Prelude

Today’s topics

Levels of analysis

(Sejnowski, Churchland, & Movshon, 2014)

Cognitive science as complexity science (Favela, 2020)

[[@Favela2020-uc]](http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/wcs.1525)

(Favela, 2020)

David Marr (1945-1980)

David Marr

David Marr

[[@Marr1980-cu]](https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/vision)

(Marr, 1980)

Marr’s Three Levels

[[@Favela2020-uc]](http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/wcs.1525)

(Favela, 2020)

Scientific “story-telling” at different levels of analysis

  • Temporal
    • Short/medium/long
  • Spatial
    • Small/medium/large

Your turn

Does neuroscience need behavior? Does behavioral science need the brain?

Discussion of…

Krakauer, J. W., Ghazanfar, A. A., Gomez-Marin, A., MacIver, M. A., & Poeppel, D. (2017). Neuroscience needs behavior: Correcting a reductionist bias. Neuron, 93(3), 480–490. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2016.12.041.

Key points

  • Questions ‘often tacit…belief in the reductionist program for understanding the link between brain and behavior’
  • Behavior -> understanding; neural inverventions -> causality
  • Marr’s 3 levels (computation; algorithm; implementation)

(Krakauer, Ghazanfar, Gomez-Marin, MacIver, & Poeppel, 2017)

(Krakauer, Ghazanfar, Gomez-Marin, MacIver, & Poeppel, 2017)

Main points

  • Levels of analysis
  • Neuroscience needs behavior; behavioral science needs neuroscience

Your turn

1. Pick two papers you want to read and (better) understand

  • Email me APA formatted citation (with DOIs)
  • Indicate three concepts/terms you are especially interested in understanding

2. Choose a behavior or mental state you want to (better) understand

  • Take an information processing perspective and briefly sketch out (in no more than a short paragraph) the main inputs, outputs, and computations involved.
  • When thinking about outputs make sure to distinguish between behaviors (e.g., movements, facial expressions, vocalizations) and physiological states (e.g., changes in heart rate, hormone concentrations in the blood, etc.)

References

Favela, L. H. (2020). Cognitive science as complexity science. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews. Cognitive Science, 11(4), e1525. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcs.1525
Krakauer, J. W., Ghazanfar, A. A., Gomez-Marin, A., MacIver, M. A., & Poeppel, D. (2017). Neuroscience needs behavior: Correcting a reductionist bias. Neuron, 93(3), 480–490. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2016.12.041
Marr, D. (1980). Vision. Retrieved from https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/vision
Sejnowski, T. J., Churchland, P. S., & Movshon, J. A. (2014). Putting big data to good use in neuroscience. Nat. Neurosci., 17(11), 1440–1441. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3839