Changizi Lab

The Changizi Lab aims to grasp the ultimate evolutionary foundations underlying why we think and see as we do, and why our brains and bodies are shaped as they are. Example questions addressed have included: What is color vision for? Why do we see illusions? How did we come to have language and writing? Why do our eyes face forward? Why do animals have as many limbs as they do? Why drives the organization of the dictionary? And, Why is our brain organized as it is? The modus operandus is generally to build mathematically rigorous design hypotheses, and to test them with empirical data from behavior, psychophysics, neuroanatomy, and comparative phylogeny. The lab also has begun applying some of its discoveries, such as in medicine. For example, motivated by the discovery that color vision is optimized for seeing blood physiology in the skin, we are investigating techniques to enhance the clinician's ability to sense disease. And, in light of our new research on the evolution of forward-facing eyes, we are investigating new approaches for the treatment of Parkinson's gait disorders.

Cognitive Architecture Lab

CogWorks Lab

The CogWorks Laboratory conducts basic and applied research to study the complex interplay of cognition, perception, and action in routine interactive behavior. To further our understanding of integrated cognitive systems we combine methods from experimental psychology, computational cognitive modeling, and cognitive engineering. Believing that nothing drives basic science better than a good applied problem (Newell & Card, 1985, p. 3) we define cognitive engineering as the application of cognitive science theory to human factors practice.

Human-Level Intelligence Laboratory

The goal of the Human-Level Intelligence Laboratory is to explain human intelligence and design machines with human-level intelligence.

PandA Lab

Research in the PandA Labs is aimed at understanding intelligence by studying the tight linkage between perception and action.  Basic questions about visual perception and motor control and coordination are addressed by investigating routine and skilled perceptual-motor tasks, with a specific focus on visually guided actions.  Experimental research is conducted in real and virtual environments, and mathematical models are developed using tools from dynamical systems theory and artificial intelligence.

Rensselaer Artificial Intelligence and Reasoning (RAIR) Lab

Research and development in the RAIR Lab ranges across a number of applied projects, as well as across many of the fundamental questions AI raises (e.g., Are we machines ourselves? If so, what sort of machines?). Everything is to a high degree unified by the fact that the formalisms, tools, techniques, systems, etc. that underlie the lab's R&D are invariably based on reasoning.