Syllabus

Course Meeting Times

This course met for an intensive 3 week period, with a mix of lecture, tutorial and project work segments.

Course Overview

This course introduces you to the scientific study of intelligence in brains and machines. Through lectures by leading researchers in the field, you learn about the theoretical foundations and computational methods used in intelligence research; empirical methods used in neuroscience and cognitive science to probe the function of neural circuits and emergent behavior; the kinds of questions that can be addressed with computational and empirical methods and how the integration of multiple perspectives can accelerate the pace of intelligence research. This foundation is enriched through the exploration of current research on a range of topics including visual recognition, audition and speech, natural language understanding, robotics and motor control, cognitive development, social cognition, machine learning and Bayesian inference, and visual and spatial memory. These topics are organized into curricular units that are somewhat independent, allowing flexibility in the order and extent to which the topics are studied. Resources are also provided to support hands-on computer activities to study methods of modeling and data analysis in greater depth.

The materials in this open-licensed OCW resource come from the 2015 version of the Brains, Minds and Machines Summer Course. Additional materials, including from later years, are at the Brains, Minds and Machines Summer Course website.

Prerequisites and Preparation

This course for graduate students and advanced undergraduates is intended for people with basic knowledge in the following areas, at an undergraduate level:

Mathematics: Calculus, linear algebra, probability and statistics
Computation: Introduction to computer programming, machine learning
Introduction to neuroscience
Introduction to psychology or cognitive science

Lectures vary in the depth of background needed to understand the main concepts and results. Some lectures are accessible to a broad audience, while others require deeper background in areas such as mathematics or machine learning. Useful background is noted within each topical unit.

Course Components

This course consists of the following components:

Lectures
Tutorials
Readings
Project work

Lectures

Video lectures by faculty integrate historical background, instruction on computational and empirical methods, current research findings, and directions for future research. Additional seminars by guest speakers highlight exciting state-of-the-art research. Lecture slides are also provided.

Tutorials

Tutorials by faculty and postdoctoral associates introduce background material to support lectures and project work. Tutorials vary in their format, integrating a mix of video lectures, handouts, and resources to support hands-on computer work. The tutorials on MATLAB^® Programming, Church Programming, and Machine Learning, include extensive programming exercises.

Readings

Readings for each unit and tutorial provide a combination of useful background to review in advance, and material for further study of topics covered in the lectures. This resource can also support activities such as group discussions, Journal Clubs, and writing assignments.

Project Work

Both the Brains, Minds and Machines summer course and the associated MIT course 9.523 Aspects of a Computational Theory of Intelligence (described in the Instructor Insights section) incorporate an extended research-like project experience carried out individually or in small groups. Descriptions of sample projects related to each unit are provided. For some projects, there are additional resources such as readings, code, and data. Video presentations highlight a few of the summer course projects.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Ellen Hildreth for adapting materials from the Brains, Minds, and Machines Summer Course and MIT course 9.523 for OCW students. We would also like to thank Kris Brewer for filming and editing all the lecture videos, and Daniel Zysman for assisting with the preparation of the MATLAB tutorial and project resources. Finally, we thank the dedicated teaching assistants, instructors, and guest speakers, for their many contributions to lectures, tutorials, and lab materials for this course.

The affiliations listed below were current as August 2015, when this course was taught; some affiliations will change over time.

