The goal of computational modeling in behavioral and psychological science is using mathematical models to characterize behavioral (or neural) data. Over the past decade, this practice has revolutionized social psychological science (and neuroscience) by allowing researchers to formalize theories as constrained mathematical models and test specific hypotheses to explain unobservable aspects of complex social cognitive processes and behaviors. This course is composed of 4 modules in the format of Jupyter Notebooks. This course comprises lecture-based, discussion-based, and lab-based instruction. At least one-third of class sessions will be hands-on. We will discuss relevant book chapters and journal articles, and work with simulated and real data using the Python programming language (no prior programming experience necessary) as we survey some selected areas of research at the intersection of computational modeling and social behavior. These selected topics will span a broad set of social psychological abilities including (1) learning from and for others, (2) learning about others, and (3) social influence on decision-making and mental states. Rhoads, S. A. & Gan, L. (2022). Computational models of human social behavior and neuroscience - An open educational course and Jupyter Book to advance computational training.  ​​​Journal of Open Source Education, 5(47), 146. https://doi.org/10.21105/jose.00146

This lecture covers computational principles that growth cones employ to detect and respond to environmental chemotactic gradients, focusing particularly on growth-cone shape dynamics.

In this lecture you will learn that in developing mouse somatosensory cortex, endogenous Btbd3 translocate to the cell nucleus in response to neuronal activity and oriente primary dendrites toward active axons in the barrel hollow.

In this presentation, the speaker describes some of their recent efforts to characterize the transcriptome of the developing human brain, and and introduction to the BrainSpan project.

How does the brain learn? This lecture discusses the roles of development and adult plasticity in shaping functional connectivity.

This lesson describes the principles underlying functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), tractography, and parcellation. These tools and concepts are explained in a broader context of neural connectivity and mental health. 

This tutorial introduces pipelines and methods to compute brain connectomes from fMRI data. With corresponding code and repositories, participants can follow along and learn how to programmatically preprocess, curate, and analyze functional and structural brain data to produce connectivity matrices. 

In this lesson, you will learn about the connectome, the collective system of neural pathways in an organism, with a closer look at the neurons, synapses, and connections of particular species. 

This lesson delves into the human nervous system and the immense cellular, connectomic, and functional sophistication therein. 

In this lesson, you will hear about some of the open issues in the field of neuroscience, as well as a discussion about whether neuroscience works, and how can we know?

The "connectome" is a term, coined in the past decade, that has been used to describe more than one phenomenon in neuroscience. This lecture explains the basics of structural connections at the micro-, meso- and macroscopic scales.

This talk covers the Human Connectome Project, which aims to provide an unparalleled compilation of neural data, an interface to graphically navigate this data, and the opportunity to achieve never before realized conclusions about the living human brain.

EyeWire is a game to map the brain. Players are challenged to map branches of a neuron from one side of a cube to the other in a 3D puzzle. Players scroll through the cube and reconstruct neurons with the help of an artificial intelligence algorithm developed at Seung Lab in Princeton University. EyeWire gameplay advances neuroscience by helping researchers discover how neurons connect to process visual information. 

Mozak is a scientific discovery game about neuroscience for citizen scientists and neuroscientists alike. Players to help neuroscientists build models of brain cells and learn more about the brain through their efforts.

This module explains how neurons come together to create the networks that give rise to our thoughts. The totality of our neurons and their connection is called our connectome. Learn how this connectome changes as we learn, and computes information.