Making cognitive science even better

Rick O. Gilmore

2019-06-03 15:25:16

Preliminaries




Overview

  • The hardest science
  • Why it’s hard
  • Making cognitive science even better

Psychology is the hardest science

(Harder than physics)

Why it’s hard

Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Tower of Babel (Vienna) - Google Art Project.jpg

  • Body (\(B\)) within world (\(W\))
  • Nervous system (\(N\)) within body (\(B\))
  • Mind (\(M\)) within nervous system (\(N\))

\(\dot{M} = f(M,N)\)

\(\dot{N} = f(N,B)\)

\(\dot{B} = f(B,N,W)\)

\(\dot{W} = f(W,B)\)

Measure

  • \(W\), \(B\), \(N\) more or less directly

Sejnowski, Churchland, & Movshon, 2014

  • Measure mental states \(M\) indirectly
  • Via \(N\), \(B\), \(W\) (+ prior beliefs/knowledge)

Linear/open-loop theoretical frameworks dominate

B.F. Skinner

\(Stimulus (S) \rightarrow Response (R)\)

Noam Chomsky

\(Stimulus (S) \rightarrow Cognition (C) \rightarrow Response (R)\)

\(S \rightarrow N \leftrightarrow C \rightarrow R\)

Closed-loop causal chains better reflect the underlying reality

Jonas & Kording 2017

We show that [classic analytic neuroscience] approaches reveal interesting structure in the data…

Jonas & Kording 2017

…but do not meaningfully describe the hierarchy of information processing in the microprocessor.

Jonas & Kording 2017

This suggests current analytic approaches in neuroscience may fall short of producing meaningful understanding of neural systems, regardless of the amount of data.

Jonas & Kording 2017

Maquina vapor Watt ETSIIM.jpg


By Nicolás Pérez, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

  • How to regulate the speed of a Watt-style steam engine?
1. Measure the speed of the flywheel.
2. Compare the actual speed against the desired speed.
3. If there is no discrepancy, return to step 1. Otherwise,
    a. measure the current steam pressure;
    b. calculate the desired alteration in steam pressure;
    c. calculate the necessary throttle valve adjustment.
4. Make the throttle valve adjustment.
5. Return to step 1. 

Centrifugal governor.png

Algorithms vs. Dynamics (Van Gelder, 1995)

  • “If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” (Maslow)
  • How much do we really understand about biological computing?

Biological computing

  • Constrained by space, time, energy

25 W vs. ?? MW

  • Computes with chemistry (neurotransmitters, hormones) when possible
  • With ‘wires’ (axons & dendrites) when necessary

Biological computing

  • Engages in real-time behaviors with existential consequences (e.g., ingestion, defense, reproduction, locomotion, pursuit)
  • Operates effectively in complex, dynamic environments

Big data (-omics) initiatives in the biological sciences…

…largely overlook behavior

Behavior is the linchpin of the most vexing problems in public health…

Gilmore, Adolph, & Tamis-LeMonda, 2019

Behavior contributes to the progression or prevention of disease, defines a disorder or marks recovery, and provides mechanisms for therapeutic intervention.

Gilmore, Adolph, & Tamis-LeMonda, 2019

…a better understanding of behavior is fundamental to achieving positive health outcomes, from prenatal development throughout adulthood.

Gilmore, Adolph, & Tamis-LeMonda, 2019

Is there a reproducibility crisis in science?

  • Yes, a significant crisis
  • Yes, a slight crisis
  • No crisis
  • Don’t know

Have you failed to reproduce an experiment from your lab or someone else’s?

…psychologists tend to treat other peoples’ theories like toothbrushes; no self-respecting individual wants to use anyone else’s.

Mischel, 2009

The toothbrush culture undermines the building of a genuinely cumulative science, encouraging more parallel play and solo game playing, rather than building on each other’s directly relevant best work.

Mischel, 2009

Making cognitive science even better

Support research that

  • studies behavior(s)
  • not just (difficult-to-measure-directly) internal states

Powers 1973

  • samples densely (and/or broadly) in time & space
  • creates meaningful linkages across levels of analysis

Support research that

  • is informed by rich theories of task performance (inputs, controlled variables, outputs)
  • attempts to close causal loops

  • resists “premature simplification”

Matejka & Fitzmaurice

Powers 1973

  • demonstrates a meaningful commitment to producing rigorous, reproducible, & robust findings

Support research that

  • collects & shares video as data & documentation

Why video?

