Catalogue 2016-2017 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Cognitive Science Department
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Chair: Fall- Janet Andrews, Spring- Kenneth R. Livingston;
Professors: Gwen J. Broudea, Kenneth R. Livingstona, John H. Long, Jr.;
Associate Professor: Janet K. Andrews;
Instructor: Joshua de Leeuw.
a on leave 2016/17, first semester
We human beings take it for granted that we are possessed of minds. You know that you have a mind and you assume that other people do too. But what, exactly, are we referring to when we talk about the mind? Is a mind just a brain? What endows your mind with the property of being conscious? How does your mind allow you to extract music from sound waves, or relish the taste of chocolate, or daydream, or feel happy and sad, or reach for your cup when you want a sip of coffee? Are minds directly aware of the world out there? Or, when you think that you are perceiving reality, are you just consulting some representation of the world that your mind has built? How similar is your mind to the minds of other people? Do you have to be a human being to have a mind? Could other entities have minds so long as they were built the right way? Does your computer have a mind?
These are the kinds of questions that cognitive scientists want to address. Cognitive Science is a broadly multidisciplinary field in which philosophers, psychologists, anthropologists, linguists, neuroscientists, biologists, mathematicians, and computer scientists, among others, combine their respective theories, technologies, and methodologies in the service of a unified exploration of mind. The hallmark of the field is a genuinely multidisciplinary outlook in which the perspectives and methods of all of the component disciplines are simultaneously brought to bear upon a particular question. In 1982, Vassar College became the first institution in the world to grant an undergraduate degree in Cognitive Science.
Other Programs
Cognitive Science: I. Introductory
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COGS 100 - Introduction to Cognitive Science Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)
Cognitive science is a multidisciplinary exploration of the nature of mind and intelligence in whatever forms they may take, from animal (including especially humans) to machine. This course explores the modern history of our efforts to understand the nature of mind, asking such questions as how a purely physical entity could have a mind, whether a computer or robot could have genuine mental states, and what it really means to be intelligent or to have a mind. In the process of seeking answers to these questions, the course explores such phenomena as perception, memory, prediction, decision-making, action, language, and consciousness by integrating methods and concepts from a number of disciplines, including philosophy, psychology, computer science, neuroscience, biology, linguistics, and anthropology. Material from economics, education, mathematics, engineering, and the arts is increasingly integrated into the field as well. No background in any of these disciplines is assumed, and this course is intended to serve as an introduction, for both majors and non-majors, to the unique multidisciplinary approach to studying problems of mind that Cognitive Science represents. Janet Andrews, Gwen Broude, Josh de Leeuw, Ken Livingston, John Long.
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COGS 110 - The Science and Fiction of Mind Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
Our understanding of what minds are and of how they work has exploded dramatically in the last half century. As in other areas of science, the more we know the harder it becomes to convey the richness and complexity of that knowledge to non-specialists. This Freshman Course will explore two different styles of writing for explaining new findings about the nature of mind to a general audience. The most direct of these styles is journalistic and explanatory and is well represented by the work of people like Steven Pinker, Bruce Bower, Stephen J. Gould, and Ray Kurzweil. The second style is fictional. At its best, science fiction not only entertains, it also stretches the reader’s mind to a view of implications and possibilities beyond what is currently known. Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Greg Bear, and Richard Powers all provide excellent models of this kind of writing. In this course students practice both ways of writing about technical and scientific discoveries. By working simultaneously in both styles it should become clear that when done well even a strictly explanatory piece of science writing tells a story. By the same token even a purely fictional narrative can explain and elucidate how the real world works. The focus of our work is material from the sciences of mind, but topics from other scientific areas may also be explored. This course does not serve as a prerequisite for upper-level courses in Cognitive Science. Ken Livingston.
Open only to freshmen; satisfies the college requirement for a Freshman Writing Seminar.
No
Two 2-hour periods.
Cognitive Science: II. Intermediate
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COGS 211 - Perception and Action Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
This course is about the ongoing, dynamic, causal loops of action and perception that situate agents in the world and form the foundation for their intelligence. Topics include how physical energies become perceptual experiences, how systems evolve, develop, and learn the ability to perform complex actions, and how it is that actions are brought under the control of perceptions. Material is drawn from the neurosciences, robotics, human and non-human animal behavior research, and philosophy. Classes include regular laboratory work including human experimental work and robotics. John Long.
Prerequisite(s): COGS 100 .
Two 75-minute periods, plus one 4-hour laboratory. -
COGS 213 - Language Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
This course considers the rich and complex phenomenon of human language from a multidisciplinary perspective. The emphasis is on the cognitive representations and processes that enable individual language users to acquire, perceive, comprehend, produce, read, and write language. Consideration is given to the relation of language to thought and consciousness; to neural substrates of language and the effects of brain damage on language ability; to computational models of language; and to language development. Throughout, language is examined at different levels of analysis, including sound, structure, and meaning. Janet Andrews.
Prerequisite(s): COGS 100 .
Two 75-minute periods. -
COGS 215 - Knowledge and Cognition Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
This course asks how knowledge and cognition contribute to the functioning of biological and synthetic cognitive agents. Along the way it inquires into the origins and nature of knowledge, memory, concepts, goals, and problem-solving strategies. Relevant philosophical issues are examined along with research on the brain, experimental evidence from cognitive psychology, computer models, and evolutionary explanations of mind and behavior. A major goal of the course is to explore how cognitive scientists are coming to understand knowledge and cognition within an embodied agent embedded in a real world. Gwen Broude.
Prerequisite(s): COGS 100 .
