CS 575/LIN 575 INTRODUCTION TO COGNITIVE SCIENCE Fall 1996SYLLABUS
REVISED VERSION, 20 November 1996

INSTRUCTOR:

Prof. William J. Rapaport, 214 Bell Hall, 645-3180 x 112, rapaport@cs.buffalo.edu
http://www.cs.buffalo.edu/pub/WWW/faculty/rapaport/
Office Hours: Mondays, 1:00-2:00 P.M.; Thursdays, 11:00-11:50 A.M.;
and by appointment.

CLASS MEETINGS:

REQUIRED TEXT:

• Gardner, Howard (1985/1987), The Mind's New Science: A History of the Cognitive Revolution, with a New Epilogue by the Author: Cognitive Science After 1984 (New York: Basic Books).

RECOMMENDED SUPPLEMENTARY READINGS:

• Note: Most of these should be on reserve (at SEL?).

1. Collins, Allan, & Smith, Edward E. (eds.) (1988), Readings in Cognitive Science: A Perspective from Psychology and Artificial Intelligence (San Mateo, CA: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers).
2. Osherson, Daniel N. (general ed.)\ (1995), An Invitation to Cognitive Science, Second Edition, 4 volumes, although only 3 have been published so far (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press).
3. Posner, Michael I. (ed.) (1989), Foundations of Cognitive Science, (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press).
4. Stillings, Neil A.; Weisler, Steven E.; Chase, Christopher H.; Feinstein, Mark H.; Garfield, Jay L.; & Rissland, Edwina L. (1995), Cognitive Science: An Introduction; Second Edition (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press).

TOPICS:

Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary study of cognition. 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 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 computer science (especially artificial intelligence), linguistics, philosophy (especially philosophy of mind and philosophy of language), and psychology (especially cognitive psychology). Some writers on cognitive science add cognitive anthropology to this list, and most would add the cognitive neurosciences. The former deals in part with the societal and cultural context mentioned above. The latter is concerned with the ``implementation'' of mind in human physiology.

We will review the history, nature, major findings, and philosophical implications of cognitive science, as covered in the Gardner book, supplemented by readings from anthologies and other sources. We will also discuss an interdisciplinary cognitive-science research project in narrative understanding conducted by members of the UB Center for Cognitive Science.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

• You will be expected to attend all lectures and to complete all readings and assignments on time. No programming will be required.
  • Students enrolled for undergraduate credit are expected to read all the material in Gardner.
  • Students enrolled for graduate credit are expected to read all the material in Gardner as well as all of the supplementary readings.
• From time to time, information will be posted to the newsgroup sunyab.cs.575, which you should read on a regular basis.
• Students should make every effort to attend the colloquia sponsored by the Center for Cognitive Science. These meet Wednesdays, 2:00-4:00 P.M., 280 Park Hall. See the appended tentative schedule.
• You should also take a look at the Center's home page on the Web:
  http://www.cs.buffalo.edu/pub/WWW/cogsci/
• The final course grade will be determined on the basis of a weighted function of (a) class attendance and participation and (b) a term project. (Graduate and undergraduate students will be graded separately.)
• The term project may be either a programming project or a research report.
  • Possible research report topics include:
    • a discussion of some problem in cognition that at least 3 different cognitive sciences have investigated (possibly including suggestions for other routes of investigation)
    • a ``grant proposal'' for a cognitive-science research project that would investigate some problem in cognition from the perspectives of at least 2 of the cognitive sciences
    • a discussion of a cognitive-science issue or area that was not covered in class
    • a discussion of a philosophical or foundational isssue in the field of cognitive science
    • an ``encyclopedia of cognitive science'' article on a major cognitive-science book or anthology, etc.
  • Possible programming projects include:
    • an implementation of an existing cognitive-science computer program
    • a computational implementation of a cognitive-science theory
    • a computational implementation of a feature of human cognition
    The final report for a programming project must include:
    1. a technical report (in the style of a paper in a conference proceedings) describing the theory and its implementation, and
    2. one or more appendices containing annotated sample runs and annotated code (as appropriate).
  • The reports should be about 10-15 pages (typed or printed, double-spaced; i.e., approximately 2500-4000 words). All programming and research reports must follow writing guidelines to be handed out in class.
• A proposal for your term project, consisting of an extended abstract and bibliography, is due no later than Friday, October 11; no late proposals will be accepted, and no term projects will be accepted without an approved proposal. The final term project is due no later than Wednesday, December 11.
• Students should notify the instructor 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 notetakers, readers, extended test time).
  

