Psychology 196B: Research in Cognitive Science
Interleaving in Mathematics
Faculty Sponsor: Steve Bennoun
Department: Psychology
Contact Name: Steve Bennoun
E-mail: bennoun@ucla.edu
Description of Research Project:
What is the best way to design homework sets in order to best support student learning? Is it better to practice one topic at a time or to mix different topics? If so, how should the topics be mixed?
In this project we will compare different homework designs and evaluate their impact on student learning in the context of a mathematics course. We will also explore what other factors could explain differences in learning.
Description of Student Responsibilities:
Students will participate in a variety of research-related tasks that may include data collection and data cleaning, assisting with statistical data analysis or qualitative data analysis, and literature review. We look for students who are reliable, well organized and comfortable with math and stats. Eagerness to learn is a must. Having taken LS30A is a big plus and knowing R is a plus.
If interested please email your CV, unofficial transcripts and a brief description (1 or 2 paragraphs) of what makes you interested in this project.
Interleaving in Mathematics
Faculty Sponsor: Steve Bennoun
Department: Psychology
Contact Name: Steve Bennoun
E-mail: bennoun@ucla.edu
Description of Research Project:
What is the best way to design homework sets in order to best support student learning? Is it better to practice one topic at a time or to mix different topics? If so, how should the topics be mixed?
In this project we will compare different homework designs and evaluate their impact on student learning in the context of a mathematics course. We will also explore what other factors could explain differences in learning.
Description of Student Responsibilities:
Students will participate in a variety of research-related tasks that may include data collection and data cleaning, assisting with statistical data analysis or qualitative data analysis, and literature review. We look for students who are reliable, well organized and comfortable with math and stats. Eagerness to learn is a must. Having taken LS30A is a big plus and knowing R is a plus.
If interested please email your CV, unofficial transcripts and a brief description (1 or 2 paragraphs) of what makes you interested in this project.
Research on Decision Making and Behavioral Science
Faculty Sponsor: Hal Hershfield
Department: Psychology & Business (Anderson)
Contact Name: Megan Weber
E-mail: mailto:meweber13@gmail.com
Description of Research Project:
How does thinking about time and our future selves transform emotions and alter the judgments and decisions we make for ourselves now? How do different communications and interventions change perceptions, intentions, and behaviors such as choosing to invest (or withdraw from the market), getting vaccinated, saving money, planning for retirement, or confronting the aging process? Research methods for investigating these and related questions include online and in-person experiments, neuroimaging, eye tracking, archival and big data analyses, and even virtual reality.
Description of Student Responsibilities:
RAs will work on a variety of research-related tasks, including literature reviews, study design, stimuli creation, archival data analysis, and statistical coding. Students should be independent, organized, reliable, and clear communicators. We want RAs who are not only hardworking but also interested in investigating the cognitive processes that are involved in decision making and behavior change.
Analysis of MRI Data using BrainSuite
Faculty Sponsor: David Shattuck
Department: Neurology
Contact Name: Yeun Kim
E-mail: yeunkim10@engineering.ucla.edu
Room Number: NRB225
Website: http://shattuck.bmap.ucla.edu
Description of Research Project:
The Shattuck Lab develops computational methods for analyzing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data of the human brain and applies these techniques in brain research. One of our software packages, BrainSuite (http://brainsuite.org), provides an open-source collection of tools for the automated and semi-automated processing of human brain MRI data. As part of our ongoing efforts to improve the software, we need to perform manual labeling of imaging data to provide training and evaluation datasets for machine learning algorithms. Additionally, we are applying these software tools to extract and analyze information related to brain structure and function in several research areas.
Description of Student Responsibilities:
Students working on this project will use the BrainSuite user interface to visually examine MRI data and delineate neuroanatomical structures and boundaries in the data. They will also perform computational tasks using the BrainSuite software to process and analyze the data. This processing will be performed through both the graphical interface and on the command line using scripting tools. Students will also perform visual inspection of program outputs to ensure that processing has been performed correctly. Students will also perform statistical analysis using R. Experience with bash and Python is preferred.
