COGS 311 - Seminar in Cognitive Science

Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)

Topic for 2023/24a: Language and Thought. What is the relationship between language and cognition? Are some thoughts unthinkable without language or are the effects of language on thought more benign? Do people who speak different languages think about or perceive the world differently? Through what mechanisms might language influence other cognitive processes? Questions like these have long captivated philosophers, linguists, anthropologists, psychologists, and science fiction authors, generating fierce debates, clever experiments, and plenty of controversy. In this course we explore these ideas from a range of perspectives, with an emphasis on critically evaluating various theoretical frameworks and empirical evidence. Stephen Flusberg

Topic for 2023/24b: Transformative Experiences.There are some experiences in our life that transform who we are in ways that are seemingly unknowable prior to having the experience. Many of the biggest decisions that we make have this quality. How will I change if I move to a new country, change my profession, or become a parent? The only way to really know is to have the experience, but how can I make a decision about whether to have the experience if I don’t really know how it will affect me? This is an interesting puzzle for theories of decision making in cognitive science. In this seminar, we’ll try to piece together this puzzle by asking questions like: What counts as a transformative experience? Are they distinct from other experiences? What are the characteristics of transformative experiences? What changes when we have a transformative experience? Can theories and formal models of decision making account for transformative decisions? Are transformative experiences somehow special in this way, or are there more general problems with how theories of decision making apply to our lived experiences? What does this tell us about cognition more broadly? Logistics permitting, this course will include a field trip to Burlington, VT to view the total solar eclipse on April 8th, 2024. This may or may not be a transformative experience — you have to take the course to find out. Joshua de Leeuw.

Prerequisite(s): At least one 200-level course in Cognitive Science and permission of the instructor.

May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed.

One 3-hour period.

Course Format: CLS