Course:COGS303/2009-2010-1
Welcome to Cognitive Systems 303, 2009-2010 winter term 1!
This wiki has been created as a medium for further discussion and questions related to the Cogs 303 lectures. Your TAs will be checking this site frequently and are happy to answer questions here related to the material, course organization, and the cognitive systems program. In addition, this wiki will be used to submit target articles, which are due every Thursday.
Please feel free to answer and respond to each other's questions and comments as well.
If you are not familiar with this wiki software, you might be interested reading the MediaWiki tips on editing and formatting.
We will review all the posts and make additional suggestions and comments as requested. Have a great term!
Target Articles
Instructions
You must submit the link to your target article by 9:00am on Thursday, ensuring that your submission is both signed and datestamped, e.g.:
- http://www.cogsys.ubc.ca/cogs303/ --MinjungKim 07:20, 9 September 2008 (UTC)
You can automatically sign and datestamp your article by typing two dashes followed by four tildes, like so: --~~~~. If you submit multiple articles, only your most recent article with the most recent datestamp will be accepted; your previous submissions will be free to be taken by other students in the class.
If you have any questions, please e-mail the TA right away.
September 17th: Misuse of Language
Cohort B - post your target article links here!
http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/apacheating.htm : Yacatecuhtli 01:40, 13 September 2009 (UTC)
http://www.buyviagra.nu/viagra-effectivenes.html --Ueueteotl 05:20, 17 September 2009 (UTC) Does having an erection on command really give you better sex, or does it result in the anticlimax of a less than good performance?
Ehecatl:http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/336/7635/96
http://www.spirituality.com/journal/article.jhtml;jsessionid=HMLXAC5GGAEGBKGL4LYCFEQ?ElementId=/repositories/shcomarticle/Aug2009/1251741684.xml&ElementName=Cancer verdict overruled --Ixtlilton 06:26, 16 September 2009 (UTC) while the style of the article appears rather informal it is from a "scientific" journal.......
example: KevinHo: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/01/14/gaza-wednesday.html#socialcomments
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/122596150/PDFSTART --Ramyar 09:14, 17 September 2009 (UTC) Anticancer Agents from the Australian Tropical Rainforest: Spiroacetals EBC-23, 24, 25, 72, 73, 75 and 76. Makes some bold claim in the conclusion. By the way how do i change my username on this wiki?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/8224335.stm --Quilaztli 15:25, 17 September 2009 (UTC) BBC news article about a study done on school children that says that girls who attended an all girls school will be attracted to feminine men because of their surroundings. The article fails to address that these are children and attraction changes over time. Also, a leap to conclusions about long term relationships is made by citing a previous, somewhat unrelated study.
September 24: Misuse of Statistics
cohort A post target articles here!
http://thestatsblog.wordpress.com/2009/08/06/std-testing-recommended-for-dc-teens/ Matlalceuitl 08:24, 22 September 2009 (UTC)
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/cons-2009-dna-database/dna-consultation?view=Binary Atlacamani 04:28, 23 September 2009 (UTC)
http://www.christiancourier.com/articles/7-the-age-of-the-earth Ometeotl 04:11, 23 September 2009 (UTC)
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/49330/Suicides-linked-to-phone-masts- Xochipilli 16:07, 23 September 2009 (UTC)
http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/070524_ideological_leaning.html - Huehuecoyotl 19:21, 23 September 2009 (UTC)
October 8: Use of Analogy
Cohort A - post this weeks articles here!
