UNIVERSITY AT BUFFALO - STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
The Department of Computer Science & Engineering

CSE/LIN/PHI/PSY 575 & APY 526: INTRODUCTION TO COGNITIVE SCIENCE Fall 2008

SYLLABUS

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary study of cognition. Its fundamental question is: How is cognition possible? Cognition includes mental states and processes such as thinking, reasoning, remembering, language understanding and generation, visual perception, learning, consciousness, emotions, etc.

Some cognitive scientists limit their study to human cognition; others consider cognition independently of its implementation in humans or computers. Some consider it to be the study of "mind as machine" (see the Crankshaft cartoon, above).

Some cognitive scientists study cognition independently of the cognitive agent's environment; others study it within the context of the agent, the society, the culture.

Cognitive science can also be defined as, roughly, the (hopefully non-empty) intersection of the disciplines of cognitive anthropology, cognitive neuroscience, artificial intelligence, (certain aspects of) education, linguistics, philosophy (especially philosophy of mind and philosophy of language), and psychology (especially cognitive psychology). (Cognitive anthropology deals in part with the societal and cultural context mentioned above. Cognitive neuroscience is concerned with the "implementation" of mind in human physiology. AI can be thought of as concerned with the "implementation" of mind in computers.)

We will review the history, nature, major findings, and philosophical implications of cognitive science. We will also discuss interdisciplinary cognitive-science research projects conducted by members of the UB Center for Cognitive Science.

PREREQUISITES:

STAFF:

Professor:
Dr. William J. Rapaport, 214 Bell Hall, 645-3180 x 112, rapaport@cse.buffalo.edu
Office Hours: Mondays & Tuesdays, 2:00-3:00 p.m., and by appointment.

CLASS MEETINGS:

TEXTS:

1. Gardner, Howard (1987), The Mind's New Science, new edition (New York: Basic Books); ISBN 978-0465046355.
   • An excellent history and description of cognitive science.

2. Wilson, Robert A.; & Keil, Frank C. (eds.) (2001), The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press).
   • The best reference work on cognitive science.
   • Available on-line from buffalo.edu computer accounts;
     you may be able to just click on the title above (sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn't :-|)
   • If not, then do this:
     • Link to UB Libraries
     • Select "Catalog" from the search menu.
     • Select "Title begins with" from the drop down menu
     • Enter "MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences" in the search box, and select "GO"
     • Select "The MIT encyclopedia of the cognitive sciences" from the list that will appear.
     • Select "ONLINE / Access through Internet: No call number" from the list that will appear.
     • Select "http://cognet.mit.edu.gate.lib.buffalo.edu/library/erefs/mitecs/ ;"
     • A new window should open giving you access to MITECS.
     • If anyone can figure out an easier, more foolproof method, please let me know!
   • Available in hard copy at:
     1. SEL BF311 .M556 1999
     2. Lockwood BF311 .M556 1999
     3. Lockwood Reference BF311 .M556 1999

IMPORTANT DATES & TENTATIVE SCHEDULE:

Notes:

1. I have adjusted some of the dates and assignments below to reflect what we actually did in class, rather than on what I had planned or hoped to do :-)

2. There will be guest lectures by faculty members of the UB Center for Cognitive Science (CCS).
   As these are arranged, they will be added to the schedule below.

3. You should make every effort to attend the colloquia sponsored by CCS.
   These are held on Wednesdays, 2:00-4:00 p.m., in Park 280.
   (If you need to leave for a 3:00 or 3:30 class, that's OK; the lectures usually end around 3:00 and the rest of the time is used for discussion.)
   The CCS colloquium schedule will be announced over the class Listserv and is posted online at: CCS Fall 2008 Colloquia.

READING:

HOW TO READ and HOW TO STUDY:

• For advice on how to read writings in any academic discipline, see "How to Read (a Computer Science Text)".

• For general advice on how to study for any course, see my web page, "How to Study".

