. Just an introductory paragraph or two, listing the five experiments, and the overall question of Mental rotation, would be good.  Also a concluding chapter, saying what was known. Otherwise the experiments are well described. Also the text is too crowded on the page.  Putting a < blockquote > or two (or a body style with a left-margin) will give the text some space and improve readability.
References:  need to cite sources for figures.  Would be good if you could give online citations (see point 2 in next mail)
Webpage B+(revised)
Talk: B+


Change blindness
Anish Rao and Diwakar Agrawal http://home.iitk.ac.in/~adiwakar/se367/topic.html
related: MITECS article: [http://cognet.mit.edu/library/erefs/mitecs/stoerig.htmlBlindsight], by Petra Stoerig:
flickering images - may be related to mindsight - something is changing, but can't pinpoint it - unconscious process conducted experiments on wing.  Of 16 subjects, only 1 noticed the change after 45 seconds; others gave up after about the same time. one subject said he sensed some change after 10 seconds, and even pointed to the region, but did not notice the change even conscious change detection is hard - focusing billboard experiment - person being talked to changes after interruption, people don't notice (why not embed the video on the page, instead of only the reference?) Also, I think there is a better, more compact video of this I've seen somewhere.

FEEDBACK:

Very good work, the experiment bit was especially appreciated. Most of the text is original, but a good bit from [1] appears towards the end.  This part is actually not needed, or could ave been quoted explicitly!! Presentation was on the whole interesting and made important points. Would have been good if you showed one of the videos - either the reception desk or the billboard experiment - then you could have skipped some other parts. Webpage is also good, though most of it is not plagiarized, the end bit is unfortunate.
REFERENCES: you have inline references [1] to Simmons and Ambinder's important 2005 paper, but this is used only at two rather weak points (the bag appearing, and saccadic suppression). I am however quite impressed if you indeed read this paper. On the whole though, Simons' other paper - [2] may be a better read for people in this course.  Perhaps some annotation on these two references, plus the full citations (which journal, what pages etc.), would help.
Webpage(revised) B+ (due to plagiarism only)
Talk: A


Chess expertise Alok Bansal and Chintan Pandya http://home.iitk.ac.in/~alokb/SE367/
http://cognet.mit.edu/library/erefs/mitecs/ericsson.html George Miller: Magical number 7 telegraph office trained 20 new people: listen to the telegraph sequences initially they could remember about 9 bits Then they were trained to remember five morse sequences - as one number then they could remember 9 alphabets - many more bits, but still 9. Chess expertise:  vs novice gaze patterns

FEEDBACK:

Talk was off to a good start, and also ended well with the artist.  But in between you perhaps tried to put in a bit much, but still it retained interest. Sometimes the .ppt makes you feel like you need to cover too much; time management is easier without a ppt!
webpage: Pls fix the link ASAP. The page is essentially a .ppt, and not a writeup.  Even the images are not explained. Though it is not plagiarized, it does not help much! Pls try to do something about it!!
newYou should have first introduce the topic what it is all about before jumping into experiments
Webpage: B+
Talk: B+


Evolution of the brain Ankit Agrawal and Brajesh Kushwaha
ankit intro - too general
specialization - brain in the front part development of the spinal chord - from ventral (towards belly) to dorsal (towards back) Triune brain : reptilian complex - midbrain hindbrain + forebrain (mammalian) - emotions / nurturing babies, + cortex - language etc. hippocampus - spatial layout : birds - marsh tit (food gatherer) and great tit (doesn't gather) --> marsh tit has a larger hippocampus for storing maps, but this region grows seasonally, is larger in the foraging season; london cab drivers have a larger hippocampus than bus drivers.

