Lecture schedule
Live lectures are Thursday 2:45PM-4:45PM in 194 Mercer St Room 204.
| Date | Topic | Materials |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday, Sep 3 | An introduction to minds and machines 📐 Optional: Notation and Basics reviews how to read the equations used throughout the course | Reading |
| Thursday, Sep 10 | Neural networks and cognition 📐 Optional: the Math Tutorial for Neural Networks reviews the calculus and matrix math behind these two lectures | Reading |
| Thursday, Sep 17 | Deep learning and cognitive science 📚 Homework 1 assigned, due Saturday, Oct 3 (extended two days because it was released late) (access instructions) | Reading |
| Thursday, Sep 24 | Reinforcement learning in animals and machines | Reading |
| Thursday, Oct 1 | Exploration, generalization, and deep reinforcement learning 📚 Homework 2 assigned, due Thursday, Oct 22 (access instructions) | Reading |
| Thursday, Oct 8 | Planning and model-based reinforcement learning | Reading |
| Thursday, Oct 15 | Inductive inference and Bayesian models of cognition 📚 Homework 3 assigned, due Thursday, Nov 12 (access instructions) | |
| Thursday, Oct 22 | Approximate Bayesian inference and resource rationality 📥 Project proposal due | |
| Thursday, Oct 29 | Structured models of reasoning | |
| Thursday, Nov 5 | Symbolic models of cognition and the language of thought hypothesis | |
| Thursday, Nov 12 | Categories and concepts in humans and machines 📚 Homework 4 assigned, due Thursday, Dec 3 (access instructions) | |
| Thursday, Nov 19 | Curiosity, creativity, active learning, and play | |
| Thursday, Nov 26 | No class, Thanksgiving recess | |
| Thursday, Dec 3 | Physical reasoning in humans and machines | |
| Thursday, Dec 10 | Computational models of social cognition 📥 Final project due at the final exam | |
| Thursday, December 17, 2026, 2:00PM-3:50PM | Final summary 🎓 No final exam. Students present their final projects (poster conference), TBD |
Lab schedule
Labs meet Monday 1:30 PM - 2:20PM (in person).
| Date | Topic | Materials |
|---|---|---|
| Monday, Sep 7 | No class, Labor Day | |
| Monday, Sep 14 | Python and Jupyter notebooks review / Introduction to PyTorch | Videos |
| Monday, Sep 21 | HW 1 review | |
| Monday, Sep 28 | Exam 1 review / open lab | |
| Monday, Oct 5 | 📝 Exam 1 | |
| Monday, Oct 12 | No class, Fall Break | |
| Wednesday, Oct 14 | Reinforcement learning ⚠️ Legislative Day: NYU classes meet on a Monday schedule | Slides PDF |
| Monday, Oct 19 | HW 2 review / Probability review | Reading |
| Monday, Oct 26 | 📝 Exam 2 | |
| Monday, Nov 2 | Model comparison and fitting | Slides PDF |
| Monday, Nov 9 | HW 3 review | |
| Monday, Nov 16 | No lab / project consultation | |
| Monday, Nov 23 | 📝 Exam 3 | |
| Monday, Nov 30 | HW 4 review | |
| Monday, Dec 7 | LLMs for cognitive modeling 🎤 Guest lecturer: Akshay Jagadish, Princeton | |
| Monday, Dec 14 | 📝 Exam 4 |