Current Courses

Robert Frank, MW 4:00-5:15

The study of language from the perspective of cognitive science. Exploration of mental structures that underlie the human ability to learn and process language, drawing on studies of normal and atypical language development and processing, brain imaging, neuropsychology, and computational modeling. Innate linguistic structure vs. determination by experience and culture; the relation between linguistic and nonlinguistic cognition in the domains of decision making, social cognition, and musical cognition; the degree to which language shapes perceptions of color, number, space, and gender.

Pragmatics  (CGSC 275)

Laurence Horn, TTh 1:00-2:15

Speakers often mean things they don’t say, but how does a hearer figure out what the speaker meant? Which sentences are designed to change the world rather than just to represent it? How are sentences used to mean different things in different contexts? Pragmatics explores the relations between what is said and what is meant, focusing on how speech acts and the principles of “street logic” - presuppositions and implicatures - help speakers and hearers shape the landscape of a conversation.

Perspectives on Human Nature (CGSC 282)

Joshua Knobe, Th 1:30-2:20

Topics in Brain Development, Law, and Policy (CGSC 419)

BJ Casey, T 9:25-11:15

Healthy development is a fundamental right of the individual, regardless of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, or gender. Youth require special protections of their rights due to vulnerabilities related to their physical and mental immaturity. These rights include, not only protections, but opportunities for building the cognitive, emotional, and social skills necessary for becoming a healthy adult and a contributing member of society. This seminar examines the extent to which legal policies and practices in the treatment of youths are consistent with scientific knowledge on psychological and brain development. Each class discusses one or more legal cases highlighted in the context of brain and psychological science and current laws and policies.

Topics in Clinical Neuroscience (CGSC 420)

Avram Holmes, Th 9:25-11:15

An overview and examination of the neuroscience of psychiatric illness. We focus on cutting-edge research in humans and animals aimed at understanding the biological mechanisms that underlie psychiatric illness. Although these questions date back to early philosophical texts, only recently have experimental psychologists and neuroscientists begun to explore this vast and exciting domain of study. We discuss the evolutionary and developmental origins of individual differences in human personality, measurement issues, fundamental dimensions of psychopathology, stability/plasticity, heritability, and implications of theraputic interventions as well as the associated broader implications for public policy. A major focus is on the neurobiology of fear and anxiety, including brain circuits, molecular genetic pathways, and epigenetics. A secondary focus is on differences in behavior and biology that confer risk for the development of depression and addiciton, including the biological systems involved in hedonic pleasure, motivated goal pursuit, and the regulation of impulses in the face of everyday temptation.

The Rise and Fall of Wonder (CGSC 427)

Frank Keil, M 1:30-3:20

Research on children’s minds reveals early emerging abilities that help explain the developmental origins and early growth of wonder. We consider wonder as the joy of exploration and discovery. Preschoolers and even infants are driven to learn not just facts and statistics, but also underlying causal patterns that are at the heart of many sciences. They learn not just as individuals but also as members of knowledge communities and, early on, they sense how to “harvest” knowledge from these communities. Yet, those joyous moments of discovery and exploration often fade as children grow older and cease to wonder. We explore how this decline occurs and its consequences. When people stop wondering, they fail to expand their grasps of the world and become ever more vulnerable to misunderstanding and manipulation by others. We examine possible ways to reverse this decline.

Minds, Brains, and Machines (CGSC 437)

Julian Jara-Ettinger, W 3:30-5:20

Exploration of the implications that the brain is a kind of computer that gives rise to the mind. Readings combine classical and cutting-edge research in psychology, philosophy, and artificial intelligence.

Directed Research in Cognitive Science (CGSC 472)

Research projects for qualified students. The student must be supervised by a member of the Cognitive Science faculty, who sets the requirements and directs the research. To register, a student must submit a written plan of study to the DUS and the faculty supervisor. The normal minimum requirement is a written report of the completed research, but individual faculty members may set alternative requirements.

Directed Reading in Cognitive Science (CGSC 474)

Individual study for qualified students who wish to investigate an area of cognitive science not covered in regular courses. The student must be supervised by a member of the Cognitive Science faculty, who sets the requirements and meets regularly with the student. To register, a student must submit a written plan of study to the DUS and the faculty supervisor. The normal minimum requirement is a term paper, but individual faculty members may set alternative requirements.

Senior Project (CGSC 491)

Guilherme Almeida, T 1:30-3:20; W 9:25-11:15

A required course for the major, this course is a research colloquium leading to the completion of the senior essay. Students present on their senior project, provide feedback on their peers’ presentations, and provide and receive anonymous peer reviews in a journal-style peer review system with the other seniors.

Metaphysics Meets Cognitive Science: Objects, Causation, Time, and Self (CGSC 492)

Laurie Paul & Brian Scholl, T 3:30-5:20

The premise (and promise) of cognitive science is that we will come to know ourselves better by integrating insights and contributions from multiple fields of inquiry. This interdisciplinary project has been especially vibrant when it has explored the intersection of philosophy and psychology (for example when work in ethics integrates empirical work from moral psychology, or when work in the philosophy of mind integrates neuroscientific studies of consciousness). But cognitive science has interacted far less with the study of *metaphysics* - the philosophical exploration of topics such as time, causation, and possibility. This may seem surprising, since there has been a great deal of fascinating emprical research on the mental representations and cognitive processes involved in such topics. Accordingly, this seminar attempts to bridge this gap, exploring potential interactions between these fields. In particular, we explore the possibility of a ‘cognitive metaphysics,’ in which each field is enriched by consideration of the other. How might metaphysical theories raise questions or identify concepts of interest to working cognitive scientists? How might empirical studies from cognitive science on the nature of seeing and thinking contribute to the study of metaphysics? Specific topics likely include the ways in which we understand the nature (in both the mind and the world) of space, time, objects, events, causality, persistence, and possibility. (And along the way, we also consider some more particular topics, such as the asymmetry between past and future experience, the apparent backwards causation in the contect of Newcomb’s puzzle, and why the present seems special).