User Experience Design and Visual Communication
Faculty Sponsor: Liu, Zili
Department: Psychology
Contact Name: Lucy Cui
E-mail: lucycuilabRA1@gmail.com
Description of Research Project:
We will take an academic approach to the field of User Experience. The goal is to create research insights that are useful for the field of UX/UI and potentially change how design/research is done in industry. We will test common assumptions of designers/researchers, validate research methods used in industry, and create a list of design principles that are backed by research with appropriate sample sizes and unbiased participants. We may also study visual communication in graphs, infographics, products, etc.
Description of Student Responsibilities:
Responsibilities may include data collection (e.g., computer tasks, semi-structured interviews), literature review, market research, secondary data analysis, qualitative data analysis, and graphic design. Applicants with experience in Figma, Adobe Creative Suite and Psychopy are preferred, and (web) programming skills (e.g., HTML/CSS, Javascript, R, Python, Matlab) are a plus. This experience would be good preparation for graduation school and industry. Your mentor is someone with UX Research experience at Amazon. Students must be able to commit a minimum of 10 hours a week for a minimum of 2 quarters. If interested, please email Lucy (lucy.cui@ucla.edu) your resume or CV and unofficial transcript.
Learning and Mentorship Study
Faculty Sponsor: Naomi Eisenberger
Department: Psychology
Contact Name: Akila Kadambi
E-mail: akadambi@ucla.edu
Description of Research Project:
The study is conducted remotely and is a collaboration effort across research groups (Eisenberger and Bjork Labs). The project involves pairing together adoptive foster youth (ages 9 -16) and undergraduate students at UCLA as part of a larger mentorship intervention. Each participant pair will meet once a week via zoom to discuss pre-determined learning and humanistic education topics, over a longitudinal period (six weeks per participant pair).
Description of Student Responsibilities:
The research assistant will assist on, and potentially lead, aspects of: general study coordination, participant recruitment, and data collection. Prior experience working in lab settings with human subjects and clinical populations is preferred. The research assistant should ideally be able to commit a large portion of time to the project (including weekly meetings), have excellent organizational skills, and provide at least a two quarter commitment. An interest in learning, mentorship, prosociality and/or foster youth is a must.
If interested, please email your CV/resume and a brief statement of interest to Akila Kadambi, akadambi@ucla.edu.
Developing Game-based Measures of Learning and Performance
Faculty Sponsor: Gregory Chung
Department: Education / CRESST
Contact Name: Gregory Chung
E-mail: chung@cresst.org
Room Number: GSEIS 101D
Phone: 310-794-4392
Website: cresst.org
Description of Research Project:
The primary goal of this research is to develop new ways of measuring learning and performance in games. We are working with various game developers on the design and testing of learning games for children 4 to 8 years old. A major aspect of the work is to develop game-based measures using game telemetry (fine-grained event data reflecting children’s behaviors in the game).
The different games we are working with target social-emotional learning, informational text, and computational thinking. In addition, we are working on a proof-of-concept to develop a physical, hands-on version (with embedded sensing) of a digital game to explore differences in modality. When designed for teaching purposes, games can promote exploration, problem solving, reasoning, and strategy use. Questions addressed by the project include: Can gameplay be a source of information that yields insight about the process of learning? How can such processes be measured? What is the quality of these measures?
The kinds of studies conducted include randomized-controlled trials, small-scale usability testing, internal paper testing, and secondary data analysis. We collect data in preschool and informal afterschool settings across the LA region, conduct one-on-one assessments with children, observe gameplay, and use iPads or laptops to deliver the games. The particular activity is dependent on project needs.
Description of Student Responsibilities:
NOTE:
Due to COVID19, activities involving face-to-face interaction may be curtailed; thus, for the time being, activities will be focused on the analysis of existing data or remote data collection. Check with the contact person for the latest updates.
Description of Student Responsibilities
We are seeking research assistants who can commit 2 quarters, 10-12 hrs. a week to support ongoing research projects. Participation in a weekly 2hr meeting is mandatory and a paper is required at the end of each quarter.
