Sommerakademien der deutschen Stiftung - Studienstiftung.ch

Arbeitsgruppe 1 Data Interpretation in Cognitive Neuroscience -
messages from Data or Massaging Data?
In recent years, the research activities in the fields of cognitive science and neuroscience
have increased tremendously. This increased research activity was fuelled by advances in
experimental techniques (such as functional magnetic resonance imaging) as well as by
novel statistical tools for linking measurements of brain activity with behavioural observations
(such as machine learning methods). However, there has also been considerable
debate about the validity of some of the statistical inference techniques used in the cognitive
neurosciences – and thus a debate on how much of the increased research activity
translates into increased knowledge and progress. It has been argued that some of the reported
findings might be consequence of erroneous or at least questionable data-analysis
methods. A famous example was one where it was shown that a commonly used analysis
technique finds a ‘significant’ connection between brain activity and behaviour in a dead
salmon – a ‘finding’ that most certainly casts doubt on the analysis technique.
In this workshop we will discuss selected examples from cognitive neuroscience illustrating
and discussing potentially problematic data-analysis choices and outright statistical
fallacies. We will both discuss the statistical reasons for why and how inference fails in
these cases, and how one could protect against these fallacies – which is not always easy, as
many of the fallacies are very ‘seductive’. In addition, we will discuss the broader question
of the possible ‘socio-scientific’ reasons contributing to the rise and spread of questionable
research practices.
Leitung
Teilnehmer
Literatur
Prof. Felix Wichmann
Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät, Universität
Tübingen
Prof. Dr. Frank Jäkel
Institut für Kognitionswissenschaften, Universität Osnabrück
Dr. Jakob Macke
Neural Computation and Behaviour, Universität Tübingen
This workshop will be suitable for students with a wide range of
different backgrounds. The only prerequisites are an enthusiasm
for engaging with cognitive science and statistical inference, as
well as basic knowledge of statistics (or an aptitude to pick them
up quickly).
wird im Vorfeld der Akademie bekanntgegeben
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Akademie XIII Papenburg