Statistical learning / Learning statistics
Humans have a remarkable ability to learn from the statistics of our environments. From infancy throughout the lifespan, our responsiveness to environmental regularities allows us to effectively adapt our knowledge and behaviors.
In stark contrast, humans tend to be very bad at working with explicit representations of statistics via numbers or graphs. While these tools are intended to concisely convey precise and useful information, information illiteracy causes misunderstandings and poor decisions.
How do we bridge the gap between intention and results in information literacy and in statistics? It is a complex problem with issues ranging from education to visual perception to ethics (e.g., when is a plot or proportion “intentionally” misleading?).
For my small part, I do my best to simply be passionate about making information literacy and statistics universal topics of education and discussion in our information-rich world. Nobody should be scared of statistics because of complicated formulas or arcane rulesets. We should all have the tools to understand our worlds through quantitative rigor.
Passion for inspiration
How do we, as scientists, educate and inspire future generations? I have sought to promote scientific thinking and interest in neuroscience through outreach programs (like Brain Waves RI) and mentorship (like the Mentoring Envisioned program with the Vision Science Society).
Engaging with younger students and researchers the only way to pass along our knowledge and enthusiasm; to this end, for several years I have chosen to teach secondary school students (14-17 years old) in an intensive neureconomics course each summer. In this course I have sought to inspire these young students to pursue their own interests and ideas in the sciences of decision-making, brain functioning, and application of algorithm-based approaches to disparate fields.
Growth Through Mentoring
In the social and interconnected process of scientific inquiry many of the greatest opportunities arise when fostering the work of less-established researchers. I have been fortunate enough to mentor several undergraduate thesis projects and undergraduate summer research projects, and these projects have provided me the impetus for expanding my own research into areas such as perceptual adaptation and the Approximate Number System.
Aaron Cochrane 