In the first quarter, research assistants will be assigned duties as needed by senior scientists, which may include: preparation for and execution of data collection, literature searches and synthesis, data entry, paper or electronic form creation, game testing, data cleaning, simple quantitative analyses, qualitative analysis, setting up equipment, screening and coordinating participants. Class meetings will focus on reviewing methods related to game-based measures and research in general and may require background reading. In collaboration with the faculty sponsor, research assistants will develop a paper and project proposal involving game-based measures to be conducted in the second quarter.
In the second quarter, research assistants will continue to support senior scientits as needed. In addition, research assistants will be expected to carry out a data analysis project around game-based measures using an existing dataset from a current project. Research assistants will be encouraged to present their work at UCLA's Undergraduate Research Week as well as apply to UCLA's Undergraduate Research Fellows/Scholars program.
Relevance to Students
This project may be relevant to students interested in applied research, early childhood education, games in education, measuring learning processes with gameplay data, classroom data collection, and algorithm development. The experience gained may be useful for those interested in graduate school (cognitive science, psychology, computer science, education) and industry (game development, data science, market research, UI/UX).
About CRESST (cresst.org)
Research assistants will be part of a multi-disciplinary team of full-time PhD-level, masters-level, post-graduate researchers, part-time undergraduate research assistants, and full-time programmers. The project is part of CRESST, an internationally-recognized university-based research center housed at the School of Education and Information Studies is comprised of over 80 people and involved in Research & Development spanning education, ed tech, military, and medical sectors.
Effect of video games on visual learning
Faculty Sponsor: Zili Liu
Department: Psychology
Contact Name: Maggie Yeh
E-mail: maggieyeh@g.ucla.edu
Room Number: 8505 Pritzker
Phone: 4153738678
Description of Research Project:
This research project aims to quantify and evaluate the utility of action video games (first-person shooters) as training for visual skills. Video game players have been generally shown to demonstrate enhanced visual skills, especially relating to attention. However, the question remains: is this benefit due to the video games, or are the players self-selecting by choosing to play games because they are already better at visual skills? This project will compare video games to other methods of visual learning training, and evaluate potential limitations.
Description of Student Responsibilities:
Research assistants will assist with data collection. Previous experience with coding in Python, Matlab, or similar is not required, but is appreciated. The specific tasks involved may vary based on individual student interest. Research assistants will be required to attend a weekly RA meeting.
Culture and Contact Lab (CCL) Research Group
Faculty Sponsor: Brannon, Tiffany
Department: Psychology
Contact Name: Tiffany Brannon
E-mail: tbrannon@psych.ucla.edu
Room Number: Pritzker 5522
Description of Research Project:
The UCLA Culture and Contact Lab studies social inequalities tied to systemic oppression and discrimination including disparities related to academic achievement and well-being. Theories and approaches tied to cultural psychology and intergroup relations are integrated to investigate psychological interventions.
Description of Student Responsibilities:
Students in the research group participate in a variety of tasks that are designed to further exposure and experiences with research methods and opportunities for mentorship. In particular, students help with all stages of the research process including providing feedback on study materials, working as an experimenter for studies, assisting with literature reviews and data coding for research reporting and dissemination.
Evaluate Retinal Neural Circuits for Visual Processing
Faculty Sponsor: Yi-Rong Peng
Department: Ophthalmology
Contact Name: Yi-Rong Peng
E-mail: yirongpeng@mednet.ucla.edu
Room Number: Jules Stein Building B-200
Phone: 310-825-7883
Website: http://www.yirongpeng.com
Description of Research Project:
The visual system operates in over 12 orders of magnitude of light intensity and allows for robust discrimination of color, movement, and fine detail. The complex neural processing originates from the circuitry of the retina. In the retina, over 100 types of cells are selectively wired together to form multiple processing circuits, within which achieved parallel processing of visual information. This project is to dissect the functions of individual retinal circuits and understand their roles in processing visual information.