Course Instructors
Andrei Barbu	Postdoctoral Associate, Center for Brains, Minds and Machines, MIT
James DiCarlo	Department Head & Peter de Florez Professor of Neuroscience, MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Winrich Freiwald	Associate Professor, Laboratory of Neural Systems, Rockefeller University; Faculty Investigator, Center for Brains, Minds and Machines
Hynek Hermansky	Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Director, Center for Language and Speech Processing, Johns Hopkins University
Leyla Isik	Postdoctoral Associate, Center for Brains, Minds and Machines, MIT
Nancy Kanwisher	Walter A. Rosenblith Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences; Research Thrust Leader, Center for Brains, Minds and Machines
Boris Katz	Principal Research Scientist, MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory; Co-Coordinator of Knowledge and Technology Transfer & Research Thrust Co-Leader, Center for Brains, Minds and Machines
Gabriel Kreiman	Associate Professor, Departments of Ophthalmology & Neurology, Harvard Medical School; Faculty Investigator, Children’s Hospital, Center for Brain Science, Swartz Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, and Mind, Brain and Behavior Initiative, Harvard University; Research Thrust Leader, Center for Brains, Minds and Machines
John Leonard	Associate Department Head & Samuel C. Collins Professor, MIT Department of Mechanical and Ocean Engineering
Alia Martin	Postdoctoral Associate, Center for Brains, Minds and Machines, Harvard University
Josh McDermott	Fred and Carol Middleton Career Development Assistant Professor, MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences; Faculty Investigator, Center for Brains, Minds and Machines
Giorgio Metta	Vice Scientific Director and Director of the iCub Facility Department, Italian Institute of Technology; International Partner, Center for Brains, Minds and Machines
Ethan Meyers	Assistant Professor of Statistics, Hampshire College; Research Affiliate, Center for Brains, Minds and Machines
Ken Nakayama	Edgar Pierce Professor of Psychology, Harvard University; Faculty Investigator, Center for Brains, Minds and Machines
Aude Oliva	Principal Research Scientist, MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab
Tomaso Poggio	Eugene McDermott Professor in the Brain Sciences, MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences; Director, Center for Brains, Minds and Machines
Tony Prescott	Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Sheffield; Director, Sheffield Robotics Center
Lorenzo Rosasco	Assistant Professor, University of Genova; Visiting Assistant Professor, MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences; Team Leader, Italian Institute of Technology; Faculty Investigator, Center for Brains, Minds and Machines
Rebecca Saxe	Professor of Cognitive Science, MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences; Faculty Investigator, Center for Brains, Minds and Machines
Laura Schulz	Associate Professor of Cognitive Science, MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences; Faculty Investigator, Center for Brains, Minds and Machines
Haim Sompolinsky	William N. Skirball Professor of Neuroscience, Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences, Hebrew University; Investigator, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University; Faculty Investigator, Center for Brains, Minds and Machines
Liz Spelke	Professor, Department of Psychology, Harvard; Director, Laboratory for Developmental Studies, Harvard University; Associate Director, Center for Brains, Minds and Machines
Russ Tedrake	Professor, MIT Departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Aeronautics and Astronautics, and Mechanical Engineering; Director, Center for Robotics, MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab
Stefanie Tellex	Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, Brown University
Josh Tenenbaum	Professor of Computational Cognitive Science, MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences; Research Thrust Leader, Center for Brains, Minds and Machines
Shimon Ullman	Samy and Ruth Cohn Professor of Computer Science, Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, Weizmann Institute of Science; Adjunct Professor, MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences; Research Thrust Co-Leader, Center for Brains, Minds, and Machines
Tomer Ullman	Postdoctoral Associate, Center for Brains, Minds and Machines, MIT
Matt Wilson	Sherman Fairchild Professor of Neuroscience and Picower Scholar, MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences; Associate Director, Center for Brains, Minds and Machines
Patrick Winston	Ford Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science, MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Coordinator for Research, Center for Brains, Minds and Machines
Dan Yamins	Postdoctoral Associate, MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences & McGovern Institute
Guest Speakers
Larry Abbott	William Bloor Professor of Theoretical Neuroscience & Director, Center for Theoretical Neurobiology, Columbia University
Surya Ganguli	Assistant Professor, Departments of Applied Physics, Neurobiology, and Electrical Engineering, Stanford University
Tom Mitchell	E. Fredkin University Professor, Machine Learning Department, School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University
Amnon Shashua	Co-Founder and Chairman, Orcam; Co-Founder, CTO and Chairman, Mobileye; Professor of Computer Science, Hebrew University; International and Industrial Partner, Center for Brains, Minds and Machines
Eero Simoncelli	Professor, Departments of Neural Science, Mathematics, and Psychology, New York University; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Jessica Sommerville	Associate Professor, Department of Psychology & Associate Director, Foundations for Social, Emotional, and Cognitive Competence, Center for Child and Family Well-Being, University of Washington
iCub Team
Raffaello Camoriano	PhD Fellow, Italian Institute of Technology
Carlo Ciliberto	Postdoctoral Associate, Italian Institute of Technology
Giulia Pasquale	PhD Fellow, Italian Institute of Technology
Alessandro Roncone	Postdoctoral Associate, Italian Institute of Technology
Other Contributors
Ellen Hildreth	Coordinator of Summer Course materials and OCW content development Professor, Department of Computer Science, Wellesley College
Daniel Zysman	MATLAB® tutorial content development and instructor Computational Course Instructor, MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences; Education Affiliate, Center for Brains, Minds and Machines

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Brains, Minds and Machines Summer Course