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Research Projects at the CEE
Center for Cognitive Science
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Current Projects
Mind-RACES: From Reactive to Anticipatory Cognitive Embodied Systems
financed by the
EC, 6th Framework Programme (Contr. ¹ 511931).
The
project aims at developing robots which could have cognitive capabilities based
on anticipation. The algorithms created for predicting events in a dynamic
world will be implemented both in computer simulations and in real robots. The
project uses Pioneer 3 and AIBO robots for the needs of research. The
successful implementation of Mind-RACES will deliver a breakthrough in several
cognitive science topics such as the relationship between anticipation and emotions;
analogy and BDI systems; planning in neural networks and anticipatory
classifier system. (http://www.mindraces.org/)
Coordinator: Consiglio
Nazionale delle Ricerche (
Partners:
New Bulgarian University, Lunds Universitet
(Sweden), Bayerische Julius-Maximilians
Universitaet Wuerzburg
(Germany), Instituto Superior Técnico
(Portugal), Oesterreichische Studiengesellschaft
Fuer Kybernetik (Austria), Scuola Universitaria Professionale della Svizzera Italiana (Switzerland), Noze s.r.l. (Italy)
RASCALLI: Responsive Artificial Situated Cognitive Agents Living and Learning on the
Internet,
financed by the EC, 6th Framework Programme
(Contr. ¹ 027596)
The
project aims at the development of responsive artificial situated cognitive
agents that live and learn on the Internet (Rascalli).
Rascalli represent a growing class of cooperative
agents that are equipped with major ingredients of cognition including situated
correlates of physical embodiment to become adaptive, cooperative and self
improving in a certain environment (Internet) given certain tasks. The project
will develop and implement a system that integrates a cognitive model and architecture
with modules such as digital memory, knowledge representation and special
purpose components. This system will allow a user to create a digital presence
functioning like an avatar or agent that can be instructed by the user to
collect information on certain user defined topics, to engage on behalf of the
user in Web communities, to establish contact with other digital presences, avatars and users, etc. The agents will be able
to combine human and computer skills in such a way that both kinds of abilities
can be optimally employed for the benefit of the human user. The project is
based on the cognitive architecture DUAL, developed in NBU.(http://www.ofai.at/rascalli/)
Coordinator: Oesterreichische Studiengesellschaft
Fuer Kybernetik (
Partners: New Bulgarian
University, Deutsches Forschungszentrum
für Küngstliche Intelligenz
(Germany), ARC SEIBERSDORF RESEARCH GMBH (Austria), Radon Labs GmbH (Germany), Ontotext Lab of Sirma Group Corp.
(Bulgaria)
ANALOGY: Humans – The Analogy-Making Species
financed
by the EC, 6th Framework Programme (Contr.¹ 029088)
The
project focuses on understanding the uniquely human mechanisms of
analogy-making, and exploring their evolution and development. The ability to
see a novel experience, object, situation or action as being “the same” as an
old one, and then to act in an approximately appropriate manner (fine-tuned to
fit the novel experience), is one of the capacities that sets humans apart from
all other species. What are the underlying mechanisms that allow us to do this?
How did they evolve in the population? How do they develop in an individual?
How do they differ from “the same” mechanisms in primates? A highly
experienced, interdisciplinary international team will study and compare the
performance of primates, infants, children, healthy adults, as well as children
and adults with abnormal brain functioning. An interdisciplinary methodology
will be used to pursue this goal, one that includes computational modeling,
psychological experimentation, comparative studies, developmental studies, and
brain imaging. The results from this project will contribute to a better
understanding of the mechanisms of analogy-making, their origin, evolution and
development and will lead to advances, not only in our basic knowledge of human
cognition, but also in the development of educational strategies to help
children and young people to be more efficient learners and to achieve a better
and deeper understanding of the surrounding world.(http://cogs,nbu.bg/analogy)
Coordinator: New
Partners:
Cambridge University (UK),
University of Heidelberg (Germany), University of
London (UK), Université de Bourgogne (France), University
College Dublin (Ireland), Institute of Cognitive Science and Technology – Roma (Italy), University of Athens (Greece), Birkbeck College, University of British Columbia (Canada)
Eye-to-IT: Development of
Human-Computer Monitoring and Feedback Systems for the Purposes of Studying
Cognition and Translation
financed by the EC, 6th Framework Programme (Contr. ¹
517590)
The project aims at constructing a technology set consisting of EYE-, KEY- and EEG-monitoring tools for registering online the behavior of an operator of a human-computer interaction system with a mini-max set of variables, and also providing the operator with online feedback about aspects of her/his performance. The set of tools and technologies developed will be used for exploring aspects of the performance of the operator of human-computer interaction system during cognition-for-translation tasks. The final measure of success of the project will be the integration of tools and technologies in question into a unified set for the purposes of studying cognition and translation. (http://cogs,nbu.bg/eye-to-it)
Coordinator:
Partners: New Bulgarian University, Handelshoejskolen i Koebenhavn (Denmark), Universitetet
i Oslo (Norway), Tobii
Technology AB (Sweden), Technische Universität Graz, (Austria)
WELKOM: Work with E-learning and Knowledge Operational Management
financed by the EC, Leonardo Da Vinci Programme (Contr. ¹
FR/04/B/P/PP-151124)
The general goal of the project is to
establish a methodology for development of effective systems for electronic
education. The systems are tested and studied in the course of the whole
process of creation, implementation and use.