Description of Student Responsibilities:
During the quarter, the student will learn about the morphological and functional features of retinal circuits. Under the supervision of the PI, the student will assist in rodent maintenance, eye-tracking experiments, visual behavior assays, data analysis. She/he will also attend relevant seminars and conduct literature search to better understand the process of visual perception and high-acuity vision. In addition, the student will learn and perform basic bioinformatics using R and python, and histological and molecular techniques, and flow-cytometry, in order to participate in the project.
Learning by Research – HCI
Faculty Sponsor: Chen, Xiang
Department: Electrical & Computer Engineering
Contact Name: Professor Xiang 'Anthony' Chen
E-mail: xac@ucla.edu
Room Number: 1538 Boelter Hall, 580 Portola Plaza
Description of Research Project:
Learning by Research program (LbR) is a quarter long program for UCLA students created by the HCI (human computer interaction) research group in UCLA. It is a quarter-long program for UCLA-wide undergraduate students to pragmatically participate in research with specific learning objectives with a specific focus in HCI related research.
Description of Student Responsibilities:
Students are responsible to either partake as a expeditionist or a specialist in the research projects, either taking on specific roles in programming, hardware building, designing user interfaces for specific roles or exploring a new research projects that lay the groundwork for future development. The student need to utilizes skills in cognitive science such as psychology and programming to undergo extensive user research and build a functional physical or digital prototype related to HCI at the end of the quarter in order to complete the research project.
Schemes and Means: A social-relational theory of incentives
Faculty Sponsor: Gallus, Jana
Department: Anderson School of Management
Contact Name: Jana Gallus
E-mail: jana.gallus@anderson.ucla.edu
Description of Research Project:
How do social relationships influence the choice and the effects of incentives? In the current line of research, we plan to run lab and field experiments where we will vary the pre-existing social relationship between the reward giver and recipient and the types of incentives used. We will then measure the effects on motivation. Our ultimate goal is to test a new theory of incentives that can explain why the same incentives can be effective in some social contexts but backfire in other contexts. The research will incorporate insights from economics, social psychology, and anthropology and will be directly actionable for managers, policy-makers, and anyone that needs a hand from a friend. This project will also relate to topics in Social Cognition including Attribution Theory. Alan Fiske (Distinguished Professor, Psychological Anthropologist) will be actively collaborating on the research. His research aims to understand what enables humans to coordinate in often cooperative, complex, culturally and historically varying systems of social relations. He studies social and moral cognition, motives and emotions; relationship-constitutive actions, experiences, and communications; motivations for violence; interpretations of misfortune and death; and links between psychopathology and social relationships.
Description of Student Responsibilities:
Job responsibilities: - Design experiments in Qualtrics - Administer and implement experiments (lab and possibly field) - Help with data analysis - Conduct a literature review - Contribute to the idea generation process - Join our “lab” meetings at Profeta Desired qualifications/skills: - Experience managing and analyzing data (using R code) - Interest in pursuing research in graduate school (in economics, psychology, or business) - Interest in behavioral economics and social psychology.
Probabilistic Model of Social Commonsense
Faculty Sponsor: Gao, Tao
Department: Statistics; Communication; Psychology
Contact Name: Tao Gao
E-mail: tao.gao@stat.ucla.edu
Website: http://www.stat.ucla.edu/~taogao/
Description of Research Project:
My lab explores human social perception and cognition, with a special focus on aspects of human mind that can inspire the development of artificial intelligence that is communicative and trustworthy. Research in my lab is highly inter-disciplinary, drawing tools from cognitive science, statistics, artificial intelligence, and robotics. The goals of my lab are to (a) reveal the nature of human social commonsense through cognitive modeling and psychophysical experiments; (b) implement human-like social commonsense in artificial intelligence, so that it can seamlessly communicate to and collaborate with humans in safe and trustworthy ways.
Description of Student Responsibilities:
Students should be motivated to build computational models of human minds. Specific responsibilities include: (1) reading cognitive modeling papers and book chapters under my guidance; (2) implementing cognitive models with python; (3) designing and running human psychophysics experiments.
