Delaware's Cognitive Science Page
Psychologist: You've got a pretty weird blender, Bill.
(Much later, and no one any wiser)
Psychologist: When a tree metabolizes, do its cells use representations?
Linguist (to self): That's a pretty weird tree, Jim.
This course presents the basics of cognitive science: a relatively new field that studies the nature, development, breakdown, and modeling of the representational and computational structure of the human mind. Cognitive science draws on the findings of parts of a number of disciplines, including linguistics, computer science, mathematics, cognitive psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, clinical studies, and education.
CGSC 270 has two overall goals:
(1) to introduce students to the basic issues in theoretical and applied cognitive science (to this end, the principal relevant findings of all the major fields that contribute to cognitive science are surveyed)
(2) to expose students to the particular research questions pursued by the faculty in cognitive science at the University (to this end, the course has fifteen guest lecturers).
Osherson, D. et al. (eds.) Invitation to Cognitive Science (new edition), 3 vols. Cambridge: MIT Press, 1996. (papers herein are referred to by O preceding their authors)
Various reserve readings
three take-home examinations
web-page summaries: students will have the responsibility of summarizing the week's discussion for entry on the page. This will be the basis of a running discussion outside of class that both class members and the cogsci community at large can access and add to.
1. Issues and Models (9/4-9/20)
Explanation (subfields of cogsci, prediction, levels of explanation) READING: Green Ch. 1 (9/4 & 9/6)
Minds, Brains, and Computation (functionalism, devices, representation and mental code, emergent properties) READING: Green Ch. 2; Churchland, Neurophilosophy, Chs. 2&3; (9/9 & 9/11)
Architectures (connectionism and modularity) READING: Green Ch. 3 (9/13 & 9/16)
Psychobiological Development (learning, maturation, nativism, evolution) READING: Spelke, "Initial Knowledge: Six Suggestions"; Gallistel et al., "Lessons from Animal Learning for the Study of Cognitive Development." (9/18 & 9/20)
2. Sensation, Perception, and Cognition (9/23-10/2)
Introduction and Integration (9/23)
Overview of Senses and Characterization of Chemical Senses (Prof. Scott) READING: None (9/25)
Vision and Object Recognition (Profs. Hoffman and Landau) READING: Green, Ch. 4; (O) Nakayama et al. "Visual Surface Representation";(O) Biederman, "Visual Object Recognition"; Armstrong, Gleitman, and Gleitman, "What Some Concepts Might Not Be"; (opt.) (O) Smith, "Concepts and Categorization" (9/27 & 9/30)
Memory (Prof. Intraub) READING: Green, Ch. 10; Cohen, "Preserved Learning Capacity in Amnesia: Evidence for Multiple Memory Systems"; (opt.) (O) Jonides, "Working Memory and Thinking." (10/2)
REVIEW DAY: 10/4
EXAMINATION #1 DUE 10/7
3. Computation (10/7-10/14)
Introduction and Integration READING: (O) Block, "The Mind as the Software of the Brain" (10/7)
Are We Computers? (Prof. Chester) READING: Copeland, AI: A Philosophical Introduction, Chs. 9&10. (10/9)
Modeling with Biologically Realistic Neurons (Prof. Northmore) READING: Northmore and Elias, "Spike Train Processing by a Silicon Neuromorph" (10/11)
Computational Learning Theory (Prof. Case) READING: Case, "Learning Machines"; Case, "Turing Machine" (10/14)
4. Language (10/16-11/4)
Introduction and Integration READING: (O) Gleitman and Lieberman, "The Cognitive Science of Language"; (O) Higginbotham, "Some Philosophy of Language." (10/16)
Meaning and Minimal Content (Prof. Frawley) READING: Green, Ch. 9; (O) Larson, "Semantics" (10/18 & 10/21)
Syntax (Prof. Frawley) READING: Akmajian et al. "Syntax: The Study of Sentence Structure"; (opt) Green, Ch. 7; (O) (opt.) Lasnik, "The Forms of Sentences" (10/23)
Speech Sounds in the Mouth and Mind (Prof. Idsardi) READING: Green, Ch. 5; (opt.) (O) Dell, Speaking and Mispeaking" (10/25)
Language Acquisition (Prof. Golinkoff) READING: Green, Ch. 9; (O) Pinker, "Language Acquisition"; (O) Gleitman and Newport, "The Invention of Language by Children" (10/28 & 10/30)
5. Cognitive Development
Introduction and Integration READING: (O) Carey, "Continuity and Discontinuity in Cognitive Development." (11/1)
The Conversion of Truth into Necessity (Prof. Murray) READING: Murray, "The Conversion of Truth into Necessity." (11/4)
Infants' Physical and Spatial Knowledge (Prof. Landau) READING: Baillargeon, "The Object Concept Revisited" (O) Spelke et al., "The Development of Object Perception" (11/6 & 11/8)
REVIEW DAY: 11/11
EXAMINATION DUE: 11/13
6. Breakdown
Introduction and Integration READING: From Atypical Cognitive Deficits (11/13)
Autism, Williams Syndrome, and Theory of Mind (Prof. Landau) READING: Karmiloff-Smith et al, "Is There a Social Module?"; Flavell, Cognitive Development (section on TOM); (opt) Baron-Cohen, Leslie, and Frith "Does the Autistic Child Have a Theory of Mind?" (11/15 & 11/18)
Mental Retardation (Prof. Ferretti) READING: Ferretti and Cavalier, "Constraints on the Problem Solving of Persons with Mental Retardation"; Ferretti, "Cognitive, Social, and Contextual Determinants of Strategy Production" (11/20)
7. Applications
Introduction and Integration READING: None (11/22 & 11/25)
Reading (Prof. Venezky) READING: Green Ch. 6; Venezky, "How English is Read." (11/27)
Applied Cognitive Science and Science Learning (Prof. Coleman) READING: Bruer, Schools for Thought Ch. 5; Coleman, "Inducing a Shift from Intuitive to Scientific Knowledge with Inquiry Training" (12/2)
Mathematics Learning and Teaching (Prof. Hiebert) READING: P. Nesher, "Learning Mathematics: A Cognitive Perspective." (12/4)
Visit to Applied Science and Engineering Labs (12/6)
8. Conclusions
What we have learned? Where is the field going? Review for final (12/9 & 12/11)
EXAMINATION #3: DUE DAY OF SCHEDULED FINAL