Module PY4310-KP04

Duration

1 Semester

Turnus of offer

each summer semester

Credit points

4

Course of studies, specific fields and terms:

• Master Psychology - Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy 2027, optional subject, psychology
• Master Psychology - Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy 2022, optional subject, psychology

Classes and lectures:

• Models of learning and decision making (seminar, 2 SWS)

Workload:

• 30 hours in-classroom work
• 90 hours private studies

Contents of teaching:

• Introduction into the basic principles and background of computational modeling.
• Models of learning (i.e. Rescorla-Wagner-Model and adaptations)
• Models for decision making (i.e. Drift-diffusion-Models)
• General principles in model comparison and parameter estimation
• Application in the research of mental disorders (Anxiety disorders, Psychosis and Depression)
• Practical exercises on data simulation (among other things) to illustrate the respective models discussed in the content-related topic blocks.

Qualification-goals/Competencies:

• Students gain in-depth insights into the principles and methods of computational modeling.
• Students can understand and evaluate studies that make use of the learned computational models.
• Students understand the relevance of computational modeling for the research on mental disorders.

Grading through:

• written homework

Responsible for this module:

• Prof. Dr. rer. nat., Dipl.-Psych. Frieder Paulus

Teacher:

• Clinic of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
• Prof. Dr. rer. nat., Dipl.-Psych. Frieder Paulus
• Dr. Laura Müller-Pinzler
• Dr. rer. nat. David Stolz

Literature:

• Farrell, & Lewandowski (2018) : Computational Modeling of Cognition and Behavior Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
• Wilson, R. C., & Collins, A. G. (2019) : Ten simple rules for the computational modeling of behavioral data. eLife, 8. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.49547
• Friston, K. J., Stephan, K. E., Montague, R., & Dolan, R. J. (2014) : Computational psychiatry: The brain as a phantastic organ. The Lancet Psychiatry, 1(2), 148–158.

Language:

• German and English skills required

Notes:

Last Updated:

28.11.2025