http://www.science-projects.com/analogies.htm --Yacatecuhtli 01:33, 8 October 2009 (UTC)
http://www.ece.osu.edu/~passino/swarms.pdf --Patecatl 05:09, 8 October 2009 (UTC)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dining_philosophers_problem -- User:Atlacamani 00:44, 8 October 2009 (UTC)
http://www.julianjaynes.org/pdf/jaynes_consciousness-voices-mind.pdf --User:Huehuecoyotl 18:45, 8 October 2009 (UTC)
Cohort B -
http://www.aip.org/history/heisenberg/p08.htm --Ueueteotl
http://www.careersinscience.gov.au/pdf/topdogs/Warren-Marshall.pdf --Chicomexochtli
http://aids-clinical-care.jwatch.org/cgi/content/full/2008/929/1 --Ehecatl
October 22: Keeping an Open Mind
Cohort B -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1010070 --Ixtlilton
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/wegener.html --Quilaztli
October 29: Alternative hypotheses
Cohort A -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polywater --Huehuecoyotl
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=14 -- Patecatl 06:45, 29 October 2009 (UTC)
http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Evolutionary_psychology_and_suicide --Yacatecuhtli
Keplar's Philosophy and the New Astronomy by Rhonda Martens, this article was found on google books. -- Atlacamani
--> another article on same thing: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mysterium_Cosmographicum -- Atlacamani
Cohort B -
http://partners.nytimes.com/library/national/science/050399sci-cold-fusion.html -- Ueueteotl
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/10/ecosmackdown-solar-versus-pets/-- Quetzalcoatl
http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/TechnicalNotes2.html --Chicomexochtli
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinsey_Reports --Ramyar
planet x - Quilaztli
Critiques
Narration and the brain:
- Speer et al., Reading Stories Activates Neural Representations of Visual and Motor Experiences. Psychological Science 20, 989-999, 2009.
- Hasson et al., A hierarchy of temporal receptive windows in human cortex. Journal of Neuroscience 28, 2539-2550, 2008.
DavidColeman 07:59, 3 December 2009 (UTC)
Driven to Distraction: Dual-Task Studies of Simulated Driving and Conversing on a Cellular Telephone
- David L. Strayer and William A. Johnston
- Psychological Science, Vol. 12, No. 6 (Nov., 2001), pp. 462-466 -------- Martin Mexia
Driving performance during concurrent cell-phone use: are drivers aware of their performance decrements?
Mary F. Lesch Corresponding Author Contact Information, E-mail The Corresponding Author, a and Peter A. Hancock b---- Martin Mexia
Ramyar:
Sex differences in the functional organization of the brain for language:Shaywitz et al.:Nature 1995-----Ramyar
2. Gender differences in regional brain response to visceral pressure in IBS patients:Berman et al.:European journal of pain (2000) 4:157-172-----Ramyar
1. Gender differences in pain perception and patterns of cerebral activation during noxious heat stimulation in humans:Paulson et al.:Pain 76 (1998) 223 – 229.----Ramyar
"A neurocomputational model of classical conditioning phenomena: A putative role for the hippocampal region in associative learning" Moustafa, AA, Myers, C., Gluck, MA. Brain Research 1276 180-195. (2009) ----- Joel Ferstay
"A computational model of hippocampal function in trace conditioning" Elliot A. Ludvig, Richard S. Sutton, Eric Verbeek, James E. Kehoe. In Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 21 2009 ----- Joel Ferstay
Brian:
http://wexler.free.fr/papers/act_dep.pdf
http://www.d.umn.edu/~willemsn/pubs/uucs-03-016.pdf
Lu:
1. "Caffeine, stress, and proneness to psychosis-like experiences: A preliminary investigation" Simon R. Jones, Charles Fernyhough. Personality and Individual Differences 46 (2009) 562–564
2. "Cognitive basis of hallucinations in schizophrenia: role of top-down information processing Andre Aleman, Koen B.E. Bocker, Ron Hijman, Edward H.F. de Haan, Rene S. Kahn Schizophrenia Research 64 (2003) 175– 185
Suweera:
1. http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/James/emotion.htm "What is an Emotion?", William James
2. "Emotino Circuits in the Brain", LeDoux
Ilan
1. http://www.springerlink.com/content/u2hnhm3r474245q7/fulltext.pdf "Neuroethics and the Problem of Other Minds: Implications of Neuroscience for the Moral Status of Brain-Damaged", Martha J. Farah, 9 - 17
2. http://journals.cambridge.org/download.php?file=%2FPAX%2FPAX4_02%2FS1478951506060238a.pdf&code=6968a817900ab3647005a5003ed21b36 "Affirming the right to care, preserving the right to die: Disorders of consciousness and neuroethics after Schiavo", JOSEPH J. FINS, (January 2006) 169 - 176
Leslie:
Crundall, D., Underwood, G. & Chapman, P (2002). Attending to the peripheral world while driving. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 459-475.
Bailenson, J.N., & Yee, N. (2005). Digital Chameleons: Automatic Assimilation of Nonverbal Gestures in Immersive Virtual Environments. American Psychological Society, 16, 814-819. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Embodied Cognition/Perception ---- Tom
http://www.perceptionweb.com/perception/fulltext/p38/p6325.pdf
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=2&hid=7&sid=c2d09dd3-6b1a-4177-ba9d-62849ad1bbce@sessionmgr14
Examples of Bad Research
All following examples of bad research share a common theme: failure of common sense reasoning. Rather than favouring a simpler, more likely explanation, the authors -- motivated by personal beliefs and funding agencies -- make leaps of logic that seem utterly ridiculous on retrospect.
It is both disappointing and mystifying that these articles were published in peer-reviewed journals by authors with seemingly credible backgrounds. Finding bad research is an unfortunately easy task, and published material should not be trusted simply because it is published.
1. Global warming and suicide rates:
- Preti, Lentini & Maugeri. (2007). Global warming possibly linked to an enhanced risk of suicide: Data from Italy, 1974–2003. Journal of Affective Disorders. [ link ]
This study is a classic case of confusing correlation with causation. What could possibly have led the authors to arrive at their conclusion? Rather than wax on about the problems with this study, I will point you to the humorous discussion/criticism in this blog entry. The entry does get somewhat technical towards the middle, although the beginning and the end are fairly easy to read.
2. Regular intercourse and erectile dysfunction:
- Koshimaki, Shiri, Tammela, Hakkinen, Hakama & Auvinen. (2008). Regular Intercourse Protects Against Erectile Dysfunction: Tampere Aging Male Urologic Study. The American Journal of Medicine, 121(7), 592-596. [ link ]
Over a period of five years, the authors surveyed men aged 55 to 75 on aspects of their sexual health. The authors found that "[t]he risk of erectile dysfunction was inversely related to the frequency of intercourse," and conclude that "[r]egular intercourse protects against the development of erectile dysfunction among men aged 55 to 75 years."
This is yet another instance of leaping from correlational data to a causal conclusion. Isn't it possible -- and more logical -- that erectile dysfunction is the cause that prevents men from engaging in intercourse? Or, perhaps there is another health-related factor -- for example, depression -- that both causes erectile dysfunction and decreases the likelihood of having sex.
Whatever the true explanation may be, we cannot conclude anything about the direction of causality as it cannot be understood by observation alone; only controlled experiments, with random assignment of subjects to conditions, allow us to make inferences on causal relationships. Fancy statistical techniques cannot infuse causality in a study.
3. Conformist cultures and the future of evolutionary psychology:
- Kanazawa. (2006). No, It Ain't Gonna Be Like That. Evolutionary Psychology, 4, 120-128. [ link ]
This article is studded with problems, but my two favourite parts are at the beginning of the paper.
First, the author argues that Asians are generally uncreative as evidenced by the disproportionately large number of Nobel laureates that originate from North America and Europe in comparison to Asia. Between 1991 to 2005, for example, 155 Nobel laureates were from the USA and 91 laureates were from Germany, in comparison to only one laureate each from South Korea, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Myanmar, and Vietnam. Even after controlling for population size, Switzerland ranks the highest and China ranks the lowest.
[Side note: To control for population size, Kanazawa does a strange calculation for relative representation. He takes the proportion of Nobel laureates from each country (e.g., USA: 155/776 = 19.97% of laureates from the US), then takes the proportion of global population attributed to each country (e.g., USA: 298 213 000/ 6 451 000 000 = 4.62% of global population from the US). Relative representation is calculated by dividing the former by the latter (e.g., USA: 19.97%/4.62% = 4.3225). This strikes me as a needlessly complicated method; why not simply calculate the number of laureates per capita?]
