Course Description

Course Number / CSCI 3702 / LING 3005 / PSYC 3005 / PHIL 3030
Course Title / Cognitive Science
Semester Hours / 3
Course Coordinator / Mozer
Course URL / http://www.cs.colorado.edu/courses/csci3702.html

Current Catalog Description

Introduces cognitive science, drawing from psychology, philosophy, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, and linguistics. Studies the linguistic relativity hypothesis, consciousness, categorization, linguistic rules, the mind-body problem, nature versus nurture, conceptual structure and metaphor, logic/problem solving, and judgment. Emphasizes the nature, implications, and limitations of the computational model of mind.

Textbook

Optional text: Paul Thagard, Mind: Introduction to Cognitive Science. Second Edition. 2005.

Required readings are 25+ articles from refereed professional journals in cognitive science.

References

The required course material is readings from refereed professional journals, primarily a review journal called Trends in Cognitive Science. The course syllabus includes 25 required articles, and another 50 or so optional articles.

Instructors (for the last 3 years: Fall 2006 — Spring 2009)

Fall 2006: Mozer, Rupert
Fall 2007: Mozer, Rupert
Fall 2008: Mozer, Rupert

Meeting Times (Number and Duration of Sessions per Week)

1 hour, 15 minute classes twice a week

Course Outcomes

·  Students acquire an understanding of interdisciplinary approaches to the study of the mind, including the perspectives of philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, and computer science, and the experimental methodology of behavioral, neuroimaging, and neurophysiological approaches.

·  Students should be able to reason about cognitive phenomena via mechanistic and computational theories in the literature (e.g., neural networks, production system models concrete mechanistic or computational theories of cognitive phenomena.

·  Students should be able to read, comprehend, summarize, and understand the implications of state-of-the-art articles from professional journals in cognitive science, including: Cognitive Science, Trends in Cognitive Science, Cognition, Science, Nature, Brain and Behavioural Science, Psychological Review

·  Students should

Relationship between Course Outcomes and Program Outcomes

Outcomes / A.
Apply Knowledge / B.
Computing Requirements / C.
Design System / D.
Team Work / E.
Professional Issues / F.
Communicate Effectively
Outcome 1: Understand
interdisciplinary approaches / ✓
Outcome 2:
Computational perspective / ✓ / ✓ / ✓
Outcome 3: Understanding of literature / ✓ / ✓
Outcomes / G.
Analyze Impacts / H.
Professional Development / I.
Current Techniques / J.
Design Tradeoffs / K.
Design & Development
Outcome 1: Understand
interdisciplinary approaches / ✓
Outcome 2:
Computational perspective / ✓ / ✓ / ✓
Outcome 3: Understanding of literature / ✓ / ✓

Prerequisites by Topic

CSCI 1300, and exposure to at least one course in philosophy, linguistics, or psychology

Major Topics Covered in the Course

Visual perception, attention, memory, reasoning and decision making, cognitive control, language and thought, social awareness, theory of mind, consciousness, situated cognition, computational models of human cognition

Assessment Plan for the Course

Students are required to submit one-page written commentaries on reading assignments. These commentaries summarize the articles, and offer students the opportunity to ask clarification questions and to critique and evaluate the articles.

We administer a pop quiz every other class or so to ensure students have done readings in advance of class, and understand the lectures.

Students can optionally give in-class presentations on supplementary readings.

The primary work for the course is an end-of-semester paper, roughly 15 pages, on some topic within cognitive science that makes contact with the literature that has been discussed in class. Students must submit a paper proposal by mid semester. The proposal contains an abstract to their paper, an outline of the material they plan to cover, and references from refereed technical journals that they will cite. The professor approves this proposal and offers the student feedback – additional references and materials, and suggestions for specializing or generalizing the topic.

How is Data from this Course used to Assess Program Outcomes?

The instructor retains examples of student homework assignments, quizzes, and semester papers. These materials are then evaluated by the department’s external advisory board for examples that demonstrate fulfillment of the program outcomes.

Curriculum Category Content (Semester Hours)

Area / Core / Advanced
Algorithms / 0 / 0.3
Data Structures / 0 / 0
Computer Organization and Architecture / 0 / 0
Software Design / 0 / 0
Concepts of Programming Languages / 0 / 0