Richard P. Cooper B. Math (Newc), PhD (Edin)
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Position: Reader in Cognitive Science Office: Room 522, Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck, University of London, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HX Phone: +44 20 7631 6211 Fax: +44 20 7631 6312 Email: r.cooper@bbk.ac.uk |
Research
My research is broadly concerned with the cognitive processes underlying the control of thought and action. Thus, I am interested in questions such as whether there are well-defined control processes implemented by the brain (and if so what functions those processes perform), how we are able to do multiple tasks concurrently, and what computational processes support sequential behaviour. I am currently editing an issue of Topics in Cognitive Science which focuses specifically on the first of these questions.
The general approach that I take combines computational and behavioural methods, but my perspective is also strongly informed by cognitive neuroscience (and especially cognitive neuropsychology). For example, in collaboration with Prof. Tim Shallice I have developed a model of routine sequential behaviour and its breakdown following neurological damage (Cooper & Shallice, 2000, 2006).
I also have interests in general issues relating to the methodology of cognitive modelling. This includes 1) the appropriate use of cognitive architectures (or unified theories of cognition) within the study of cognitive psychology; and 2) the development of a computational environment to allow psychologists who are not specialist programmers to develop their own simulations. This second strand was funded by UK’s EPSRC from 1996 until 2002 (see the COGENT project).
I am an associate editor of Topics in Cognitive Science and Frontiers in Cognitive Science, and recently co-organised the 9th International Conference on Cognitive Modelling. In addition, I regularly serve on the programme committee for the annual conference of the Cognitive Science Society, and am the UK representative on the European steering group of that society.
Current Projects
Fractionation of cognitive control functions using behavioural studies of dual tasking (previously supported by a Faculty Research Grant)
Computational processes underlying human routine sequential action: simulation studies of normal behaviour and behaviour following neurological impairment (in collaboration with Tim Shallice, FRS)
Methodological and computational support for simulation experiments in the cognitive sciences (in collaboration with Prof. John Fox, Dr. David Glasspool and Prof. Tim Shallice; Supported by EPSRC grant GR/M 89621: £118, 144. April 2000 to March 2002)
General, theory neutral, principles of natural and artificial intelligence (in collaboration with Prof. John Fox and Dr. David Glasspool)
Students
In Progress
Haiko Ballieux: Infant object perception and action (co-supervised with Denis Mareschal)
Themis Karaminis: Computational accounts of SLI (co-supervised with Michael Thomas)
Germaine Symons (co-supervised with Mike Oaksford)
Completed:
Nicolas Ruh (January 2007): Acquisition and Control of Sequential Routine Activities: Modelling and Empirical Studies (co-supervised with Denis Mareschal)
Rob Leech (2005): Development of Analogical Reasoning (co-supervised with Denis Mareschal)
Recent publications:
In Press
Cooper, R.P. & Shallice, T. (In press). Cognitive neuroscience: The troubled marriage of cognitive science and neuroscience. Topics in Cognitive Science.
Ruh, N., Cooper, R. P., & Mareschal, D. (In press). Action selection in complex routinized sequential behaviors. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance.
2009
Cooper, R. P. (2009): Development of executive function: More than conscious reflection. Developmental Science, 12, 19-20. (A commentary on Marcovitch & Zelazo, 2009.)
Cooper, R.P. (2009): Frontal cortex. In T. Bayne, A. Cleeremans & P. Wilken (eds.) The Oxford Companion to Consciousness (pp. 303-308). Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
Cooper, R. P. (2009). Extending the contention scheduling model of routine action selection: The Wisconsin Card Sorting Task and frontal dysfunction. In A. Howes, D. Peebles & R. P. Cooper (eds). Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Cognitive Modeling (pp. 198-203). Manchester, UK.
Howes, A., Peebles, D. & Cooper, R. P. (eds). (2009). Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Cognitive Modeling – ICCM2009. Manchester, UK.
Mareschal, D., Leech, R., & Cooper, R. P. (2009): Combining connectionist and dynamic systems principles in models of development: The case of analogical completion. In J P. Spencer, M.S.C. Thomas & J.L. McClelland (eds.) Toward a Unified Theory of Development: Connectionism and dynamic systems theory re-considered (pp. 203-217). Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
2008
Leech, R., Mareschal, D. & Cooper, R. P. (2008): Analogy as relational priming: A developmental and computational perspective on the origins of a complex cognitive skill. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 31, 357-378.
Leech, R., Mareschal, D. & Cooper, R. P. (2008): Response to commentators: Growing cognition from recycled parts. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 31, 401-414.
Ruh, N., Cooper, R. P., & Mareschal, D. (2008). The hierarchies and systems that underlie routine behaviour: Evidence from an experiment in virtual gardening. In Sloutsky, V., Love, B., & McRae, K. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 30th International Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 339-344). Washington, DC, USA.
Ruh, N., Cooper, R. P., & Mareschal, D. (2008). A Connectionist Approach to Modelling the Flexible Control of Routine Activities. In R. M. French & E. Thomas (Eds.), From Associations to Rules: Connectionist Models of Behaviour and Cognition. (pp. 3-15.) Proceedings of the Tenth Neural Computation and Psychology Workshop. World Scientific.
2007
Baughman, F. D. & Cooper, R. P. (2007): Inhibition and young children's performance on the Tower of London task. Cognitive Systems Research, 8, 216-226.
Cooper, R. P. (2007). The role of falsification in the development of Cognitive Architectures: Insights from a Lakatosian analysis. Cognitive Science, 31, 509-533.