ATTENDANCE, ASSIGNMENTS, LISTSERV:

1. You will be expected to:
   1. attend all lectures (attendance will be taken),
   2. participate in class discussions,
   3. complete all readings and assignments on time, and
   4. do a term project (see below).

2. Any important announcements will be made in lecture. Therefore, be sure to get a classmate's phone number or email address (for instance, 1 or 2 people sitting next to you in class, whoever they are!) so that you will not miss announcements in the unlikely event that you miss a class.

   Announcements may also be posted to the course website or the email Listserv.

3. Email Listserv:

   You will automatically be placed on an email list (a "Listserv") for the course. If you do not normally read email at the email address that UB has as your official address, please either do so for this course, or else have your mail forwarded. I will use this list as my main means of communicating with you out of class. And you can use it to communicate with the rest of us.

   You may send questions and comments that are of general interest to the entire class using the Listserv: Just send them to:

   cse575-fa08-list@listserv.buffalo.edu

   You can also send email just to me, at:

   rapaport@cse.buffalo.edu

   In any case, be sure to fill in the subject line, beginning with "CSE575" so that my mailer doesn't think it's spam.

   If you send email just to me that I deem to be of general interest, I will feel free to remail it to the email list along with my reply unless you explicitly tell me that you want to remain anonymous, in which case I may choose to remail it to the email list preserving your anonymity.

   The emails will be archived at the listserv website, and I will also archive them at http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/575/F08/EMAIL/.

   For more information, read the Listserv Information webpage.

4. TERM PROJECT

   The term project must be one of the following (I will provide more detailed information later in the semester):

   1. An inter- or multidisciplinary, mock grant proposal for a cognitive-science research project that would investigate some problem in cognition from the perspectives of 3 different cognitive sciences.
      • Such a proposal usually contains a summary of a problem area, a brief review of some of the relevant literature, a statement of open questions that you propose to research, and a description of what you would do to try to answer them.

      • In an inter- or multidisciplinary proposal, you'd need to discuss how each discipline would contribute to the research.

   2. A critical study of a book (a monograph or anthology) on some topic in cognitive science.
      • A "critical study" includes both a summary of the book under discussion and an evaluation of it.

      • The evaluation could consist of a summary of someone else's evaluation of it, or (better) it could consist of your evaluation of it.

      • One way to make evaluating a cognitive science book a bit easier is to choose one from a discipline different from your own.

   In either case, you must indicate how the topic is related to cognitive science, preferably to the material covered in lectures and readings.

   Moreover, it should not just be a re-hash of either (a) a paper you have done (or are doing) for another course or (b) material that you are already knowledgeable in. In other words, the project should be a learning experience. So, if you are majoring in cognitive-science-related academic discipline X, and the term paper covers disciplines X, Y, and Z, then the amount of material on X should be no more than 33%.

   All reports (whether a research report or a programming project) should be about 10-15 pages, double-spaced (i.e., approximately 2500-4000 words), and printed on only one side of the page.

   All reports must follow the writing guidelines in the document "How to Write", which also contains helpful hints on American English punctuation and usage.

   A proposal for your term project is due no later than Tuesday, September 23. (This is approximately 1/3 of the way into the semester.) No late proposals will be accepted, and no term projects will be accepted without an approved proposal. The project is due no later than Monday, December 8 (which is the first day of final exams).

5. Students should notify Prof. Rapaport within the first two weeks of class if they have a disability which would make it difficult to carry out course work as outlined (requiring note-takers, readers, extended test time, etc.).

GRADING:

Your final course grade will be a weighted average (probably 50-50) of:
1. your class attendance and class participation, and
2. your grade on the term project.

For information on my philosophy of grading, see my web document on "How I Grade"

Incompletes:

For more information on Incomplete policies, see the Graduate School web page, "Incomplete Grades".

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY:

For some hints on how to avoid plagiarism when writing essays for courses, see my website "Plagiarism".

CLASSROOM DISRUPTIONS: