Prof. Dr. Laurenz Wiskott Lecturer

(+49) 234-32-27997 laurenz.wiskott@ini.rub.de NB 3/29

Course type

Lectures

Credits

5 CP

Term

Summer Term 2025

Lecture

Takes place every week on Tuesday from 10:30 to 12:00 in room NB 3/72.
First appointment is on 08.04.2025
Last appointment is on 15.07.2025

Exercise

Takes place every week on Tuesday from 12:15 to 13:45 in room NB 3/72.
First appointment is on 08.04.2025
Last appointment is on 15.07.2025

Enrollment: To enroll in this course with me, you just have to enroll in the Moodle course and participate. You also might have to enroll with your examination office, but that is something you have to figure out yourself.

Credits: 5 CP

Workload: 150 h

Semester: any semester Master

Cycle (Turnus): each SS

Duration (Dauer): 1 semester

Contact time (Kontaktzeit): 4 SWS (60 h)

Self studies (Selbststudium): 90 h

Group size (Gruppengröße): ca 20

Language: English.

Requirements: The mathematical level of the course is mixed but generally high. The tutorial is almost entirely mathematical. Mathematics required include calculus (functions, derivatives, integrals, differential equations, ...), linear algebra (vectors, matrices, inner product, orthogonal vectors, basis systems, ...), and a bit of probability theory (probabilities, probability densities, Bayes' theorem, ...).

Learning outcomes (Lernziele): After the successful completion of this course the students

Content (Inhalt): This lecture covers basic neurobiology and models of selforganization in neural systems, in particular addressing

• Learning and self-organization
• Hebbian Learning
• Neural learning dynamics and constrained optimization
• Dynamic field theory
• Vision 
• Receptive fields
• Neural maps
• Hippocampus
• Navigation
• Episodic memory
• Hopfield Network

Teaching format (Lehrformen): This course is given with the flipped/inverted classroom concept. First, the students work through online material by themselves. In the lecture time slot we then discuss the material, find connections to other topics, ask questions and try to answer them. In the tutorial time slot the newly acquired knowledge is applied to analytical exercises and thereby deepened. I encourage all students to work in teams during self-study time as well as in the tutorial.

Exam (Prüfungsformen): The course is concluded with a digital written exam for 90 minutes within a 120 minutes time slot. We offer two dates in the semester of the course and none in the next semester. You are free to pick either of the two dates, but if you pick the second and you fail, the next opportunity to retry the exam is only about one year later. This is an open book exam, thus you may use any tools (e.g. lecture notes or Wikipedia) except communication with other people. Registration for the exam with us happens at the end of the course, you will receive instructions on that in due time. You might also have to register for this exam in your examination office, but this is something you'll have to figure out yourself. Registering with us and with the examination office are independent of each other, and if possible we will report your grade to the examination office in any case, whether you have registered there or not. There are no prequisits for the exam, like 50% points in tutorials or the like.

Condition for granting the credit points (Voraussetzungen für die Vergabe von Kreditpunkten): Passed written exam.