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 lecture focuses on how the immune system can target and attack the nervous system to produce autoimmune responses that may result in diseases such as multiple sclerosis, neuromyelitis, and lupus cerebritis manifested by motor, sensory, and cognitive impairments. Despite the fact that the brain is an immune-privileged site, autoreactive lymphocytes producing proinflammatory cytokines can cause active brain inflammation, leading to myelin and axonal loss.