Undergraduate Research
Undergraduate Research (COGS 199)
A 199 is an independent study course that is for individual, advanced students who wish to complete a one-quarter reading or research project under the mentorship of a faculty member. However, independent studies can often extend to an additional quarter or for the rest of the academic year. Students should contact faculty whose research interests them to discuss possible projects.
To qualify, you need:
- minimum 90.0 cumulative units
- minimum 2.5 cumulative GPA
- Completion of Special Studies Form, signed by sponsoring faculty member, approved by the Department (See Thanh Maxwell in CSB 140), and turned into the Registrar's Office by 4:30pm on Friday of Second Week of the quarter for which you plan on participating in the independent study for departmental approval
Guidelines for 199s:
- Must be taken Pass/No Pass
- Four units of course credit requires 12 hours per week of substantiative, supervised work defined by the faculty mentor
- A term project is required, defined by the mentor and described in the special studies form
Term projects may include, but are not limited to:
- Intensive directed reading project, 8-10 page or 4-5 page research paper, and an oral presentation in front of a laboratory group
- Participation in a local research conference presenting work completed during the 199 (oral/poster presentation)
- Substantive participation in data collection, computer programming, experimental design, design and implementation of significant computation components, data analysis, 2-3 page write up of laboratory activities or summary of data analysis
Current 199s
Event Memory in Spanish-English Bilinguals
Lab: Language & Cognition Lab
Contact: Dr. Ben Bergen
People witness, experience, and describe hundreds of events every day. These events are then encoded into memory and recalled as needed. This project focuses on the factors which can affect this encoding and subsequent recall. We are specifically interested in the extent to which speaking a particular language--Spanish or English--can influence a person's conceptualization of an event.
As a 199, you will assist with experiment development and running subjects, and learn to conduct preliminary data analysis. In order to apply, you MUST be a native Spanish-English bilingual! This means you grew up speaking both Spanish and English, are comfortable using both languages, and speak each language with a native accent.
Requirements: Enthusiasm and reliability are most important! Coursework in language-related cognitive science classes or linguistics is preferred but not required. No prior lab experience necessary.
Sound recognition in language
Lab: Center for Research in Language
Contact: Carolyn Quam
Link: http://www.cogsci.ucsd.edu/~creel/lasr/Home.html
The Language Acquisition & Sound Research lab is seeking enthusiastic, motivated, and reliable undergraduate research assistants to assist with a study. The study investigates how different people interpret sounds when processing language. Successful applicants will receive course credit and gain valuable experience with language research! Interested students should contact Carolyn Quam at cmquam@ucsd.edu.
Requirements: Applicants must be fluent in Mandarin Chinese and English, as well as display strong interest in language research.
Language Development and Remediation in Children
Contact: Dr. Teri Lawton
We are evaluating two interventions for dyslexia that involve training the temporal dynamics of the visual system (magnocellular pathway) and the auditory system, and whether the two interventions together have super-additive effects. As a Research Assistant, you would be traveling to one or two of five participating local elementary schools and administering the interventions to second and third graders, as well as testing them on a battery of standardized cognitive, attentional, and reading measures. Research Assistants need to be available for training when the school year starts, in late august in most schools. Experience with children is essential for this position. This position is perfect for undergraduates who are interested in a job involving kids, a bit of neuroscience, and a lot of psychology. Quarters of Availability: Fall, Winter, Spring (Fall 2012-Spring 2014). Note: this is a CSE 199 and not Cogs 199.
Requirements: 2 quarter minimum commitment; Minimum 3.3 GPA; 6 hours/week available (2 units), 12 hours/week available (4 units); Be available starting the last week of August; Transportation available through carpooling; Means of evaluation: 1 page paper describing methods and concepts learned.
Contact: Dr. Teri Lawton
We are evaluating two interventions for dyslexia that involve training the temporal dynamics of the visual system (magnocellular pathway) and the auditory system, and whether the two interventions together have super-additive effects. As a Research Assistant, you would be traveling to one or two of five participating local elementary schools and administering the interventions to second and third graders, as well as testing them on a battery of standardized cognitive, attentional, and reading measures. Research Assistants need to be available for training when the school year starts, in late august in most schools. Experience with children is essential for this position. This position is perfect for undergraduates who are interested in a job involving kids, a bit of neuroscience, and a lot of psychology. Quarters of Availability: Fall, Winter, Spring (Fall 2012-Spring 2014). Note: this is a CSE 199 and not Cogs 199.
