Teaching

Course on computational psychiatry: Heidelberg 12.-14.5.2022

Focus topic: Reinforcement learning models on social learning

This course is organized within the framework of the 4EU+ European University Alliance.

Schedule & location

12.-14.05.2022 at Heidelberg (Germany)

Meeting point for all parts: Lecture Hall, Voßstraße 4, 69115 Heidelberg

Day	Time	Topic	Speaker(s)	Format
12.05. Thursday	14:30-15:00	Arrival, registration & welcome
	15:00-15:15	Introduction lecture on the course schedule: What can you expect from the course?	Christoph Korn, Franziska Baessler	lecture
	15:15-15:45	Games for getting-to-know each other	Franziska Baessler
	15:45-16:00	Break
	16:00-16:45	Introduction lecture on computational psychiatry	Christoph Korn, Koen Frolichs	lecture
	16:45-17:00	BREAK & arrivals for keynote lecture
	17:00-18:00	Keynote lecture: Computational Psychopathology: a mechanistic explanation of mental health symptoms (LINK to online streaming)	Paolo Ossola	lecture
	open end	Reception on the premises of the Clinic for General Psychiatry (exact location will be signposted)
	open end	Drinks at a beer garden in Heidelberg (www.braeustadel.de)
13.05. Friday	9:00-10:00	Which biomarkers are relevant for bipolar disorder?	Massimiliano Buoli	lecture
	10:00-10:30	Modelling aspects of bipolar disorder using drift diffusion models	Paolo Ossola	lecture
	10:30-10:45	Break
	10:45-12:15	Programming principles & how to do it in Python (including statistics & simple plots)	Christoph Korn, Koen Frolichs, et al.	lecture & hands-on
	12:15-13:00	Break, lunch
	13:00-14:30	In-depth introduction of Reinforcement Learning (RL) models & of our experimental task	Christoph Korn, Koen Frolichs, et al.	lecture & hands-on
	14:30-14:45	Break
	14:45-16:15	Constructing RL models for simple tasks and our task (using simulations)	Christoph Korn, Koen Frolichs, et al.	hands-on
14.05. Saturday	9:00-9:45	Research Project: Emotion & Susceptibility – Can emotional instability predict mental health shifts? See LINK to the “Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften”	Markus Koetter, Franziska Baessler	lecture
	9:45-10:00	Break
	10:00-12:15	Fitting models to behavioral data, model comparisons (& quality checks)	Christoph Korn, Koen Frolichs, et al.	lecture & hands-on
	12:15-12:30	Break
	12:30-12:45	Outlook on how to model biophysical & neuroimaging data	Christoph Korn	lecture
	12:45-13:15	Wrap-up, feedback & goodbye

The course will take place in person. The keynote lecture is open to everyone.

The theoretical lectures (but not the hands-on programming) will be made accessible online via a live stream: LINK

The theoretical lectures (but not the hands-on programming) will be made accessible online via a live stream. Please bring your laptop to the hands-on sessions if possible! The lectures on Friday are not mandatory for the students of the elective course (Wahlfachtrack) “Digital Medicine.”

Wearing a face mask is mandatory in the buildings.

Wearing a face mask is mandatory in the buildings. We will also check whether you are vaccinated against COVID-19. If not, you need to provide a negative test.

See also our homepage at Heidelberg University

Topics – What will you learn?

In this three-day course, you will gain insights into the burgeoning field of computational psychiatry, its promises and pitfalls. The course consists of mixture of theoretical lectures on recent findings and practical sessions on programming (in Python).

Specifically, you learn the basics of how to use reinforcement models for analyzing behavioral datasets from human participants. You get an idea of how these models can help to understand psychiatric disorders. You gain hands-on experience with programming such models. Our example datasets cover experiments on social learning about other persons’ character traits and preferences.

You also learn about how to work in transdisciplinary settings.

Logistics –Who can attend?

This international course is organized within the framework of the 4EU+ European University Alliance and includes students and lecturers from three universities.

• Heidelberg University Hospital (Germany)
• University of Milan (UNIMI, Italy)
• Sorbonne University (France)

No fees apply. Students of Sorbonne University (France) and of the University of Milan (UNIMI, Italy) can apply for funds covering costs for travelling and lodging.

At Heidelberg University, the course is integrated in the elective courses “Digital Medicine” and “Psychosocial Medicine.”

The course is open to students across a wide variety of backgrounds including Medicine (with a particular focus on Psychiatry, Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy), Psychology, Political Science, and Computer Science, etc.

Students at different levels can attend (BSc, MSc, MD, or PhD).

Registration – How can you sign up?

Write an email to Heike Hager comppsychiatry.PSYCH@med.uni-heidelberg.de stating:

• your university
• your field of study
• your level of study (BSc, MSc, MD, or PhD)
• if you want to apply for funding of your travelling and lodging costs

Deadline for registration: 01.04.2022 (a few places may be available for late applications)

Lecturers – Who is involved?

• Christoph Korn (Heidelberg University, Department of General Adult Psychiatry). The whole team of the Section “Social Neuroscience:” Koen Frolichs gives lectures & hands-on tutorials. Lisa Doppelhofer, Sihui Zhang, Sergej Golowin & Benjamin Kuper-Smith help during the hands-on tutorials.
• Franziska Baessler (Heidelberg University, Department for General Internal and Psychosomatic Medicine, Member of the )
• Massimiliano Buoli (University of Milan, UNIMI, Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation)
• Florent Pasquier (Sciences de l’éducation et de la formation, Sorbonne Université)
• Antonius Wiehler (Institut du cerveau et de la moelle épinière (ICM), Hôpital Pitié-Salpêtrière, Sorbonne Université)

Keynote speaker

• Dr. Paolo Ossola (Università di Parma, Department of Medicine and Surgery)

Thanks

Franziska Baessler and Markus Koetter are suported by the the “Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften“