Sven Anderson RKC 205 (845) 752-2322 sanderso@bard.edu

Class: TR 2:30-3:50 in RKC 111 Lab: F 2-4 in RKC 107 Office Hours

Course Description

This course provides an overview of cognitive science. Cognitive scientists want to understand how the mind works. They do this by studying cognitive processes such as perception, memory, language, and attention. Because cognitive scientists are interested in how these abilities are represented and implemented, they also study neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and robotics. Finally, these issues are also essential to an understanding of ourselves and are also explored via philosophy. Cognitive science is a very diverse field. We give our study focus by limiting most of our attention to a selection of topics that relate mind and brain to language.

URL http://turing.bard.edu/~sven/131

You should frequently check our homepage. Notes, corrections, and solutions will be posted there.

Required Texts

• Clark, Andrew (2001) Mindware: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Cognitive Science, Oxford Press.

• Most other readings will be available on-line on our Moodle site or in collections of articles that I provide.

Learning Goals

• You understand how mind and language can be understood from the combined perspectives of psychological, neural, and computational methodologies.

• You will gain basic familiarity with how to read primary research literature in cognitive science.

• You will be able to use basic neural models to explain aspects of cognition.

• You will develop your ability to understand and critique the analytical writing of others

Course Requirements

Participation: Attending class and being involvement in group activities and class discussions is essential. Please let me know if you are unable to attend prior to the class you miss. Missing three or more classes will lower your final grade.

Labs: Labs complement class sessions and will enable students to explore concepts in a hands-on, interactive environment. We will have approximately seven labs, most of which are computer-based. Laboratory attendance is mandatory! Your lowest lab score will be dropped when computing the average.

Assignments: Assignments may take many forms, depending on the instructor. Examples of assignments include computer-based projects, essays, mathematical problems, and data analysis.

Short writings: Approximately every few weeks students will write and respond to the writings of other students. These will be informal writings maintained as an open-forum on the Web.

Exams: Two exams made up from questions and problems submitted by instructors.

Student Responsibilities

• Class will often be based on the readings assigned for that day. It is imperative that you complete the assigned readings prior to that class. I usually specify the readings at the beginning of class one week before they are due.

• Turn in assignments on time. Unexcused late homework will be penalized 25% each day it is late.

• Participate in and out of class. You may discuss writing, problems, and assignments with anyone in the class, but do not copy any portion of their work. Copied work will be treated as plagiarism and receive a score of zero.

Evaluation

The final grades for course work will be weighted as follows:

Assignments of all types	20%
Participation	10%
Labs	30%
Exams	40%