Video…

  • Captures (& preserves) behavior
  • Shows (& helps tell…)
  • Expands the scope of inquiry
  • Provides unequaled opportunities for reuse

Jayaraman, Smith, Raudies, & Gilmore 2014

Jayaraman, Smith, Raudies, & Gilmore 2014

\(n=900\) 12-, 18-, 24-mo-olds; \(n=30\) sites

demographics, health, vocabulary, media use, & temperament

openly shared with the research community

play-project.org

Support research that

  • Shares procedures, materials, code, & data openly (but securely)
  • Makes sharing scripted, fully reproducible workflows easy

Tamis-LeMonda 2014

vol_8 <- databraryapi::download_session_csv(vol_id = 8)
vol_8 %>%
  filter(participant.gender %in% c('Male', 'Female')) %>%
  ggplot() +
  aes(x = participant.race, fill = participant.race) +
  facet_grid(. ~ participant.gender) +
  geom_bar(stat="count") +
  theme(axis.text.x = element_text(angle = 90, hjust = 1))

R package
https://github.com/PLAY-behaviorome/databraryapi

Python package https://github.com/PLAY-behaviorome/databrarypi

Support research that

  • enables linkages between & across data sets
  • exploits advances in AI and machine learning

Source: Ori Ossmy, NYU

Ossmy, Gilmore, & Adolph 2019

If we do these things…

Thank you

rogilmore@psu.edu
https://gilmore-lab.github.io
https://gilmore-lab.github.io/2019-06-03-McDonnell-Fdn/
@rogilmore

Materials

This talk was produced on 2019-06-03 in RStudio version using R Markdown and the reveal.JS framework. The code and materials used to generate the slides may be found at https://github.com/gilmore-lab/2019-06-03-McDonnell-Fdn/. Information about the R Session that produced the code is as follows:

## R version 3.5.2 (2018-12-20)
## Platform: x86_64-apple-darwin15.6.0 (64-bit)
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## BLAS: /System/Library/Frameworks/Accelerate.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/vecLib.framework/Versions/A/libBLAS.dylib
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## [1] en_US.UTF-8/en_US.UTF-8/en_US.UTF-8/C/en_US.UTF-8/en_US.UTF-8
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## [1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods   base     
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## other attached packages:
##  [1] igraph_1.2.2            forcats_0.3.0          
##  [3] stringr_1.4.0           dplyr_0.8.0.1          
##  [5] purrr_0.3.2             readr_1.3.1            
##  [7] tidyr_0.8.2             tibble_2.1.1           
##  [9] ggplot2_3.1.0           tidyverse_1.2.1        
## [11] databraryapi_0.1.6.9001
## 
## loaded via a namespace (and not attached):
##  [1] revealjs_0.9     tidyselect_0.2.5 xfun_0.6         reshape2_1.4.3  
##  [5] haven_2.0.0      lattice_0.20-38  colorspace_1.4-1 generics_0.0.2  
##  [9] htmltools_0.3.6  yaml_2.2.0       rlang_0.3.3      pillar_1.3.1    
## [13] glue_1.3.1       withr_2.1.2      modelr_0.1.2     readxl_1.2.0    
## [17] plyr_1.8.4       munsell_0.5.0    gtable_0.3.0     cellranger_1.1.0
## [21] rvest_0.3.2      codetools_0.2-15 evaluate_0.13    labeling_0.3    
## [25] knitr_1.22       curl_3.3         highr_0.8        broom_0.5.1     
## [29] Rcpp_1.0.1       scales_1.0.0     backports_1.1.3  jsonlite_1.6    
## [33] hms_0.4.2        digest_0.6.18    stringi_1.4.3    keyring_1.1.0   
## [37] grid_3.5.2       cli_1.1.0        tools_3.5.2      magrittr_1.5    
## [41] lazyeval_0.2.2   crayon_1.3.4     pkgconfig_2.0.2  rsconnect_0.8.13
## [45] xml2_1.2.0       lubridate_1.7.4  assertthat_0.2.1 rmarkdown_1.12  
## [49] httr_1.4.0       rstudioapi_0.10  R6_2.4.0         nlme_3.1-137    
## [53] compiler_3.5.2