Requirements: 2 quarter minimum commitment; Minimum 3.3 GPA; 6 hours/week available (2 units), 12 hours/week available (4 units); Be available starting the last week of August; Transportation available through carpooling; Means of evaluation: 1 page paper describing methods and concepts learned.
Human-Centered Driver Assistance Systems
Contact: Jade Kwan with Subject Line: “LISA 199 Opportunity”
Link: http://cvrr.ucsd.edu/LISA
The Laboratory for Intelligent and Safe Automobiles (LISA) is a multidisciplinary effort to explore innovative approaches to making future automobiles safer and "intelligent". Our research considers issues in sensing, analysis, modeling, and prediction of parameters associated with drivers, occupants, vehicle dynamics and vehicle surroundings as well as transportation infrastructures. This is accomplished by research in computer vision and intelligent systems with synergistic contributions from cognitive sciences, psychology and decision theory.
We are seeking motivated, professional, and responsible research assistants (preferably Cognitive Science HCI majors) to work on various research projects in the driving simulator environment. You will help with experimental design, data collection, data analysis, UI creation with MatLAB, and help develop web applications, high possibility to work with collaborators from the industry and government agencies. Note: this is ECE 199 and not Cogs 199.
Requirements: 3.0+ GPA, 3.3+ GPA preferred; junior or senior standing; interest in experimental design, driver assistance systems, active and passive safety, future automobiles. Experience in Adobe Creative Suite, MatLAB, Microsoft Visual Studio, Java/C, and HTML/CSS. Research Assistants should be motivated, independent (also able to work in groups), and responsible. Minimum two-quarter commitment.
Contact: Jade Kwan with Subject Line: “LISA 199 Opportunity”
Link: http://cvrr.ucsd.edu/LISA
The Laboratory for Intelligent and Safe Automobiles (LISA) is a multidisciplinary effort to explore innovative approaches to making future automobiles safer and "intelligent". Our research considers issues in sensing, analysis, modeling, and prediction of parameters associated with drivers, occupants, vehicle dynamics and vehicle surroundings as well as transportation infrastructures. This is accomplished by research in computer vision and intelligent systems with synergistic contributions from cognitive sciences, psychology and decision theory.
We are seeking motivated, professional, and responsible research assistants (preferably Cognitive Science HCI majors) to work on various research projects in the driving simulator environment. You will help with experimental design, data collection, data analysis, UI creation with MatLAB, and help develop web applications, high possibility to work with collaborators from the industry and government agencies. Note: this is ECE 199 and not Cogs 199.
Requirements: 3.0+ GPA, 3.3+ GPA preferred; junior or senior standing; interest in experimental design, driver assistance systems, active and passive safety, future automobiles. Experience in Adobe Creative Suite, MatLAB, Microsoft Visual Studio, Java/C, and HTML/CSS. Research Assistants should be motivated, independent (also able to work in groups), and responsible. Minimum two-quarter commitment.
Speech perception and organization in bilinguals
Lab: Language Acquisition and Sound Recognition Lab
Contact: Carson Dance
The Language Acquisition & Sound Research lab is seeking enthusiastic, motivated, and reliable undergraduate research assistants to assist with a study. The study investigates how different people (monolinguals and bilinguals) interpret sounds when processing language. Successful applicants will receive course credit and gain valuable experience with language research! If interested, research assistants may also work with children.
Requirements: Applicants must be fluent in Korean and English, as well as display a strong interest in language research
Speech Accents and Production Errors
Lab: Language & Cognition Lab
Contact: Rachel Ostrand
Human speech proceeds at an extremely rapid rate. In order to successfully understand language, the comprehension system must be able to extract meaning from speech as quickly as it comes in. To some extent, speech comprehension thus must involve predicting upcoming words and the information they convey before they have even been spoken.
This project is investigating what sort of expectations listeners build up about their speakers, and how they can use these predictions to facilitate comprehension. The study will focus on bilingualism and the processing of accented second-language speech. The research assistant would be involved from the beginning of the project, from collaboration on stimuli decisions, development and recording, and subject-running.
Depending on the time scale and level of interest, the research assistant could also be involved with a related study taking place in the driving simulator.
Requirements: Enthusiasm and motivation, and interest in language processing. 3.0 or higher GPA. Minimum two-quarter commitment. Previous language-related coursework preferred, but not required.
Project on bilingual language development: Spanish-English bilingual researchers needed!!