But, is the number of Nobel laureates a good measurement of creativity? Certainly, the disproportionate representation of Nobel laureates from different countries indicates something -- most likely, the country's political stability or economic strength of each. A country that is in political turmoil is unlikely to spend its funds on science and research.
Then, he claims that Asians are worse at learning English than Europeans because Asians tend to have lower verbal IQ scores. Is that really the best explanation for difficulties encountered by Asian ESL students? More likely, linguistic similarities between English and other European languages better account for the relative ease with which European ESL students learn English. Strangely, Kanazawa fails to mention how much more difficult it is for English speakers to learn Asian languages in comparison to European languages.
On the whole, the entire paper reeks of poor reasoning and strange explanations. It's also great (for us) that the entire paper is written in strong, charged language that is intended to be emotionally provocative.
4. Aspirin prevents heart attacks:
- Rosnow & Rosenthal. (1989). Statistical Procedures and the Justification of Knowledge in Psychological Science. American Psychologist. [discussion of bad statistical analysis] [ link ]
The authors criticize some common methodological errors in this technical paper. There is a rather good segment on the distinction between statistical significance versus meaningfulness of the results, however.
Specifically, the authors describe a previous study in which regular intake of aspirin was found to reduce the incidence of heart attacks (pp.1278-1280). The original researchers found that the results were statistically significant (i.e., highly reliable), p < .001, primarily due to the extremely large sample size of over 10,000 participants per condition. Rosnow and Rosenthal note that the actual size of the correlation was, in comparison, very small: r = 0.034, meaning that only 1% of the variation in the incidence of heart attacks could be explained in terms of aspirin administration. This is not a very effective treatment for preventing heart attacks.
The article itself is extremely technical, so you are not expected to understand it. It is available for your perusal, however, if you are interested in taking a look for yourself.
Resource Page
http://wiki.ubc.ca/Cogs303_resources
Target Articles Archive:
Term 1 2008
September 11, 2008: Misuse of Language
CBS Interview with Video Game Censorship Advocate Jack Thompson
This guy is a total bonkers! I especially like his explanation of how the brain work:
"Of course, as you actually grow neural pathways called dendrites that enable you to perform more easily the physical acts of violence. Plus, from a psychological perspective, to act out of virtual violence in a virtual setting is far more damaging than just viewing it. You enter into the violence, you become the protagonist."
--ColinSteinmann 12:04, 11 September 2008 (UTC)
http://jasonjeffrey.wordpress.com/2008/01/14/why-space-exploration-is-worth-the-cost/
--BarryRoss 07:22, 11 September 2008 (UTC)
http://pharmacyautomationsystems.com/why-automate.htm --- Ivan Zhao September 10th, morning
http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/climate-change-not-caused-by-humans-academic/2007/04/04/1175366308635.html --- George Vulic 17:00, September 10th, 2008
http://www.carolinapoliticsonline.com/2008/08/27/are-libraries-becoming-obsolete/ --ChrisRogers 02:09, 11 September 2008 (UTC)
http://singaporeboysg.blogspot.com/2008/09/global-warming-is-it-real-al-gore-says.html --RachelTeo 03:14, 11 September 2008 (UTC)
This looks to me like a blogger either totally misunderstanding or deliberately misinterpreting an interview transcript. Either that, or the interview-ee was just being nit-picky in terms of terminology. In any event the story goes: Interviewer asks an investigator for the Canadian Human Rights Commission what value he gives to "free speech". Given that it's an item out of the American Constitution, rather than something literally (word-for-word) secured by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the investigator replies that he gives it no value. The blogger, presenting the transcript on her blog concludes that it's a chilling admission from a human rights investigator that he doesn't value freedom of speech. http://www.bloggernews.net/113422 --SheaClare 05:18, 11 September 2008 (UTC)