Two 75-minute periods. -
COGS 219 - Research Methods in Cognitive Science Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
In this course, students learn to apply the principal methodologies of cognitive science to a specific problem in the field, such as sentence processing or visual form perception. The methods are drawn from human neurophysiology, experimental cognitive psychology, computer modeling, linguistic and logical analysis, and other appropriate investigative tools, depending on the specific issue chosen for study. A major goal of the course is to give students hands-on experience with the use and coordination of research techniques and strategies characteristic of contemporary cognitive science. The course also plays a critical role in preparing students for the senior thesis. It is therefore strongly encouraged that this course be completed by the junior year. Janet Andrews, Josh de Leeuw.
Prerequisite(s): PSYC 200 and either COGS 211 , COGS 213 , or COGS 215 .
Prerequisite(s):
Prerequisite(s):
Regular laboratory work.
Enrollment limited.
Two 75-minute period and 5-hour lab. -
COGS 220 - Autonomous Robotics Design Competition Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
This course gives students with an interest in robotics an opportunity to explore basic principles of robot design and programming in a hands-on laboratory environment. The specific nature of the task to be accomplished varies each year, but in all cases the problems to be solved require thinking about the key issues that confront any robot designer: How is the robot situated in its environment? How does the design of the robot’s body affect its intelligence? What are the optimal strategies for programming flexible intelligence in the robot (e.g., behavior-based or reactive systems, world modeling and planning systems, hybrid systems)? Students are organized into teams with balanced skill sets and compete to complete the assigned task most effectively in an end-of-semester competition. The design and construction components of the course are supported by classroom instruction in basic electronics, hardware design and building techniques, and relevant programming skills. Josh de Leeuw, Ken Livingston, John Long.
Prerequisite(s):Either COGS 211 , CMPU 102 , or permission of the instructor.
Students who have neither COGS 211 nor CMPU 102 as prerequisites may still have sufficient background to take the course depending on other skills and should consult with the instructor about readiness to take the class.
Two 75-minute periods. -
COGS 282 - Modeling Minds, Brains, and Behavior Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
In this course students learn to apply computational methods to the study of minds, brains, and behavior. The course covers several frameworks for modeling, including symbolic, connectionist (sub-symbolic), probabilistic (including Bayesian), and agent-based perspectives. A major focus of the course is to appreciate that each of these approaches has merits and that, depending on the phenomenon of interest, different modeling tools might be needed. Hands-on experience with modeling experimental data and computer programming are essential parts of the course, but no prior programming experience is required. In addition to the importance of these approaches for students in Cognitive Science, the techniques explored are also of value to students in Neuroscience and Behavior as well as other behavioral sciences. Josh de Leeuw.
Two 75-minute periods. -
COGS 290 - Field Work Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
0.5 to 1 unit(s)
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COGS 298 - Independent Work Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
0.5 to 1 unit(s)
Cognitive Science: III. Advanced
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COGS 300 - Senior Thesis Semester Offered: Fall
0.5 unit(s)
A thesis written in two semesters for 1 unit.
Yearlong course 300-COGS 301 .
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COGS 301 - Senior Thesis Semester Offered: Spring
0.5 unit(s)
A thesis written in two semesters for 1 unit.
Yearlong course COGS 300 -301.
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COGS 302 - Senior Thesis Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)
A thesis written in one semester for one unit.
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COGS 311 - Seminar in Cognitive Science Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)
The topic of the seminar varies regularly, but is always focused on some aspect of thought, language, perception, or action considered from the unique, synthetic perspective of cognitive science. The seminar is taught by faculty members in the program. May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed. For the spring of 2017 there will be two sections of the seminar on two different topics, as noted below.
Topic for 2016/17b: Language, Embodiment, and Abstraction. This seminar explores the idea, stated explicitly in a recent cognitive science article, that “Language speaks in categories while perception speaks in particulars.” What is the basis for this claim and, if true, what are its implications? To explore this, we address the mounting evidence that language is embodied, relying fundamentally on more concrete sensorimotor abilities, and yet able to exert genuine top-down influence on perception and action. Is language uniquely able to support abstract, categorical thought, and if so, how? How can language be both embodied/contextual and symbolic/compositional? Janet Andrews.
Topic for 2016/17b: Morality. What is it? This seminar explores the nature of moral systems, moral thought, moral sentiments, moral behavior, proposed origins of morality, and the very nature of morality itself. We will be asking: What are we referring to when we carve out a special domain identified as moral? Are moral judgments different from other judgments that human beings regularly make and if so, how and why? Where does the idea of morality come from? Are there analogues of morality in other animals? Can we interpret the moral sentiments as an evolved adaptation? Is there anything about moral impulses that exists even without moral teaching? What are the roles of cognition and of emotion in moral thought and behavior? Are there universals in human moral systems? What kinds of differences in moral systems might we find across cultures and people, and why might they exist? How do cultures try to instill morality in their young? Is there a correct morality? And - why be moral? The readings and framework for the course are wide-ranging, and include: evolutionary theory, anthropology, neuroscience, developmental psychology, empirical psychological studies, and moral philosophy. Gwen Broude.
One 3-hour period. -
COGS 381 - Mind Reading: The Cognitive Science Book Club Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)
The goal of this course is to explore interests and issues from the field of Cognitive Science that go beyond the Cognitive Science curriculum. These include methodological and theoretical issues as well as empirical work, narrative, and more. The course is book-driven and discussion-intense. Think of it as a Cognitive Science book club. We read books, lots of them, and talk about them. Past topics have included: free will, consciousness, embodiment, first person subjective experience, neuroscientific methods, the anthropological stance, artificial intelligence, origins of morality, story, and theory of mind. Books and topics change each year. Gwen Broude.
Prerequisite(s): any 200-level course in Cognitive Science and permission of the instructor.
One 2-hour period. -
COGS 399 - Senior Independent Work Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
0.5 to 1 unit(s)
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