Dr. Samantha M. W. Wood

Assistant Professor of Informatics

Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering

Indiana University Bloomington

Office: Myles Brand Hall 211

Email: sw113 _AT_ iu.edu

How do we learn to make sense of the world?

At birth, brains face a complex computational challenge. Without prior experience or instruction, brains must convert streams of high-dimensional sensory input into knowledge and adaptive action. I am interested in the algorithmic principles underlying this feat. What learning mechanisms drive the development of perception and cognition? What role does experience play in the development of knowledge? How does intrinsic curiosity scaffold learning? 

To address these questions, I work at the intersection of cognitive science and artificial intelligence (AI).

Using tools from AI, I formalize theories from psychology as agent-based models that use deep neural networks to perform the same tasks as humans and animals. Specifically, I situate computational neuroscience models in virtual animal bodies to test how different components of embodied systems (e.g., neural mechanisms, the environment, body morphologies) drive the behavior of an entire organism. By simulating the development of intelligence with AI, I aim to build predictive, integrative, and embodied models for psychology and neuroscience.

Lab Page: www.buildingamind.com

Google Scholar: link

Selected Recent Publications:

Cognitive Science Society 2023 A newborn embodied Turing test for view-invariant object recognition (paper)

JEP:G 2021 One-shot object parsing in newborn chicks (paper)

Cognitive Science 2021 Distorting face representations in newborn brains (paper)

Teaching:

Data Fluency Data is big. Data is everywhere. How can we possibly be expected to keep up in a world full of data, much of which is data about ourselves? This class provides fundamental skills for the 21st century: understanding data, extracting knowledge from data, generating predictions from data, and presenting data.

Introduction to Virtual Reality Virtual Reality (VR) is an exciting new technology that allows users to experience rich, realistic, and interactive virtual worlds. VR has applications in fields as diverse as medicine, education, military training, trauma recovery, and artificial intelligence. In this course, students will learn the foundational skills needed to build virtual reality environments using Unity.