FEEDBACK:

good coverage, but missed some aspects from the book.
Webpage: Plagrism texts are just copied from paper and pasted on webpage there are even unrecognised characters. Talk: B+
webpage: C+


Sensing and motor structures Gaurav Mishra and Varunesh Mishra--
--Sensory systems-- Gaurav Mishra and Varunesh Mishra detailed models of hearing mechanisms - tympanums - fluidfilled - sound reaches two ears different times - results in differences in how signal reaches brain --> perception of where the sound originated. Keerti Chaudhury --> has face blindness

FEEDBACK:

presentation: perhaps you got a bit carried away w details on hearing; it would have been good to correlate this with the discussion later. Pls read the book.
Talk: B-
webpage:A+


Memory K Ashis Pati and Vamshi Krishna G
memory - emotional quotient - we remember minute details for emotionally charged events sea slug - siphon - gets habituated to mild shocks - sensitization after 4-5 minutes was ??habituated released by a sensory neuron - modulatory neuron - releases serotonin - other neurotransmitters - kinase --> results in strengthening of certain synapses --> SHORT TERM MEMORY after some long term, the memory is converted into LONG TERM MEMORY may create new synapses - and these store the memory. Episodic memory memory for events wilder penfield - epileptic patients - stimulated cerebral cortex - evoked vivid memories

FEEDBACK:

talk: B+
webpage: A+


Language presentations
Metaphor http://home.iitk.ac.in/~aawasthi/se367/topic.html
Y8084 L CSE ANKIT AWASTHI aawasthi@
Y7254 L BSBE NIKHIL DEEP SINGH nikhilds@
compare: Her career is in ruins the local branch of the organization note that the second usage would usually not be considered a metaphor, but a conventional usage. The former is a "figure of speech" while the latter is called "dead metaphors" --> 2 notions of metaphor Metaphors are not only in language but also in cognition. figure of speech, but also at a conceptual level. conceptual metaphor: "life is a journey" i am at a crossroads in my life i want to be where i am in my life source domain: journey target domain: life use source domain to explain aspect of target domain with increasing usage of source domain in target domain, neurological connections between these get strengthened. the metaphor is also used in other modes - e.g. visual - in movies, child running forward becomes adult cultural aspects: some metaphors are near-universal - e.g. using human body as a source domain - the "heart of the problem" japanese "nose" -> use in gesture - cultural aspects

FEEDBACK:

good presentation. overshot on time. many new aspects
talk: A-
webpage: A+


Build a Baby - conceptual primitives http://home.iitk.ac.in/~angupta/se367/topic.html
Y8049 L CSE AKASH PAHARIYA pahariya@
Y7061 L EE ANKIT GUPTA
image schemas as conceptual primitives mandler: image schemas are dynamic - enhanced over time baby's schemas are "naturally grounded" some basic image schemas: animacy - judging motion to be animate is effortless, but what information is used? containment - body is enclosed in clothes, then removed support - causality and inanimacy : inanimate objects can be made to move by some animate objects Bowerman: a) how do children associate meanings to words b) how are they used to facilitate language learning? prepositions in and on acquired early in life Korean: distinct verb forms for "door opened itself" vs "Mary opened the door" - these distinctions are available as preverbal concepts, and hence child has no trouble [IDEA: hindi : ram ne darwaza khulwaya ram darwaza khola can model OPEN as an action with two participants - an agent and an object. But ]

FEEDBACK:

Webpage: Organised but lots of Plagrism
talk: B+
webpage:B-


Conceptual blending http://home.iitk.ac.in/~parora/se367/topic.html
Y7317 L EE PRINCE ARORA parora@
Y7513 L VIVEK AGARWAL agvivek@
conceptual blending : structure from two input spaces is projected to a seperate space, "the blend". Ram sneezed the napkin off the table --> very complex event - expressed compactly debate with Kant I claim that reason is a self-developing capacity. Kant disagrees with me on this point. He says it's innate, but I answer that... Here Kant is dead, but his ideas are known. the debate is thus a blend permits a "debate" between two sets of ideas, Puzzle: Buddhist monk walks up a mountain one day, coming down the next. prove that there is a place on the path which he occupies at the same hour of the day on the two separate journeys. can solve by blending the up journey image with the down-journey image, as if they are operating simultaneously complex number: extends real number from real line to a 2D plane the blend x + iy has addl properties like angle and distance metaphors as blends e.g. counterfactual: money problem: can have 2 interpretns - too much or too little money

FEEDBACK:

"sneeze napkiin off the table" I don't think this means that he used the napkin for cleaning up, I think it means that the force of the sneeze blew it away. --> that sneeze was the manner in which it was blown off [called a resultative clause]
Webpage: Copied texts are properly referenced but it will be better if you use your own words
talk: B+
webpage:B-



Search and Planning in Games
Webpage: Original A+

Webpage: Copied C+

Webpage: B+