Associate Professor
| Room | Owheo Building, Room 2.53 |
| Phone | +64 3 479 8314 |
anthony |
My original background is in psychology and linguistics at the University of Canterbury (NZ). From 1985 to 1989 I studied at COGS, the University of Sussex (UK), completing my MA and Doctorate in Cognitive Science. I joined the department as a lecturer in artificial intelligence in August 1989.
My main area of teaching and research is Neural Networks. I am interested in neural networks as a tool for modeling cognition, with a particular focus on modelling aspects of memory and forgetting. Much of my research has explored the problem known as "catastrophic forgetting" (the stability/plasticity dilemma), and whether the "pseudorehearsal" solution that I propose has anything to do with the consolidation of learning during sleep in humans. I am interested in Artificial Intelligence in general, including topics such as defeasible reasoning.
I teach and coordinate COSC460 Neural Networks. I also teach COMP103, the Department's introductory programming paper (Java). I'm interested in the whole process of teaching and learning a first programming language. This has recently become a second focus for my research, and I have been involved in two international studies of novice programmers (the Scaffolding and BRACE projects).
Selected Publications
Robins A. Learning edge momentum: A new account of outcomes in CS1. Computer Science Education (submitted) (2010) PDF
Abraham, C. & Robins A. Memory retention - the synaptic stability versus plasticity dilemma. Trends in Neuroscience, 28(2), 73 - 78 (2005).
Robins, A. & McCallum, S. A robust method for distinguishing between learned and spurious attractors. Neural Networks, 17, 313 - 326 (2004).
Robins, A. Sequential learning in neural networks: A review and a discussion of pseudorehearsal based methods. Intelligent Data Analysis, 8(3), 301 - 322 (2004).
Robins, A., Rountree, J. & Rountree, N. Learning and teaching programming: A review and discussion. Computer Science Education, 13(2), 137 - 172 (2003).
For more information and a full list of publications, please check my publications page.
