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79129-01 - Seminar: Mapping Research Landscapes with Large Language Models (1 CP)
| Semester | spring semester 2026 |
| Course frequency | Irregular |
| Lecturers | Angela Leipold (angela.leipold@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | his workshop will be held by Dr. Dirk U. Wulff (Max Planck Institute for Human Development). As research output accelerates across psychology, cognitive science, neuroscience, and related disciplines, it has become increasingly difficult for scholars to maintain a conceptual overview, detect thematic structure, and identify opportunities for cross-field integration. Fragmentation, terminological divergence, and disciplinary silos impede cumulative progress and obscure shared intellectual foundations. Recent advances in large language models (LLMs) offer a powerful and accessible pathway for generating research landscapes that help researchers navigate their fields more systematically. This workshop introduces participants to an LLM-supported approach for creating semantic research maps that visualize the structure, development, and subdomains of a research area. Participants will learn how LLMs can embed article titles and abstracts into a shared semantic space, cluster publications into meaningful thematic regions, label research areas, and trace temporal, conceptual, and methodological patterns. Unlike traditional bibliometric methods relying on citation networks or keyword co-occurrence, LLM-based mapping captures deeper conceptual similarity and reveals hidden connections between subfields that use different terminology or originate from different disciplinary traditions. The workshop will introduce the conceptual foundations of this approach, discuss its advantages and limitations, and provide hands-on guidance to help participants produce a research landscape for their own topic area—from corpus construction to visualization and interpretation. By the end of the workshop, attendees will be equipped to: (a) build semantic research maps using R, (b) identify clusters, gaps, and intellectual silos in their field, and (c) explore how concepts and methods are distributed across research traditions. This workshop is designed for researchers at all career stages who wish to better understand the structure of their research domain and leverage LLMs as instruments for cumulative science. Basic R knowledge is helpful but not necessary. References: Thoma, A. I., Bolenz, F., Tiede, K., Yang, Y., Palminteri, S., Hertwig, R., & Wulff, D. U. (2025). Map-ping the landscape of behavioral reinforcement learning research. PsyArXiv https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/6c2va_v1 Wulff, D. U., & Mata, R. (2025). Advancing Cognitive Science with LLMs. arXiv preprint arXiv:2511.00206. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2511.00206 |
| Bibliography | Thoma, A. I., Bolenz, F., Tiede, K., Yang, Y., Palminteri, S., Hertwig, R., & Wulff, D. U. (2025). Map-ping the landscape of behavioral reinforcement learning research. PsyArXiv https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/6c2va_v1 Wulff, D. U., & Mata, R. (2025). Advancing Cognitive Science with LLMs. arXiv preprint arXiv:2511.00206. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2511.00206 |
| Comments | The workshop is offered by the Graduate School of Psychology. Maximum number of participants: 15. Selection criteria: 1. PhD students from the SC-PSY PhD program 2. Master Science Tracker (StO 15) resp. Science Tracker Society and Choice (StO24) 3. Currently a PhD candidate in psychology 4. First come - first served GSP rules for withdrawal, absence, or partial course attendance: If you cannot attend a workshop that you have signed up for, please cancel your course registration as soon as possible by sending an e-mail to angela.leipold@unibas.ch. This will allow other PhD students interested in the course to move up from the waiting list. The GSP strongly values fairness. After the university’s official registration period has ended, cancelled course will be assessed with NE. Course registrations can be cancelled until one week before the workshops begins. In the case of late cancellations, participants will not be considered for course registration in the next three months of the lecture periods and will be removed from the registration list of any course they have signed up during these three upcoming months of the lecture periods. If an urgent, unforeseeable, or inevitable event before or during the workshop prevents a participant from attending, a written and substantiated withdrawal request that includes appropriate documentation (e.g. a doctor’s note) must be submitted to angela.leipold@unibas.ch within two days of the work-shop and without being prompted. The program director decides on the approval of the withdrawal request. ECTS-points are awarded only for 100% course attendance. |
| Admission requirements | Doktorat im Bereich Psychologie. Für Masterstudierende im Society&Choice/SWE Science Track: Anmeldung und erfolgreiche Aufnahme in den SWE/S&C Science Track. Siehe: https://psychologie.unibas.ch/de/studium/doktoratsstudium/doktoratsprogramme/sc-psy/science-track/ |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| unregelmässig | See individual dates | ||
Dates
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday 16.04.2026 | 14.00-18.00 | Missionsstrasse 64a, Seminarraum 00.002 |
| Friday 17.04.2026 | 09.00-13.00 | Missionsstrasse 64a, Seminarraum 00.002 |
| Modules |
Doctorate Psychology: Recommendations (PhD subject: Psychology) Modul: Science Track Society and Choice (Master's Studies: Psychology) Module: Science Track in Social, Economic, and Decision Psychology (Master's Studies: Psychology (Start of studies before 01.08.2024)) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Preparation and follow-up of the contents of the workshop as well as active participation. |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration, dereg: cancel course registration |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | as often as necessary |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Psychology, studiendekanat-psychologie@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Faculty of Psychology |