Lab: Language Acquisition and Sound Recognition Lab
Contact: Dr. Sarah Creel
Are children really better than adults at learning languages, and why? Learning even one language presents a challenge: children must figure out what sounds are meaningfully different and what sounds are not. This gets very complicated when children grow up learning more than one language! Researchers are very interested in how--and whether--children maintain separate sets of representations for more than one language. Our lab is beginning studies that examine children who grow up learning both Spanish and English: how does this shape their language and cognitive processing? We ask child and adult participants to recognize words, or to learn new words, to determine how learners process multiple languages. These studies have the potential to transform the way we think about language processing and how it changes over development. Duties include: experimental design, translation, interaction with participants and parents, running studies in the lab or off-site at preschools. Evaluation: lab work and participation in lab meetings.
Requirements: Enthusiasm, good at interacting with people (kids included), 2 quarter minimum commitment, GPA 3.0 or higher, 10-12 hours/week (4 units). Coursework in linguistics a plus; own car a plus.
Language Development Project
Lab: Center for Research in Language
Contact: Dr. Arielle Borovsky
Get involved with eyetracking studies that explore language development in children. Duties will include testing children and adults in eyetracking and behavioral studies, recruiting children, data entry, preparing experimental stimuli, and attending lab meetings.
Requirements: 2 quarter minimum committment, 3.0 gpa. Must be able to use excel. Must be willing to interact with children.
Emotion processing tasks in children and adolescents
Contact: Dr. Terry Jernigan
A number of brain regions have been linked to emotion processing, perception, and expression in EEG and functional imaging studies. However, structural correlates of these processes are not well understood, and individual differences in the development of these processes are even less clear. One potential obstacle to understanding these developmental differences is the lack of objective and developmentally sensitive assessment tools for emotional processes.
The Center for Human Development is looking for a research assistant who can help develop these tasks. You will be working to develop these tasks with PsychoPy, a stimulus presentation program that uses the Python programming language. You will also work to integrate these tasks with a psychophysiological measurement system.
Requirements: Experience with Python and data acquisition using psychophysiological measures is desirable, and a willingness to teach yourself these skills and troubleshoot problems and issues is essential. Introduction to programs and weekly supervision will be provided. A minimum commitment of 2 quarters is required.
Contact: Dr. Terry Jernigan
A number of brain regions have been linked to emotion processing, perception, and expression in EEG and functional imaging studies. However, structural correlates of these processes are not well understood, and individual differences in the development of these processes are even less clear. One potential obstacle to understanding these developmental differences is the lack of objective and developmentally sensitive assessment tools for emotional processes.
The Center for Human Development is looking for a research assistant who can help develop these tasks. You will be working to develop these tasks with PsychoPy, a stimulus presentation program that uses the Python programming language. You will also work to integrate these tasks with a psychophysiological measurement system.
Requirements: Experience with Python and data acquisition using psychophysiological measures is desirable, and a willingness to teach yourself these skills and troubleshoot problems and issues is essential. Introduction to programs and weekly supervision will be provided. A minimum commitment of 2 quarters is required.
Developing an Interactive, Intelligent System for Second Language Learning and Teaching on the Web
Lab: Center for Research in Language
Contact: Jamie Alexandre
Learning a second language is difficult, and we want to help make it easier. As a 199 research assistant, you would have the opportunity to participate in the development of a new online system for second language learning. We are using tools from computational linguistics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, to enable automated error-correction, track a learner’s progress, and provide learner-specific feedback. The system will also include a multi-modal platform for students and instructors to engage in remote, interactive tutoring, with video chat, a whiteboard, and an interface for correcting errors in student text.
You could be involved in a variety of ways, depending on your background and goals. Experience (or interest) in any of the following areas would be an asset:
* Learning/teaching a second language (or other education-related experience).
* (Computational ) linguistics / machine learning / Bayesian modeling.
* Developing web applications in Flash/ActionScript, Python/Django, or Javascript/jQuery/AJAX.
Requirements: 3.0+ GPA, single quarter is a possibility, but two quarter commitment is ideal (with possibility of third).
Psycholinguistic research
Contact: Dr. Roger Levy
Link: http://grammar.ucsd.edu/cpl/
Computational Psycholinguistics Lab. We study how language comprehension unfolds in real time through psycholinguistic experiments. Duties include preparing experimental sentences, recruiting participants, running experiments, compiling results and assisting with analysis. Training is provided on these tasks, and you will learn a lot about both the structure of language and human cognition. Opportunities to conduct eye-tracking experiments may be available to highly-motivated applicants. Continuation in winter and/or spring quarters is possible, and paid positions may be available for interested undergraduates who perform well as 199s. Please include an unofficial transcript and a brief statement of your interests in language research in your email. Note: this is LIGN 199 and not Cogs 199.