We Become What We Condone by Sen. Jesse Helms--CameronHassall 05:36, 11 September 2008 (UTC) link title
September 18, 2008: Quality of Evidence; Misuse of Statistics
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53103ChrisRogers 21:34, 17 September 2008 (UTC)
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/09/president_bushs_troop_announce.html George W. Bush’s Troop Announcement, Sept. 9, 2008 “Today, I am pleased to announce the next step forward in our policy of "return on success." General Petraeus has just completed a review of the situation in Iraq - and he and the Joint Chiefs of Staff have recommended that we move forward with additional force reductions. Over the next several months, we will bring home about 3,400 combat support forces - including aviation personnel, explosive ordnance teams, combat and construction engineers, military police, and logistical support forces. By November, we will bring home a Marine battalion that is now serving in Anbar province. And in February of 2009, another Army combat brigade will come home. This amounts to about 8,000 additional American troops returning home without replacement. And if the progress in Iraq continues to hold, General Petraeus and our military leaders believe additional reductions will be possible in the first half of 2009.” --> This may seem like a lot, until you realize that there will still be 138,000 troops left in Iraq. This is more than four times the US force in Afghanistan. This is more than the number of US forces in the Iraq before a troop increase was ordered in January of 2007. Further, the reduction will not be complete before February of next year – after Bush has left office. --SheaClare 02:47, 18 September 2008 (UTC)
http://www.scientology.org/news-media/stats/pg004.html http://www.scientology.org/news-media/stats/pg005.html Ivan Zhao 9:06pm, Sept 17th
Medical Consequences of What Homosexuals Do by Paul Cameron --CameronHassall 04:47, 18 September 2008 (UTC)
There is a 15% disagreement in 238U Decay Constant--ColinSteinmann 08:21, 18 September 2008 (UTC)
Mother Wrongfully Convicted Of Murdering Her Babies Thanks to Statistics--ColinSteinmann 15:37, 18 September 2008 (UTC)
September 25, 2008: Correlation and Causation; Explanation
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2007-04-05-daylight-savings-usat_N.htm/ --GeorgeVulic 15:14, 24 September 2008 (UTC)
http://www.scientificblogging.com/news_releases/is_red_bull_a_gateway_drug_some_john_hopkins_experts_say_caffeine_drinks_need_warning_labels? --RachelTeo 23:09, 24 September 2008 (UTC)
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0704/16/lkl.01.htmlChrisRogers 05:30, 25 September 2008 (UTC)
http://www-search.cardiff.ac.uk:8080/search.sim?qt=%22price+of+beer%22+violence&go.x=0&go.y=0&go=Go&sr=0&nh=10&cs=iso-8859-1&sc=cardiff&sm=0&ha=0&mt=1 (At the bottom of the page, it's a PDF called "Beer Violence") Shea Clare Sept 25, 1:16AM
Homosexuality More Dangerous Than Smoking --ColinSteinmann
October 9, 2008: Analogy
http://www.nicholasgcarr.com/bigswitch/BarryRoss 06:24, 9 October 2008 (UTC)
http://www.biologycorner.com/worksheets/cell-analogy.htmlGeorgeVulic 07:10, 9 October 2008 (UTC)
http://msfrizzle.blogspot.com/2006/05/electron-cloud-analogy.htmlChrisRogers 18:25, 8 October 2008 (UTC)
Ramachandran, V.S., Phantoms in the Brain, pp. 134-137. --CameronHassall 01:33, 9 October 2008 (UTC)
http://terrytao.wordpress.com/2007/02/26/quantum-mechanics-and-tomb-raider/ --RachelTeo 02:45, 9 October 2008 (UTC)
Flatland: A romance of many dimensions The most fun you can have thinking about Math! --ColinSteinmann 10:59, 9 October 2008 (UTC)
October 23, 2008: Keeping an Open Mind
