CogSci Mind Challenge
The Cognitive Science Society is pleased to announce the winners of the CogSci Mind Challenge.
This initiative challenges Cognitive Scientists to create a five-minute video addressing a key question within Cognitive Science but for an audience of non-experts, particularly high school and early college students. The question for this competition was, “Can Machines Think?” The first-place winner will receive $1000, the second-place winner will receive $500, and the third-place winner will receive $250. We had many excellent submissions, and we thank all those who participated and contributed their hard work. We also thank the high school and undergraduate students who helped judge these videos. We encourage people to share these videos with their students and colleagues.
Click on the grahics to watch the videos.
First Place
Ariadne Letrou and Asher Liftin recently graduated from Yale University, where they studied Data Science and Cognitive Science, respectively. Their video uses engaging cartoon graphics and a clear exploration of key concepts. They also discuss the complex issue of identifying moral and ethical artificial intelligence.
Second Place
Dr. Ryan Rhodes researches Linguistics and is an Assistant Teaching Professor of Cognitive Science at Rutgers University. He would also like to thank his brother Alex Rhodes and two of his former students Binghui “Russell” Rang and Maxwell Domanchich for their assistance with this project. In the video, Ryan takes you on a conversational walk through many thought-provoking settings and animations. He addresses key concepts through the metaphor of the clay golem and the ability of a rock (e.i. silicon computer chips) to think.
Third Place
Dr. Kristyn Sommer is a Developmental Scientist and Griffith University Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Dr. William Bingley is a social psychology researcher at the University of Queensland. In their video, many great thinkers are brought to life to debate several key concepts. The video also compares human and machine thought through a gameshow-like platform.
Your video should answer the question, “Can Machines Think?” The video should be appropriate for students unfamiliar with cognitive science and should be understandable by people who are in high school or early college. Videos should provide content that is both educational and engaging. Video content should reflect the interdisciplinary nature of Cognitive Science (which spans Artificial Intelligence, Linguistics, Anthropology, Psychology, Education, Neuroscience, and Philosophy) and not be limited to a single discipline.
Eligibility
- The person submitting their video must be 18 years or older.
- The video adheres to the submission requirements (see section below) and everyone appearing in the video signs a video release form.
- The video must be your original creation and not published elsewhere, including published on the internet.
- If a group submits, a single person must be indicated as the lead for communication purposes. In the event the submission wins, the award would be sent to the lead person.
- Video answers the question: Can Machines Think?
Deadline: November 1st at 11:59 pm EST. EXTENDED TO NOVEMBER 15th at 11:59pm EST.
There is no fee to enter the contest.
Submission requirements
- Submission of a video that is 5-minutes or less, answering the question “Can Machines Think?”
- The video style can take any form, such as animation, a series of images, live-action, speaking to the viewer, a skit, etc.
-
Videos may be in any language, but all videos must have English subtitles and captions. Subtitles and captions in other languages are encouraged.
- Video content should be viewable by general audiences with language, visual content, and themes appropriate for people of all ages.
- Content that is accessible to people with auditory or visual impairments (such as deafness or blindness) is encouraged. See accessibility resources section below.
- Content should be inclusive of a diverse audience. Content should not contain hateful or discriminatory content based on race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, disability, age, or contain harm against any group or individual.
- Video format should be acceptable for YouTube (mp4,1080p, 16:9 aspect ratio)
- The person submitting a video must submit a video release form.
- People under 18 years old are allowed to appear in the video but must have a guardian sign the video release form.
- Videos must be original and not published elsewhere, such as on a public website.
- Content in the videos, such as music or images, must be owned or lawfully used by the video creator and must not violate copyright or trademark laws.
- Video content must not infringe on the rights or privacy of others. People appearing in the video must sign a video release form(s), and you must have permission to shoot footage at the filming location.
Failure to comply with these requirements will result in disqualification.
The Cognitive Science Society retains the right, in its sole discretion, to review all videos and to disqualify videos that violate the contest’s guidelines or are in some way unlawful or otherwise improper. Video submitters are solely responsible for determining if any content used in their video is in violation of copyright, trademark, or right of privacy, and submitters hold sole liability for any damages or harm resulting from their video.
Accessibility Resources
Subtitles are useful for many reasons. Assistance for the hearing impaired, people whose first language is not English, and viewers in a noisy environment or no sound environment who must turn off their sound.
Videos in a language other than English are encouraged to have subtitles and captions in that language, to improve accessibility, in addition to the English subtitles and captions.
We encourage you to also include closed captions for relevant non-spoken content where possible. Closed captions can indicate who is speaking if there are multiple speakers. Closed captions can also indicate certain kinds of sounds or music playing with descriptions like [soft piano plays music], or [birds chirping], etc.
How to add subtitles to YouTube videos
Audio Descriptions are useful for people who are visually impaired and when multi-tasking. Notice the difference between these two types of videos. Which one would you be able to follow if your eyes were closed or busy?
Coffee Cake | Basics with Babish
How To Make A Classic Vanilla Cake • Tasty Recipes
Color blindness
When creating visualizations be considerate of people who have difficulties distinguishing some colors from each other.
Resource on color blindness friendly design.
Judgment Criteria and Prizes
Expert judges (university faculty and advanced graduate students) will assess video submissions on appropriateness and scientific accuracy. Top-rated videos will then be judged by students (high school and undergraduate level) based on the educational content (how much they learned and could understand) and level of engagement (how entertaining the video was). The winning video and any potential honorable mentions will be showcased on the CogSci YouTube channel. The Cognitive Science Society will determine, in its sole discretion, the winning video based on input from judges. The Society’s determination will be final.
Prizes
The winner will be awarded $1000 (USD). The winner’s name and their video will be featured on the Cognitive Science Society website and approved Cognitive Science Society websites.
By entering the CogSci Mind Challenge, the submitter accepts that any liabilities, claims, damages, or expenses of any sort resulting or relating to their video submission or acceptance of the contest prize are the sole responsibility of the person submitting the video.
The award is non-transferable and will be given to the primary author of the video. If the same video is submitted multiple times the first submission will be counted as the primary author.
The Cognitive Science Society reserves the right to present select any submitted videos to the general public via our YouTube channel.
Application package submission
To submit, you will complete a Qualtrics form where you will provide the following information
- YouTube link to the video
- Video release form
- Demographic information
Uploading to YouTube:
- Create a YouTube account and upload your video on your YouTube page
- Make sure your video’s privacy is set to “unlisted,” and comments are disabled
- Tag your video with the keywords: Cognitive Science, CogSciMindChallenge
Applications are closed
The Cognitive Science Society is pleased to announce the establishment of the CogSci Grove which aims to mobilise cognitive scientists to offset carbon emissions associated with their professional activities. To date, 1681 trees have been planted in protected sites in the Scottish Highlands where they will create homes for wildlife and forests for the future.
