Event series

Iris van Rooij | Thu, Nov 25, 2021, 13:00–14:00 CET
Psychology has been reforming its own practices over the last decade. Most of that reform has focused on experiments and statistics while neglecting theory building. The history of cognitive science and mathematical psychology demonstrates the power of formal theory building. However, adoption of a formal approach in many areas of psychology seems to have been hindered by unfamiliarity. Much of psychology is still primarily in the business of discovering and confirming “effects”. This leaves contemporary psychology without strong formal and computational foundations, a scarcity of theoretical rigor, and a proliferation of just-so stories. In this talk, Iris will discuss how psychological science can improve its theoretical foundations by picking up tools for theory development.

Iris van Rooij & Mark Blokpoel | Thu, Dec 2 & 9, 2021, 11:00–14:00 CET
Are you a graduate student or researcher in cognitive science or psychology? Would you like to be able to make your own, formally precise, theoretical models? You have no or little prior training in theory or modeling? This workshop is a place to start! The workshop consists of two days/parts, one week apart. In Part 1 (Dec 2) you learn about the conceptual foundations of theoretical modeling and you will perform a guided practice in formalization. In Part 2 (Dec 9) you will have the opportunity to practice formalizing your own theoretical ideas.

Iris is a professor at the School of Psychology and Artificial Intelligence at Radboud University Nijmegen. She leads the Computational Cognitive Science  group at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour. more

Mark is an assistant professor at the School of Artificial Intelligence at Radboud University and member of the Computational Cognitive Science group at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour. more