Continental Drift http://www.crystalinks.com/continental_drift.html --BarryRoss 07:50, 23 October 2008 (UTC) Interesting Idea: God does not exist. --KyleMelnick 22:13, 22 October 2008 (UTC)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Duchesne --RachelTeo 23:38, 22 October 2008 (UTC)
Interesting Idea: Free Energy--ChrisRogers 06:14, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
The Krebs Cycle --CameronHassall 08:47, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
Critique Articles Term 1 2008
Ellis, H.D. et al. (1997) Reduced autonomic responses to faces in Capgras Delusion.--KyleMelnick 17:44, 26 November 2008 (UTC)
Haney, C., Banks, W. C., & Zimbardo, P. G. (1973). Study of prisoners and guards in a simulated prison. Naval Research Reviews, 9, 1–17. Washington, DC: Office of Naval Research.--GeorgeVulic 16:08, 26 November 2008 (UTC)
Brooks et al. (1986) A robust layered control system for a mobile robot. --RachelTeo 01:01, 27 November 2008 (UTC)
Good article: VS Ramachandran, EM Hubbard. Psychophysical investigations into the neural basis
of synaesthesi. - Journal of Consciousness Studies, 2001
Bad article: J New, L Cosmides, J Tooby. Category-specific attention for animals reflects
ancestral priorities, not expertise. - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2007
--ColinSteinmann 04:23, 27 November 2008 (UTC)
Wolford et al., The Left Hemisphere’s Role in Hypothesis Formation. --CameronHassall and Rozin, et al., "Head versus heart"... --CameronHassall
GOOD: Hirstein et al., Capgras syndrome: a novel probe for understanding the neural representation of the identity and familiarity of persons--ChrisRogers 07:16, 27 November 2008 (UTC) BAD: Domin et al., Students' categorizations of organic compounds --ChrisRogers 07:16, 27 November 2008 (UTC)
Term 2 2009
January 14: Misuse of Language
AndrewC: http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%20in%20America/Abortion%20is%20Murder/physician_explains.htm Inconsistent use of the word "baby" in order to invoke emotional reactions.
EmilyH: http://www.trueauthority.com/cvse/fiftyreasonsprnt.htm
NicholasFitzgerald: http://www.yesweightloss.com/lotus-sanitizing-system.htm - Every time I read about something being "chemical free" I rofl. This one gets extra points for claiming that ozonated water is not a chemical. For more humour see [this].
NicolasThorne: http://www.drugfree.org/Portal/DrugIssue/News/The_Message_Matter - very misleading article, shows possible opposing views but introduces personal opinion to reconcile them. Also uses many statistics that are completely out of context.
Andrew Brentano: http://www.scientology.org/religion/presentation/pg011.html Another issue with the use of "drug". The noted effects and specification of drug that cause them are not supplied, nor are the bad effects disambiguated.
Gideon Baldridge: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/05/20030501-15.html Bush's famous "Mission Accomplished" speech.
Ting Fung Yip: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090113.EISRAEL13/TPStory/Comment - Human rights Robin Avery: http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/eco-friendly/non-toxic-green-dry-cleaning-460109 - Misleading use of words, "green", "safe", "organic"
Gabip: http://www.atlanticfreepress.com/oped/6416-western-shoshone-protest-barrick-golds-destruction-on-sacred-mount-tenabo-on-wednesday-shoshone-call-for-help-to-establish-an-encampment-.html- wrong use of the term "genocide" to try to push their point against mining
Gabip: here is a website that is just entertaining: http://www.alaska.net/~clund/e_djublonskopf/Flatearthsociety.htm
Emily Mears: http://www.canadianchristianity.com/cgi-bin/na.cgi?nationalupdates/070118rights - "freedom of conscience and religion" vs. BC school districts
Magnus Lu: (i've updated my link but the misused word is the same) http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_mathematical_formulae_for_the_law_of_attraction - misuse of the word 'law' and 'divine'
Curtis Lim: http://www.geocities.com/lamb_of_god_2005/no_evolution.html - misuse of numerous terms, the excerpt I chose (reason #35) contains misuse of the term "natural selection"
Presley Perswain: http://newmedia.covnews.com/news/archive/5249/
Archives
COGS 303 Wiki Archives: [link]