Hackathon Computational Psychometrics

  • Location: Snellius 407-409, Faculty of Science, Leiden University
  • Date and time: Friday, 13 May 2022 from 17:00 to 00:00.
  • Register here before Friday, 13 May 2022.

What is this about?

Fundamentally, this hackathon is about human and artificial intelligence. Human intelligence is commonly measured by means of an IQ test, quantifying the intellectual capabilities of a person in different domains such as analogical reasoning, vocabulary, processing speed, and general knowledge. Let’s see how far we get in getting a computer to show some of the same capabilities.

In this hackathon, each team will create a computer program that can solve non-verbal IQ test items similar to Raven’s Progressive Matrices. At the start of the event, we will provide you with 10 training items (puzzles and the correct answer in PNG format). At the end, we will test each team’s solution on 20 unseen test items. The team that can solve most puzzles will win the hackathon.

Don’t worry, there won’t be any naming and shaming of the worst-performing teams. This is an unsolved problem and an active field of research, so we do not expect any teams to get a perfect score (although that would be a great paper).

Approximate schedule

  1. 17:00–17:30 Welcome and introduction of teams
  2. 17:30–19:00 Release of training items and programming
  3. 19:00–19:45 Pizza and drinks
  4. 19:45–23:00 Programming
  5. 23:00–00:00 Testing of solutions with test items and high-fiving the winning team

Food in the form of pizza (also vegetarian) and snacks will be provided. Drinks in the form of beer and soft drinks (also water) will be provided.

Note that the event ends at midnight. It may be a good idea to check your return trip home and/or get an OV-fiets.

Who are eligible to participate?

Participation is open to teams consisting of 1 to 4 individuals from the Leiden academic community, from BA/BSc students to professors. It’s no problem if some team members are not affiliated with Leiden University, so feel free to register with your housemates or friends. We encourage mixed-seniority teams and interdisciplinary teams to apply.

What does it cost to register?

Participation is free for all participants.

Will I be able to participate online?

No, this hackathon will be held on location.

Will a computer be provided?

No, you are expected to bring your own device. Power outlets and access to eduroam and Leiden University WiFi are available.

Technical details

Note that details below may change. If so, this information will be provided at the start of the event.

What is the deliverable?

You will create a computer program that can solve Raven’s Progressive Matrices-like puzzles. 2×2 puzzles will be provided as 3 PNG files, with 6 PNG files as possible answers. 3×3 puzzles will be provided as 8 PNG files, with 8 PNG files as possible answers. Given the input files for a specific puzzle, your program should print the file name of the correct answer to console (or stdout).

Example of a 3×3 Raven’s Progressive Matrices puzzle

Example of a 3×3 Raven's Progressive Matrices puzzle

What language should I use?

You can use your language of choice. However, we encourage you to make sure beforehand you have all necessary libraries to read PNG files (e.g. Pillow for Python, libpng for C++, javax.imageio for Java, the png package for R, OpenCV with appropriate bindings).

Organizers

This hackathon is organized by Roy de Kleijn and Tessa Verhoef with valuable support by Klawa Koppenol. We would like to thank the SAILS initiative and the Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition for sponsoring this event.