Dissection of nucleus accumbens and prefrontal cortex neural dynamics underlying social interactions
Faculty Sponsor: Peyman Golshani
Department: Neurology
Contact Name: Pingping Zhao
E-mail: ppzhaoion@gmail.com
Room Number: CHS-77100B
Description of Research Project:
This project is about circuit mechanism of social behavior. We're working on neural dynamics of nucleus accumbens (NAc) and its connected brain regions during social interaction (test mice interacting with conspecifics). Combined with different virus expressing calcium indicator GCaMP6f, we are using V3 miniscopes (UCLA Miniscope) to record neural activity in different brain regions when imaged mice are doing freely moving behavior test. Then we would process calcium images and extract neuronal activity. Behavioral movies will be analyzed using custom-written deep-learning based algorithms (DeepBehavior) that can track the position and orientation of each animal and quantitate interaction time, velocity and any other information we need. With the imaging data we collect, we are able to use decoder to predict animal behavior with high performance.
Description of Student Responsibilities:
We're looking for students to join the project. The main responsibilities include: 1 Image processing using Matlab or Python. 2 Use DeepBehavior to analyze behavior data. 3 Help writing/modifying code for different data analysis (ROC, PCA, TCA). 4 Work on decoder to predict animal behavior Qualification: Strong background in Matlab or Python programming Experience in data analysis Creative problem-solving skills A desire to apply for graduate school (not required) Have interest in Neuroscience.
User Experience Design and Visual Communication
Faculty Sponsor: Liu, Zili
Department: Psychology
Contact Name: Lucy Cui
E-mail: lucycuilabRA1@gmail.com
Description of Research Project:
Mathematics and Statistics are topics that many students struggle to learn. We hope to better understand how students process mathematical structure and map between representations, and how they represent and process statistical information both visually and conceptually.
Description of Student Responsibilities:
Research assistants will help with data collection by running participants through experiments and will help pilot-test those experiments. Opportunities will be available to get involved in data analysis and experiment development/material creation. Having completed psych 100A and 100B is expected and 120A/120B is recommended. Applicants with experience in data analysis (e.g., Excel, SPSS, R) and programming (e.g., python, matlab, javascript) are preferred and will be given priority. Students must be able to commit a minimum of 8 hours a week for a minimum of 2 quarters. If interested, please email Lucy (lucy.cui@ucla.edu) your resume or CV, unofficial transcript, quarter availability and planned graduation date.
Perceptual Learning: Teaching with Computers
Faculty Sponsor: Kellman, Philip
Department: Psychology - Cognitive Science
Contact Name: Everett Mettler
E-mail: mettler@ucla.edu
Room Number: 7574 and 2349
Phone: (310) 825-4202
Website: http://kellmanlab.psych.ucla.edu/
Description of Research Project:
How do learners get better at searching, organizing and interpreting their visual world? Do the same processes that underlie perception of movement in sport, discovery in art, facility with puzzles and other forms of visual expertise also underly such practical skills as fluency in mathematics or proficiency in medical diagnosis? The current study is concerned with basic research in perceptual learning and object recognition. In addition we attempt to isolate and train visual skills using computer software that dynamically adapts to a learner's mental state.
Description of Student Responsibilities:
Research assistants would help in the collection of data by running subjects at least 7 hours per week. Opportunities would be provided for assistants to collaborate in the generation of new experiments, analysis of data, and independent research. Experience with programming is a plus, but not required. Psych 120A or B are highly recommended.
Cognitive processes in language comprehension
Faculty Sponsor: Harris, Jesse
Department: Linguistics
Contact Name: Jesse Harris
E-mail: jharris@humnet.ucla.edu
Room Number: Campbell Hall 2226
Phone: https://jesseharris.netlify.com/
Description of Research Project:
Research in the Language Processing Lab addresses how adults interpret sentences using a variety of information sources during online sentence comprehension, using methods such as eye-tracking, pupillometry, self-paced reading, memory probe tasks, and other response time methods.
