Introductory Courses

The two introductory courses in the Cognitive Science major serve two purposes.

• They introduce students to the empirical questions, theoretical concepts, and analytical methodologies that led to the emergence of Cognitive Science as a distinct field of study and continue to drive contemporary research.
• They highlight these issues in the core disciplines of Cognitive Science—computer science, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy, and psychology—and the ways that inquiries into central questions about the nature of the mind have been shaped and informed by interactions, conversations, and collaborations across the disciplines.

COGS 20001 Mind, Brain, and Meaning

What is the relationship between physical processes in the brain and body and the processes of thought and consciousness that constitute our mental life? Philosophers and others have puzzled over this question for millennia. In recent decades, the field of cognitive science has proposed a new way to answer. The driving idea is that the interaction of the mental and the physical may be understood via a third level of analysis: the computational. This course offers a critical introduction to the elements of this approach, including some of the alternative models and theories that fall within it. Readings are drawn from a range of historical and contemporary sources in philosophy, psychology, linguistics, and computer science.

COGS 20002 Cognitive Models

A foundational principle of cognitive science is that the workings of cognitive systems—whether biological, mechanical, or digital—can be productively represented by the operation of formal computational models. This course provides a survey of popular modeling frameworks (Bayesian rational agents, connectionist networks, dynamical systems) as well as the cognitive phenomena that these models have been used to simulate. We will discuss the theoretical commitments of these models, assess strengths and weaknesses of each framework for addressing different types of cognitive questions, and analyze the implications of these models’ successes and failures for our understanding of the mind.

Advanced Courses In Cognitive Science

In addition to the two introductory courses, the Cognitive Science major also offers several advanced courses, which can be used to fulfill elective requirements of the major. These courses generally provide an in-depth exploration of a topic within cognitive science from a multidisciplinary perspective, often with a foundation in the methods or theories of a core discipline while invoking the insights of other fields. Advanced Cognitive Science courses are designed by cognitive science faculty for the major but are NOT required for completion of the major.

COGS 20003 Experimental and Computational Methods in Linguistic Research

This course introduces students to experimental and computational methods used in linguistic research. Students will gain foundational knowledge of experimental design, stimuli creation, procedure, and data collection and analysis through hands-on practice. Students will design their own research projects, identify appropriate experimental and/or computational methods, and apply them to investigate their questions. Students will learn to use PCIbex (a web-based platform for constructing experiments), R, and Python throughout the process. Familiarity with R/Python/JavaScript is helpful but not required. Prerequisite: Mind, Brain, and Meaning (COGS 20001) or Introduction to Linguistics (LING 20001).

Counts toward Formal Foundations requirements.

COGS 20004 Measurement and Analysis of the Mind

This course will introduce students to a selection of empirical methods drawn from a range of disciplines that contribute to cognitive science, including experimental psychology, cognitive neuroscience, linguistic analysis, and artificial intelligence. Students in this course will learn to design scientific experiments and analyze data with inferential statistics, culminating in a final independent project of their own design. Along the way, we will also discuss the philosophies of science invoked when connecting measurements of experimental data to inferences about the underlying nature of cognitive mechanisms, as well as best practices when conducting empirical research.

Counts toward Formal Foundations requirements.

COGS 22501 Nature and Nurture in Language and Cognition

One of the most interesting puzzles of human cognitive development, often called Plato’s Problem, is how human beings are able to learn so much about the world on the basis of such little experience. To what extent are our cognitive faculties due to our genetic endowment, and to what extent are they the result of our experience of the world? In this class, we will explore, through in-class discussion and readings in psychology, philosophy, linguistics, and computer science, how humans acquire the capacity for language, concepts, spatial and moral reasoning, and much more. 

Counts toward Linguistics Depth requirements.

COGS 23009 The Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence: Mind and Model

What can reflection upon artificial intelligence teach us about human thought? This question may be asked and understood in many ways. Our concern will be philosophical: the insight we seek is into the nature and structure of thought as it is for the one thinking, as it informs, shapes, or constitutes the life of a thinking being. This course will lay the groundwork for pursuit of our question by (1) introducing and examining the idea of a model of a human intellectual capacity (2) outlining the basic concepts needed for understanding the architecture of the currently most noteworthy form of artificial intelligence—the class of language models known as GPTs, (3) introducing some of the philosophical ideas needed for analyzing the forms of thought that go into human linguistic communication, and finally (4) endeavoring to bring all of these elements together.

While some of the philosophical readings are challenging, prior familiarity with philosophy is not a prerequisite.

Counts toward Philosophy Breadth and Philosophy Depth requirements.

COGS 23530 Truth

Alternative facts” and “fake news” have fueled growing concerns that we are entering a “post-truth” society. But what exactly is truth, and why should we care about it? We will address this question over the course of this quarter by examining contemporary views on the role of truth in meaning and communication; challenges to these views from uncertainty and subjectivity; arguments for and against different conceptions of truth; expressions of skepticism about the value of truth; different categories of non-truth (lies vs.\ b.s.); and how all of these issues bear on the relation between truth, belief and decision making. Along the way, we will consider whether our claims to know certain things are always limited because they come from a particular perspective, and what value (if any) truth contributes to the well-lived life.

Counts toward Philosophy Depth requirements.

COGS 24001 Prediction in Language Comprehension

Language tends to follow predictable patterns, from what sounds and words are about to be uttered, to what grammatical structures are likely, to be used to what broader implications are about to be suggested, and more. One prevailing hypothesis is that the human mind can take advantage of this predictability to help maintain the rapid pace of language comprehension. This course will explore critical questions surrounding the nature of prediction processes during language comprehension. What do people predict? How are their predictions constrained? How can we study the inherently internal process(es) of prediction? What are the consequences of prediction? Perhaps most importantly, what do the answers to these questions suggest about the mechanisms and computations of prediction? Readings will primarily consist of contemporary articles from peer-reviewed journals, and class meetings will be a mix of lectures and student-led discussions.

Counts toward Linguistics and Psychology Depth requirements. 

COGS 25001 Foundations of Neurolinguistics

This course will explore the cognitive and neural bases underlying language comprehension and production. Class topics will draw on historic and contemporary research invoking a range of neuroimaging techniques to examine how sound, meaning, and structure are processed in the brain. Students will also explore how theories about the computations and representations underlying human language can inform, and be informed by, the biological constraints imposed by the nervous system. Prior knowledge of neuroscience is not required, but familiarity with linguistic and psychological concepts may be beneficial.

Counts toward Linguistics, Psychology, and Neuroscience Depth requirements.

COGS 29001 Contemporary Topics in Cognitive Science

This course will survey multiple areas of modern research currently being conducted across the subfields of cognitive science. Each week we will discuss a new topic of contemporary cognitive science research and participate in a lecture from a researcher in that field. Students should expect to complete weekly readings of scholarly articles and other primary literature, which we will then further contextualize with the other topics in the course and the broader visions of modern cognitive science research.

Prerequisites: COGS 20001, COGS 20002

Counts toward Depth requirements in any core discipline covered in class.