LEC T 9:30AM-10:45AM PRS 107 (Section
010 & 080)
LEC R 11:00AM-12:15PM WHL 311 (Section
010)
LEC R 9:30AM-10:45AM PRS 107 (Section 080)
| Prof. William
Frawley
Office: 46 E. Delaware (hours by appt.) Phone: 831-6706 Fax: 831-6896 This course URL:http://www.udel.edu/billf/cgsc27000.html |
CGSC
270 Fall 98
CGSC 270 Fall 97 CGSC 270 Fall 96 |
| Local Resources: | Reference Works: On-Line Cognitive Science Encyclopedia Behavioral and Brain Sciences Archive Cognitive Science Paper Archive |
| Undergraduate Tutors (available for help in the tutoring center-- Wednesdays, 2-4 p.m.; Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1-2 p.m.):
Emily Burhans Thomas Pellathy |
Websites: Cognitive Science Society |
Texts
Green, D. et al. Cognitive Science: An Introduction.
Oxford: Blackwell, 1996.
Bownds, M. D. The Biology of Mind. Bethesda,
MD: Fitzgerald Science Press, 1999
Additional readings on electronic
reserve in the library.
Requirements
Examinations
Course Outline
A. Fundamentals
1. Science and Cognitive Science
The convergence of
linguistics, psychology, neuroscience, computer science, philosophy, and
biology on a unified account of
READING:Green, Chs. 1 & 2; Bownds, Ch.
1
2. Six Principles of Cognitive Science
Levels of explanation.
Relations across levels. Inside/outside. Representation. Computation. Architecture.
READING: Sterelny, Representation and Computation
(reserve)
B. Details of the Device
3. Computation
Physical devices and
virtual machines. Learnability and computability.
READING: von Eckhardt, The Computational Assumption
(reserve); Green, Ch. 3;
4. Brain as Wetware
Brain and neuron structure
and function. How we crash at our joints. Loss of representation vs. loss
of access to
READING: Bownds, Chs. 2 & 3.
5. Cognition
Limits of the information
processor. Input devices. Kinds of memory. Kinds of mental content. Activities
of the processor.
all students must use email and the web
three take-home examinations (90%)
various short writing assignments and exercises as needed (10%)
All examinations are take-home. They will
posted on the website roughly one week before the due date and must be
submitted on or before the due date. Late examinations will not be accepted.
Examinations must be submitted in word-processed form: no handwritten examinations,
no emailed examinations. Since these are take-home examinations, you can
use your notes and books, but the answers are to be your own work (no group
answers, no copying, etc.) and the writing is to be thoroughly edited and
proofed.
the representation-
machine. Cognitive science and scientific metatheory.
representations.
6. Objects, Space, and Faces
Low-level vs. high-level.
Edges, surfaces, color, motion, generalized cones, etc. What and where.
A priori spatial knowledge?
Faces vs. objects.
Complexes. Verticality. Kinds of loss of spatial and face knowledge
READING: Green, Ch. 4; Bownds, Ch. 8
7. Language
The abstract modular
structure of mental grammar. Phonology, syntax, and semantics. Universal
grammar, learnability, and
acquisition. Aphasias.
READING: Green, Chs. 5,7,8 &9; Bownds,
Ch. 11
Formal structure of
music. Grouping, meter, reduction. Similarities to and differences from
language. Innate musical
knowledge? Amusia.
READING: Gelman and Brenneman, First Principles.Can Support Both Universal and Culture-Specific Learning about Number and Music (reserve); Jackendoff, Musical Parsing and Musical Affect (reserve)
9. Mathematics
Counting and cardinality. Incrementation and decrementation. Sets and grouping. Acalculia.
READING Wynn, Evidence Against Empiricist Accounts... (reserve)
10. Other Minds
Responses to minds, not behavior. Metarepresentation. A social knowledge module? Autism and TOM loss.
READING: Baron-Cohen et al., Does the Autistic Child Have a Theory of Mind? (reserve)
E. Applications and Frontiers
11. Applied Cognitive Science
Learning and teaching: mathematics and second languages.
READING: Nesher, Learning Mathematics (reserve); White, Universal Grammar and Second Language Acquisition
12. Consciousness and Emotions
Awareness, self-knowing machines? what it is like to be you? a representational science of feelings?
READING: Bownds, Chs. 7, 10, 12 & 13
13. Genes, Subwetware, and Evolution^M
How come we turned^M
out like this? The nature and pitfalls of accounts via inheritance. What^M
children already know. What^M
READING: Bownds, Chs. 4 & 5; Gallistel,
Lessons from Animal Learning for the Study of Cognitive Development
animals already know.^M
(reserve); Spelke: Initial Knowledge: Six
Suggestions (reserve).
Aug
29 Science and Cogsci
31 Science and CogSci/Six Principles
Sep
5 Six Principles
7 Computation
12 Computation
14 Brain
19 Brain
21 Cognition
26 Cognition
28 Cognition
Oct
3 Cognition
5 EXAM 1 Due/Space & Face
10 Space & Face
12 Space & Face
17 Language
24 Language
26 Language
31 Language
Nov
2 Exam 2 Due/Music
9 Music/Math
14 Math/Other Minds
16 Other Minds
21 Math Learning
28 Second Languages
30 Consciousness and Emotions
Dec
5 Evolution
Exam 3 Due Day of Scheduled Final