Cognitive SciencesComputer ScienceApplied Mathematics
brown university
Computation and Mathematics of Mind
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David Mumford



Professor of Applied Mathematics



CONTACT INFORMATION

David_Mumford@brown.edu
401-863-3441
Box F, Brown University
Providence, Rhode Island 02912

RESEARCH AREAS
• Theory and Computation
• Sensory Systems and Perception

COURSES TAUGHT
• AM0270: Stochastic Models in Cognitive Science and Neuroscience



BIOGRAPHY

We're trying to understand how you are able to recognize people when you see them again. We are trying to show mathematically how the brain attempts to match the template of the face you remember with the one you are currently seeing. How do you recognize the face each time, although it appears under different lighting in different positions? We'd like to see how this is accomplished in the brain. Face recognition is a typical example of intelligent behavior, but as it turns out, is very hard. No computer can do it well. Computers use algorithms - a recipe of mathematical steps - to decide whether or not they are looking at a face. We think that the brain acts like a computer and follows algorithms. We are trying to use analytical tools to figure out the computational steps the brain is taking. We are also developing the mathematical and statistical tools to use for finding patterns in the brain's electrical activity.