COGNITIVE SCIENCE

050.101 (N,S)

COGNITION (3) Frank Limit 135 Introductory course exploring the study of human mental processes within the field of cognitive science. Drawing upon cognitive psychology, cognitive neuropsychology, cognitive neuroscience, linguistics, and artificial intelligence, this course examines theory, methods, and major findings in work on vision, reasoning, and language.

Sec. 01

ThF 10:30-12

050.203 (N,S)

COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE: EXPLORING THE LIVING BRAIN (3) Rapp Limit 300 150 135 Perm. Req’d This course surveys theory and research concerning how mental processes are carried out by the human brain. Currently a wide range of methods of probing the functioning brain are yielding insights into the nature of the relation between mental and neural events. Emphasis will be placed on developing an understanding of both the physiological bases of the techniques and the issues involved in relating measures of brain activity to cognitive functioning. Methods surveyed include electrophysiological recording techniques such as EEG, VEP, ERP, single/multiple unit recording and MEG; functional imaging techniques such as PET and fMRI; and methods that involve lesioning or disrupting neural activity such as WADA, cortical stimulation, animal lesion studies, and the study of brain-damaged individuals. Cross-listed with Neuroscience

Sec. 01

ThF 2-3:30

050.240 (H,N,S)

THE WORLD OF LANGUAGE (3) Legendre Limit 60 This hands-on course exposes students to the fascinating variety – and uniformity – to be found among the world’s 6000 languages through group lectures on a variety of topics as well as actual linguistic fieldwork conducted in small groups with a native speaker of a language unknown to the participants. Among the fundamental questions examined in lectures and tested against realistic linguistic data are the following. Is knowledge of language encoded in the genes? Is it unique to mankind?  How do new languages emerge from the contact of two very different languages?  How did English change over time? Are all languages related? Where does language come from?

Sec. 01

MTW 10

050.311 (N,S)
(W)

WRITTEN LANGUAGE: NORMAL PROCESSING & DISORDERS (3) Rapp Limit 40 Prereq: 050.101, 050.102, or 050.105 This course surveys both the historical development of written language as well as current cognitive theories that account for the manner in which the written language is represented and processed by “readers/writers” of a language. Issues regarding the relationship between the written and spoken language, the acquisition of written language skills, as well as developmental and acquired disorders of reading and writing will be examined.
Cross-listed with Neuroscience

Sec. 01

ThF 10:30-12

050.315(N,S)

COGNITIVE NEUROPSYCHOLOGY OF VISUAL PERCEPTION (3) McCloskey Limit 35 Prereq: any one of the following: 050.101 and 105  When the visual areas of the brain are damaged or fail to develop normally, remarkable perceptual deficits may result (for example, inability to determine where objects are even though the objects can be seen clearly). This course explores a variety of visual deficits, focusing on what the deficits can tell us about normal visual perception.  Topics include object recognition and visual agnosia, spatial perception and spatial deficits, and attention and visual neglect. Cross-listed with Neuroscience

Sec. 01

M 2-4:15

050.320 (N,S)

SYNTAX I (3) Legendre Limit 20 Prereq: 050.102, 050.140, and 050.427 Perm. Req’d Introduces the basic methods and means of analysis used in contemporary syntax investigations, practicing with data from different languages. Same course as 050.620

Sec. 01

MT 12:30-2

050.325 (N,S)

PHONOLOGY I (3) Burzio Limit 20 Prereq: Previous experience with one other language-related course is desirable but not obligatory An introduction to the basic principles underlying the mental representation and manipulation of language sounds and their relation to human perception and vocal articulation: how units of sound are both decomposable into elementary features, and combined to form larger structures like syllables and words. The role of rules and constraints in a formal theory of phonological competence and in accounting for the range of variation among the world’s languages. Same course as 050.625

Sec. 01

ThF 12-1:30

050.333 (N,S)

PSYCHOLINGUISTICS(3) Badecker Limit 75  This course provides a broad survey of current research on natural language processing.  Topics include the recognition and production of words, the planning and production of sentences, and how listeners understand spoken sentences.  The types of evidence examined include speech errors, the analysis of acquired language impairments, eye-tracking and Event-Related Potential (ERP) measurements, and various measures of lexical access and relative processing complexity that can be exploited to reveal how the brain represents and processes language.

Sec. 01

T 2-4:30

050.358 (H,N,S)

LANGUAGE AND THOUGHT (3) Landau Limit 20 Juniors and Seniors only, others by permission. Majors in Cogsci, Psych & Philos. welcome but course is open to all majors. Have you ever wondered about the relationships between language and thought? Philosophers, linguists, psychologists, and cognitive scientists have too and this course will survey the current thinking on this matter. Classical papers such as those by Whorf and Sapir, more recent philosophical papers by people such as Fodor and Dennett, and recent empirical work by linguists and psycholingists on the relationship between language and thinking in development and in adults will be covered. Discussions will focus on the theoretically possible relationships between language and thought and the empirical data that speak to these.
Cross-listed with Psychological and Brain Sciences

Sec. 01

W 1-3:30

200.206 (S)

FOUNDATIONS OF MIND (4) Feigenson/Halberda Limit 20 per section An interdisciplinary investigation into the innateness of concepts: perception, number, language, and morality, physics discussed. Evidence from animals, infants, patients, brains. Students collect data in sections investigating claims from the readings. Cross-listed with Behavioral Biology, Cognitive Science, and Philosophy

Lec.
Sec. 01
02
03

MTW 2
F 1
Th 1
W 1

050.502

READINGS IN COGNITIVE SCIENCE FOR FRESHMEN

050.504

RESEARCH IN COGNITIVE SCIENCE FOR FRESHMEN

050.506

READINGS IN COGNITIVE SCIENCE FOR SOPHOMORES

050.508

RESEARCH IN COGNITIVE SCIENCE FOR SOPHOMORES

050.510

COGNITIVE SCIENCE INTERNSHIP

050.512

READINGS IN COGNITIVE SCIENCE FOR JUNIORS

050.514

RESEARCH IN COGNITIVE SCIENCE FOR JUNIORS

050.516

READINGS IN COGNITIVE SCIENCE FOR SENIORS

050.518

RESEARCH IN COGNITIVE SCIENCE FOR SENIORS

050.620

SYNTAX I Legendre Limit 20  Perm. Req'd Prereq: 050.320 See 050.320 for description (same course)

Sec. 01

MT 12:30-2

050.625

PHONOLOGY I  Burzio Limit 20    See 050.325 for description (same course)

Sec. 01

ThF 12-1:30

050.633

PSYCHOLINGUISTICS Badecker
Limit 35  See 050.333 for description (same course)

Sec. 01

T 2-4:30

050.680

LEARNING THEORY Smolensky, Frank  Limit 40   Recently, statistical learning has played a leading role in informing the empiricist/nativist and connectionist/symbolic debates.  But just what is “statistical learning” and what’s new about it?  This course presents theories of statistical learning, such as Bayesian models, causal networks, information-theoretic models (e.g., Minimum Description Length and Maximum Entropy formalisms).  These methods have caused revolutions in machine vision and natural language processing.  During the course, these methods will be compared with other numerical learning methods such as connectionist networks, and with non-numerical learning theories such as Gold’s classic learnability theory and its probabilistic extension to PAC (probably approximately correct) learning theory.  This recent work has fundamental implications for the ancient problem of induction.

Sec. 01

M 11-12:30 &  F 3:30-5

050.800

DIRECTED READINGS Staff  Guided independent readings in special fields of cognitive science.

050.801

RESEARCH SEMINAR IN COGNITIVE NEUROPSYCHOLOGY  McCloskeyParticipants in this graduate seminar will read and discuss current research articles in cognitive neuropsychology of vision or language, and present their own research.

Sec. 01

TBA

050.811

RESEARCH SEMINAR: LANGUAGE & COGNITION Landau  Perm. Req’d   A specialized research seminar for individual researching language acquisition, cognitive development and the interface between language and cognition. Students must actively carry out empirical or theoretical research in these areas.

Sec. 01

TBA

050.821

RESEARCH SEMINAR IN GRAMMATICAL STRUCTURE Burzio   Limit 25    Perm. Req’d   Topics in phonological, morphological, syntactic, and/or semantic theory. Discussion of the current literature and specifically of the relevance of linguistic results for the study of the mind.

Sec. 01

TBA

050.822

RESEARCH SEMINAR IN SYNTAX Legendre Perm Req'd Limit 25 Course canceled 11/06/06

Sec. 01

TBA

050.839

RESEARCH - COGNITIVE SCIENCE Staff

050.849

TEACHING PRACTICUM Staff  Required course for Teaching Assistants. 

050.850

DEPARTMENTAL READING COURSE

Sec. 01

TBA