Requirements: Background in linguistics and/or cognitive science; Good English & people skills; Familiarity with Excel; Minimum GPA: 3.0; Programming skills a plus.
Contact: Dr. Roger Levy
Link: http://grammar.ucsd.edu/cpl/
Computational Psycholinguistics Lab. We study how language comprehension unfolds in real time through psycholinguistic experiments. Duties include preparing experimental sentences, recruiting participants, running experiments, compiling results and assisting with analysis. Training is provided on these tasks, and you will learn a lot about both the structure of language and human cognition. Opportunities to conduct eye-tracking experiments may be available to highly-motivated applicants. Continuation in winter and/or spring quarters is possible, and paid positions may be available for interested undergraduates who perform well as 199s. Please include an unofficial transcript and a brief statement of your interests in language research in your email. Note: this is LIGN 199 and not Cogs 199.
Requirements: Background in linguistics and/or cognitive science; Good English & people skills; Familiarity with Excel; Minimum GPA: 3.0; Programming skills a plus.
Research on Aging and Development Laboratory
Contact: Marissa Westerfield
Link: http://radlab.ucsd.edu/
EEG/ERP Studies of Sensory and Attentional Processing in Typical and Atypical Development. We are studying attention and sensory processing in children and adults with typical and atypical development (e.g., autism). Students will learn to design experiments and collect and analyze Event-Related Potential (ERP) data. Each quarter's emphasis will be slightly different. In the first quarter, students will learn how to apply electrodes, evaluate data quality, and collect data during experiments. In the following quarter(s), students will learn traditional, average-based analysis techniques as well as more advanced EEG-based analysis techniques. Contact: Marla Zinni, mzinni@ucsd.edu or Marissa Westerfield, mwesterfield@ucsd.edu. Note: 199 course credit is through the Department of Neurosciences and not Cognitive Science.
Requirements: 2 quarters minimum commitment, 10-12 hours/week, Junior standing (90 credits), 3.0+ GPA, familiarity with both Windows and UNIX a plus.
Contact: Marissa Westerfield
Link: http://radlab.ucsd.edu/
EEG/ERP Studies of Sensory and Attentional Processing in Typical and Atypical Development. We are studying attention and sensory processing in children and adults with typical and atypical development (e.g., autism). Students will learn to design experiments and collect and analyze Event-Related Potential (ERP) data. Each quarter's emphasis will be slightly different. In the first quarter, students will learn how to apply electrodes, evaluate data quality, and collect data during experiments. In the following quarter(s), students will learn traditional, average-based analysis techniques as well as more advanced EEG-based analysis techniques. Contact: Marla Zinni, mzinni@ucsd.edu or Marissa Westerfield, mwesterfield@ucsd.edu. Note: 199 course credit is through the Department of Neurosciences and not Cognitive Science.
Requirements: 2 quarters minimum commitment, 10-12 hours/week, Junior standing (90 credits), 3.0+ GPA, familiarity with both Windows and UNIX a plus.
Temperament and emotion in adolescents
Contact: Dr. Terry Jernigan
A number of brain regions have been linked to emotion processing, perception, and expression in EEG and functional imaging studies. However, structural correlates of these processes are not well understood, and individual differences in the development of these processes are even less clear. The Center for Human Development is looking for a research assistant to help organize, compile, and compare various sources of temperament and emotion data. These data will be correlated with neuroanatomical measures to identify patterns of neural architecture and cortical regionalization that relate the perception and expression of different types of emotions.
Requirements: Ongoing training and supervision will be provided, and a 2-quarter commitment is required.
Contact: Dr. Terry Jernigan
A number of brain regions have been linked to emotion processing, perception, and expression in EEG and functional imaging studies. However, structural correlates of these processes are not well understood, and individual differences in the development of these processes are even less clear. The Center for Human Development is looking for a research assistant to help organize, compile, and compare various sources of temperament and emotion data. These data will be correlated with neuroanatomical measures to identify patterns of neural architecture and cortical regionalization that relate the perception and expression of different types of emotions.
Requirements: Ongoing training and supervision will be provided, and a 2-quarter commitment is required.