Description of Student Responsibilities:
Research assistants will help administer experiments to subjects using a wide range of methods, and should feel comfortable explaining experimental directions. They may also be asked to help create or review test stimuli, or annotate corpus materials, depending on experience. Depending on background and interest, assistants may also assist in data analysis. Students should have completed prior coursework in linguistics, and cognitive science or psychology.
Research in Behavioral Science, Behavioral Economics, and Judgment & Decision Making
Faculty Sponsor: Fox, Craig
Department: Psychology & Business (Anderson)
Contact Name: Megan Weber
E-mail: meweber13@gmail.com
Description of Research Project:
In our lab, we are investigating several different projects related to judgment, decision making, and human behavior. We take on political psychology (e.g., how people think about inequality), persuasion (e.g., tactics to convince people to adopt new behaviors), basic psychology (e.g., perceptions of uncertainty), and response to incentives (e.g., pay-for-performance in the context of non-profit organizations). We use a variety of methods in our work, including online and in-lab survey-based experiments, field studies, natural language processing, and eye-tracking devices.
Description of Student Responsibilities:
Students will be doing a variety of research-related tasks, from literature reviews to study design to study administration. Students should be extremely reliable, fast, and clear communicators, eager to take on challenges and solve them independently. We want RAs who are not only talented and fastidious but also passionate and intrigued by the cognitive process underneath human decision making. Students who are exceptionally hard working, organized, detail-oriented, curious, and thoughtful should apply. Those with extensive coding skills (especially in JavaScript) will be given preference.
Neural mechanisms of decision making
Faculty Sponsor: Wikenheiser, Andrew
Department: Psychology
Contact Name: Wikenheiser, Andrew
E-mail: amwikenheiser@psych.ucla.edu
Room Number: LSB 5833
Website: https://wikenheiserlab.psych.ucla.edu/
Description of Research Project:
Our lab is interested in understanding how the brain controls behavior. We approach this question by recording the electrical activity of neurons as subjects perform carefully-designed behavioral tasks, and electrophysiological techniques are augmented with optogenetics and computational analyses. Specifically, much of our work focuses on decision making tasks inspired by a wide-ranging set of models from psychology, neuroscience, economics, and ethology. Our primary focus is on how interactions between the hippocampus and cortical regions mediate these behaviors.
Description of Student Responsibilities:
Research assistants can contribute to a variety of projects currently underway in the lab. We have a several projects that revolve around designing, fabricating, and testing custom behavioral equipment that allow us to ask new experimental questions. This work involves learning to use CAD software to design and fabricate behavioral devices using in-house 3D printers. These projects will give students hands on experience with 3D printing and electronic sensor design for data collection in experimental settings. Completed behavioral devices will be validated experimentally, and then incorporated into new experiments that research assistants will help design and execute. We also interested in applying novel computational analyses to previously-collected data. This work will give students experience with state of the art deep neural network methods for analyzing behavioral and neural data. The results of these analyses will serve as preliminary data to aid the design of new experiments. Research assistants can help in the design and execution of new experiments that result from these exploratory data analysis projects.
Motor cortex network dynamics during skilled motor behavior
Faculty Sponsor: Arac, Ahmet
Department: Neurology
Contact Name: Ahmet Arac
E-mail: aarac@mednet.ucla.edu
Description of Research Project:
The primary goal of this research is to understand the relationship between learned behaviors and neuron activity in the M1 region of the cerebral cortex. We are interested in capturing the changes in neuron activity as the mouse increases skill in the learned motor behavior. The lab measures learned behaviors and neuron activity simultaneously using two separate observations. The learned behavior is observed through deep learning computer vision applications and is used to calculate kinematic movements of paws of the mice. Neuronal activity is recorded in-vivo using two-photon calcium imaging.
Description of Student Responsibilities:
The student research assistance will be responsible in conducting experiments, handling the mice, and fine-tuning deep learning neural networks for optimized computer vision applications. The assistance will aid in the process of training subjects for the experiments. The assistance must be comfortable or be willing to learn how to handle rodents as well as gone through the necessary animal and safety training mandated by UCLA. It is preferred that the assistant is familiar with machine learning methods as well as python programming to aid in the behavioral analysis.