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 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.

This lecture provides an introduction to the study of eye-tracking in humans. 

From the retina to the superior colliculus, the lateral geniculate nucleus into primary visual cortex and beyond, this lecture gives a tour of the mammalian visual system highlighting the Nobel-prize winning discoveries of Hubel & Wiesel.

From Universal Turing Machines to McCulloch-Pitts and Hopfield associative memory networks, this lecture explains what is meant by computation.

In an overview of the structure of the mammalian neocortex, this lecture explains how the mammalian cortex is organized in a hierarchy, describing the columnar principle and canonical microcircuits.

The retina has 60 different types of neurons. What are their functions? This lecture explores the definition of cell types and their functions in the mammalian retina.

Optical imaging offers a look inside the working brain. This lecture takes a look at orientation and ocular dominance columns in the visual cortex, and shows how they can be viewed with calcium imaging.

Functional imaging has led to the discovery of a plethora of visual cortical regions. This lecture introduces functional imaging techniques and their teachings about the visual cortex.

This lecture explains these ideas and explores the task of characterizing neuronal response properties using information theory.

What is color? This lecture explores how color is "made" in the brain and variations of color perception including trichromacy, color blindness in men, tetrachromatic vision in women, and genetic engineering of color perception.