Admission requirements
Bachelor degree (completed)
Description
Recent advances in AI have seen remarkable progress, with unprecedented improvements on many complex tasks. This has in turn resulted in a massive increase in speculations on what such novel systems might be capable of, up to the point where even an AI engineer believed their own technology had become sentient or conscious. This raises more basic questions such as what it actually means to be sentient or conscious and how non-humans can be properly tested for fundamental aspects of human thinking. These kinds of questions have been studied extensively for decades in the field of animal cognition, which investigates the mental processes and abilities of non-human animals. By exploring the depths of animal cognition research and applying its principles to AI systems, this course aims to inspire students to think beyond conventional testing methods, fostering the development of AI systems with appropriate cognitive abilities.
How do we test for complex intelligent abilities in our minds, and do these tests also apply to minds that are quite different from our own, like that of an octopus or AI system? To what extent can we find parallels for complex human behavior in non-human beings, both 'in vivo' and 'in silico'? In what ways can complex cognition be operationalized and implemented in machines? Topics such as creativity, the emergence of culture, social learning, symbolic representation, communication, theory of mind and consciousness will be addressed using data on various species including birds, primates, dolphins and more.
We will read and discuss literature on animal and computational cognition and gain hands-on practice with a small research project, involving the writing of a proposal and the design and presentation of a scientific poster, which will be displayed at a poster festival in the last weeks of the course.
Course objectives
After this course students are able to...
Discuss key theories, experimental methodologies, and major findings in the field of animal cognition.
Interpret non-human behavior in the light of the tension between human-centeredness and anthropomorphism.
Point out the parallels between animal cognition and AI, identifying areas of convergence and divergence.
Evaluate experiments that investigate complex cognitive behaviors in AI systems, drawing inspiration from animal cognition research.
Write an academic research proposal in which an innovative approach is suggested in the area of non-human cognition.
Conduct a small research project to answer a novel question in the field of non-human cognition.
Create and present a scientific poster on a project conducted in the area of complex cognition in non-humans.
Timetable
In MyTimetable, you can find all course and programme schedules, allowing you to create your personal timetable. Activities for which you have enrolled via MyStudyMap will automatically appear in your timetable.
Additionally, you can easily link MyTimetable to a calendar app on your phone, and schedule changes will be automatically updated in your calendar. You can also choose to receive email notifications about schedule changes. You can enable notifications in Settings after logging in.
Questions? Watch the video, read the instructions, or contact the ISSC helpdesk.
Note: Joint Degree students from Leiden/Delft need to combine information from both the Leiden and Delft MyTimetables to see a complete schedule. This video explains how to do it.
Mode of instruction
Lecture, Online and in-class discussions, Research project, Poster festival
Assessment method
assignments (pass/fail)
individually written proposal (50%)
poster presentation in groups (50%)
The pass/fail assignments consist of online discussion forum participation in certain weeks and a peer-review poster evaluation at the end of the course, which all have to be completed (pass) to pass the course. It is allowed to miss one forum submission, but if more than one is missed, an extra assignment will have to be completed to pass the course, and if more than three are missed, it is no longer possible to pass the course.
The grade for both the proposal and the poster presentation should be 5.5 or higher in order to complete the course. If one of the parts is not completed before the assignment deadline, the grade for that component is 0. The proposal and poster have a re-sit opportunity (a later submission/presentation). The maximum grade for a re-sit is 6 for both components.
Reading list
The reading consists of papers which need to be read before each class. Links to the reading are provided through Blackboard.
Registration
As a student, you are responsible for enrolling on time through MyStudyMap.
In this short video, you can see step-by-step how to enrol for courses in MyStudyMap.
Extensive information about the operation of MyStudyMap can be found here.
There are two enrolment periods per year:
Enrolment for the fall opens in July
Enrolment for the spring opens in December
See this page for more information about deadlines and enrolling for courses and exams.
Note:
It is mandatory to enrol for all activities of a course that you are going to follow.
Your enrolment is only complete when you submit your course planning in the ‘Ready for enrolment’ tab by clicking ‘Send’.
Not being enrolled for an exam/resit means that you are not allowed to participate in the exam/resit.
Contact
Contact the lecturer(s) for course specific questions, and the programme's coordinator for questions regarding admission and/or registration.
Remarks
Elective, external and exchange students (other than Media Technology students) need to be admitted to the course before registration due to limited capacity. Contact the programme's coordinator to request admission; include a short description of your course interest and state your current study programme in your correspondence.
Software
Starting from the 2024/2025 academic year, the Faculty of Science will use the software distribution platform Academic Software. Through this platform, you can access the software needed for specific courses in your studies. For some software, your laptop must meet certain system requirements, which will be specified with the software. It is important to install the software before the start of the course. More information about the laptop requirements can be found on the student website.