Epistemic biases in reinforcement learning

The candidate will combine methods from computational modeling, behavioural economics and cognitive sciences to address how humans learn to make value-based decisions. The ideal candidate will have good programming skills. A non-exhaustive lists of specific topics includes: comparing experience-based and description-based decisions: a memory-based account of value-based decision-making; social reinforcement learning. Most internships will implicate an experimental part, however, occasionally, we will consider pure theoretical (simulation-based) projects. 

Le Laboratoire des Émotions, au cinéma et en sciences cognitives

Ce colloque rassemblait des experts du cinéma et des sciences cognitives - deux "laboratoires"- afin de créer un dialogue et un apprentissage mutuel autour des émotions dans le but de tenter de comprendre les éléments en jeu dans les émotions (audition, attention visuelle, perception du temps, empathie) et d'enrichir la recherche sur les émotions de l'expertise des professionnels du septième art (esthétique, réalisation, jeu, montage).

Retrouvez les interventions des conférenciers sur la chaîne youtube de l'ENS.

The role of subjectivity in emotion

The subjective feeling of an emotion is one of the most vivid mental states we experience. Emotions are powerful drivers of behaviors and a key aspect of the human condition. Yet, our understanding of emotions remains obstructed by a multitude of outstanding questions. Of essential concern is the question of the relationship between emotion per se and our subjective feeling of it. For example, are subjective feelings necessary for defining an emotional response? Can emotions be unconscious? Are animals capable of experiencing emotions?

CANCELLED - Synchronization, waves and stochasticity in spatially structured neuronal networks

Synchronization between distant brain regions, in the 20-30 Hz frequency range, has been observed in areas such as V1 or in the motor cortex during movement preparation. In order to shed light on these data, we have revisited the synchronization properties of distinct oscillating local Excitatory-Inhibitory (E-I) modules induced by distance-dependent long-range excitation. First, focusing on the sparsely synchronized oscillation regime which prevails in vivo, we have developed a rate model that accurately describes the stochastic oscillations of a single spiking E-I module.

CANCELLED - Me, Us and Them: The influence of (social) context on emotional information processing

The ability to rapidly and accurately decode the emotional information carried by a conspecific’s expression is an essential aspect of daily life, and can even become crucial for survival. This process can take place automatically and under sub-optimal conditions, such as in the presence of noise or when arising outside the focus of attention.

CANCELLED - Paris Computational Psychiatry Symposium (PCP2020)

The goal of the first Paris Computational Psychiatry (PCP) Symposium is to provide a broad community of researchers interested in human and animal cognition and its dysfunctions with ongoing work in computational psychiatry and related research fields.

​The symposium will take place at the Department of Cognitive Studies of the Ecole Normale Supérieure on April 16-17, 2020.

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