Cooper, R. P. (2007). Tool use and related errors in Ideational Apraxia: The quantitative simulation of patient error profiles. Cortex, 43, 319-337.
Cooper, R. P. (2007). Integrating cognitive systems: The COGENT approach. In Gray, W. D. (Ed.). Integrated Models of Cognitive Systems. (pp. 414-427.) New York: Oxford University Press.
Grecucci, A., Cooper, R. P., & Rumiati, R. I. (2007): A computational model of action resonance and its modulation by emotional stimulation. Cognitive Systems Research, 8, 143-160.
Leech, R., Mareschal, D., & Cooper, R. P. (2007). Relations as transformations: Implications for analogical reasoning. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 60, 897-908.
2006
Cooper, R. P. (2006): Cognitive Architectures as Lakatosian Research Programmes: Two case studies. Philosophical Psychology, 19, 199–220.
Cooper, R. P. & Shallice, T. (2006): Hierarchical schemas and goals in the control of sequential behaviour. Psychological Review, 113, 887-916.
Cooper, R. P. & Shallice, T. (2006): Structured representations in the control of behavior cannot be so easily dismissed: A reply to Botvinick and Plaut (2006). Psychological Review, 113, 929-931.
Baughman, F. D. & Cooper, R. P. (2006): Inhibition and young children's performance on the Tower of London task. In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Cognitive Modelling. Trieste, Italy. pp. 26-31. April.
Crescentini, C., Shallice, T., & Cooper, R. P. (2006): A macroplanning model to simulate dynamic aphasia. In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Cognitive Modelling. Trieste, Italy. pp. 80-85. April.
Grecucci, A., Cooper, R. P., & Rumiati, R. I. (2006): The emotional enhancement of stimulus-response compatibility: A computational study. In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Cognitive Modelling. Trieste, Italy. pp. 118-123. April.
Ruh, N., Cooper, R. P., & Mareschal, D. (2006): Redundancy and multiple levels of control in a connectionist model of sequential action. In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Cognitive Modelling. Trieste, Italy. pp. 262-267. April.
2005
Cooper, R. P., Schwartz, M., Yule, P., & Shallice, T. (2005): The simulation of action disorganisation in complex activities of daily living. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 22, 959–1004.
Cooper, R. P. (2005): The control of routine action: Modelling normal and impaired functioning. In Houghton, G. (Ed.), Connectionist models in Cognitive Psychology. (pp. 313–344.) Psychology Press: Hove, UK.
Ruh, N., Cooper, R. P., & Mareschal, D. (2005): Routine action: Combining familiarity and goal orientedness. In Bryson, J. J., Prescott, T. J., & Seth, A. K. (eds.), Modelling Natural Action Selection. Edinburgh. pp. 174–179.
Ruh, N., Cooper, R. P., & Mareschal, D. (2005): The time course of routine action. In Bara, B. G., Barsalou, L., & Bucciarelli, M. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 27th International Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 1889-1894). Stresa, Italy.
Ruh, N., Cooper, R. P., & Mareschal, D. (2005). A reinforcement model of sequential routine action. In Honkela, T., Köhönen, V., Pöllä, M., & Simula, O. (Eds.), Proceedings of International and Interdisciplinary Conference on Adaptive Knowledge Representation and Reasoning (pp. 65-70.) Espoo, Finland.
2004
Leech, R., Mareschal, D., & Cooper, R. P. (2004): A temporal attractor framework for the development of analogical completion. In Bowman, H., & Labiouse, C. (Eds.), Connectionist Models of Cognition and Perception II (pp. 201–210). World Scientific: Singapore.
2003
Cooper, R. P. (2003): Mechanisms for the generation and regulation of sequential behaviour. Philosophical Psychology, 16, 389–416.
Cooper, R. P. (2003): Applying Cognitive Science to the teaching of science. American Journal of Psychology, 116, 655–661.
Cooper, R. P., Yule, P., & Fox, J. (2003): Cue selection and category learning: A systematic comparison of three theories. Cognitive Science Quarterly, 3, 143–182.
Yule, P. & Cooper, R. P. (2003): Express: A web-based technology to support human and computational experimentation. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 35, 605–613.
Cooper, R. P. (2003): Organisation and disorganisation of complex sequential activities. In Detje, F., Dörner, D., & Schaub, H. (eds.), Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Cognitive Modelling (pp. 51-56). Bamberg, Deutschland.
Leech, R., Mareschal, D., & Cooper, R. P. (2003). A connectionist account of analogical development. In R. Alterman, . & D. Kirsh, (Eds.), Proceedings of the 25th International Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 710-715). Boston, MA.
2002
Cooper, R. P. (2002): Modelling High-Level Cognitive Processes. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: Mahwah, NJ.
Cooper, R. P. (2002): Order and disorder in everyday action: The roles of contention scheduling and supervisory attention. Neurocase, 8, 61–79.
Cooper, R. P. (2002): Two closely related simulations provide weak limits on Residual Normality. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 25, 754–755.
Cooper, R. P. (2002): Control and communication in mental computation. Computational Intelligence, 18, 29-31.
2001
Cooper, R. P. (2001): The role of object-oriented concepts in cognitive models. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 5, 333.
Cooper, R. P. & Glasspool, D. W. (2001): Learning action affordances and action schemas. In R.M French,. & J. Sougné, (Eds.), Connectionist Models of Learning, Development and Evolution ( pp. 133–142). Springer-Verlag: London.
Yule, P., & Cooper, R. P. (2001): Towards a technology for computational experimentation. In E. Altmann, A. Cleeremans, A., Schunn, C. D., & Gray, W. D. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Cognitive Modelling (pp.223-228). Fairfax, VA.