Coordinator:
Turbomeca (
Partners: New
Bulgarian University (Bulgaria), VBS Petrol Holding (Bulgaria), Turbomeca (France), Incodev
(France), IStar training (France)
Perceptual Learning
in collaboration with Indiana University
The project aims at studying human conceptual
and perceptual learning by development of a connectionist model. The focus of
research is the link and interaction between unitization
and segmentation at the level of perceptional
learning. The findings of the research and the development of the model will
result in better understanding of the perceptual learning phenomenon and the
human learning mechanisms as a whole.
Coordinator:
Partners:
New
Explaining Religion
financed by the EC, 6th Framework Programme (Contr.¹ 043225)
The project seeks to identify statistically measurable patterns of recurrence and variation in religious thinking and behaviour and to identify statistically measurable patterns of recurrence and variation in religious thinking and behaviour and to reconstruct core features of religion in human prehistory. Several leading experimental psychologists and biologists have suggested that our species’ susceptibility to the universal religious repertoire results from universal cognitive biases. This project will provide the first systematic testing ground for these new and influential hypotheses. It seeks to explain variations in the universal religious repertoire in terms of variable priming of the cognitive mechanisms that underpin those features and the role of creative thinking and expert memory. A computational model of religious dynamics will be developed, which could be used to explain present and past religious traditions and to simulate future developments. The results of the project will be highly significant for the formulation of social policy, in key areas as the teaching of science and religion in schools and the effective promotion of inter-religious and inter-ethnic tolerance. It will also shed light on the religiosity and broader ideological commitments (including political affiliation and voting behaviour). The research will have significant implications for our understanding of the rise and spread of various forms of religious fundamentalism and sectarianism.(http://www.icea.ox.ac.uk/cam/projects/exrel/)
Coordinator:
Partners: New Bulgarian University, Queen’s University Belfast
(UK); University of Liverpool (UK); Brunel University
(UK); University of Zurich (Switzerland); University of Salzburg (Austria);
University of Groningen (the Netherlands); University of Aarhus
(Denmark), Centre Nacional de la Recherche
Scientifique (France)
Previous Projects
1.
Cross-Linguistic Studies of Aphasia (joint project with the University of
California and universities in Italy, Germany, Spain, France and Russia),
financed by James McDonnell Foundation, USA
2.
Real-World Common Sense Reasoning (joint project with the Hamburg
University), financed by the EC, 4th Framework Programme
(COPERNICUS)
3.
Belief in Reason and Belief against Reason, financed by the Central European
University, Budapest, Hungary.
4.
Context and Emergent Cognition (joint project with the Institute of
Psychology in Rome and the Bulgarian Academy of Science), financed by the
Italian National Research Council.
5.
Development of Temporal Modulation Perimetry
(joint project with Eye Clinic, University of Munich and the Bulgarian Academy
of Science), financed by the Volkswagen Foundation.
6.
Perception of Space and Shape (joint project with the University of Dortmund
and the Bulgarian Academy of Science), financed by the German National Research
Fund-DFG.
7.
Mechanisms of Ìotion Perception in Humans (joint
project with the Institute of Occupational Physiology at the Dortmund
University and the Bulgarian Academy of Science), supported by DFG grant 436
BUL–113/32, Germany
8.
Cognitive Processing of Bulgarian Language in Norm and Pathology, financed
by the Bulgarian National Science Fund
9.
Context and Priming Effects on High-Level Cognitive Processes, financed by the Bulgarian National Science
Fund
10.
Developing New Tools for Research of Child Language in Bulgarian, financed
by the Research Support Scheme of the Open Society Institute, Budapest, Hungary
11.
Connectivity in Language Rehabilitation in Stroke, financed by the EC, 5th
Framework Programme
12.
Reliability of EEG Nonlinear Dynamic Characteristics Obtained During Cognitive
Tasks (joint project with Ben-Gurion University,
Israel and the Bulgarian Academy of Science), financed by Ben-Gurion
University- Beer Sheva (Israel)
13.
Detection and Identification of Interaction Between EEG and Other, Time-related
Events (joint project with the Czech Academy of Science and the Bulgarian
Academy of Science), financed by the Czech Academy of Science
14.
Estimation of the Dynamics of the Brain Electrical Activity During Cognitive
Processing of Sentences (joint project with the Bulgarian Academy of
Science), financed by the Bulgarian National Science Fund
15.
Comparative Studies of Language Development and Reading in Four Languages (joint
project with UCSD, Attila Jozsef
University, Szeged, Hungary, University of Rome
"La Sapienza", Italy) financed by NATO
Research Program.
16.
Visual Perception and Motor Activity (joint project with University Louis
Pasteur, Strasbourg, France)
17.
Human Vision: A Psychophysical Search for the S-cone
OFF-channel (joint project with Vision Science Research Group, School of
Biomedical Sciences, University of Ulster at Colerain,
UK), financed by Wellcome Trust
18.
Spatial Cognition - International Quality Network, financed by DAAD and
involving the University of Bremen, the University of Hamburg, the University
of Freiburg, as well as 20 other Universities.
19.
EUROCOG: Integration of Central and East European Centre
for Cognitive Science into the European Cognitive Science Research Area, financed
by the EC, 5th Framework Programme,
(Contr. ¹ QLG4-CT-2002-90459)