Incompletes:

It is University policy that a grade of Incomplete is to be given only when a small amount of work or a single exam is missed due to circumstances beyond the student's control, and that student is otherwise doing passing work. I will follow this policy strictly! Thus, you should assume that I will not give incompletes:-) Any incompletes that I might, in a lapse of judgment:-), give will have to be made up by the end of the Spring 1997 semester.

Note: If you follow this schedule for reading, you will be able to complete all of the reading by the end of the semester. The topics covered in lectures will differ slightly from this sequence, especially since I am planning on having several guest speakers.

CS 575, FALL 1996, SCHEDULE OF TOPICS AND GUEST LECTURES
--------------------------------------------------------


DATES          TOPIC                        READING ASSIGNMENT
                                            (additional supplementary
                                            readings will be announced 
                                            in lecture)


Aug 26-Sep 6   What is cognitive science?   Gardner, Part 1 (pp 1-45)
                                            Rapaport, ``Cognitive Science''
                                            Stillings, Ch. 1
                                            Posner, Ch 1 (Simon)

Sep 9-16       Philosophy                   Gardner, Ch 4 (pp 49-88)
                                            Stillings, Ch 8
                                            Posner, Ch 21 (Harman)
                                            Osherson, 3.11 (Block)

Sep 18-30      Psychology                   Gardner, Ch 5 (pp 89-137)
                                            Stillings, Chs. 2-3

*******	Sep 18:  GAIL MAUNER, Psychology; topic: aphasia research
******* Sep 30:  PAUL LUCE, Psychology; topic: spoken word recognition

Oct 2-14       Artificial Intelligence      Gardner, Ch 6 (pp 138-181)
					    Gardner, Epilogue (pp 393-400)
					    Stillings, Chs. 4-5
					    Posner, Ch. 2 (Pylyshyn)
					    Posner, Ch. 3 (Newell et al.)
					    Posner, Ch. 4 (Rumelhart)
					    Collins & Smith, 1.3 (Newell & Simon)
                                            Collins & Smith, 1.4 (Mcclelland et al.)
                                            Collins & Smith, 2.6 (Schank & Abelson)
                                            Collins & Smith, 5.3 (Newell & Simon)

******* Oct  2:  J. DAVID SMITH, Psychology; topic: animal metacognition
******* Oct 11:  STUART C. SHAPIRO, Computer Science;
                 topic: Toward a Computational Cognitive Agent
******* Oct 14:  HENRY HEXMOOR, Computer Science; topic: Agent-Centered Machine Learning 

Oct 16-23      Linguistics                  Gardner, Ch 7 (pp 182-222)
                                            Stillings, Chs. 6, 9-11
				            Posner, Ch.  5 (Wasow)
					            Ch.  6 (Barwise & Etchemendy)
					            Ch.  9 (Pinker)
					            Ch. 10 (Pollatsch & Rayner)
					            Ch. 11 (Grosz et al.)
				            Osherson, Vol. 1, Intro. (Gleitman & Liberman)
					              1.1 (Gleitman & Newport)
					              1.2 (Labov)
					              1.5 (Pinker)
					              1.6 (Pinker)
					              1.8 (Fodor)
					              1.9 (Steedman)
					              1.11 (Partee)
					              1.14 (Higginbotham)
				            Collins & Smith, 2.1 (Quillian)
					                     2.3 (Collins & Loftus)
						             2.6 (Schank & Abelson)

******* Oct 16:  JEFFREY HIGGINBOTHAM, Communicative Disorders & Sciences;
                 topic: Building a Communication Prosthesis
                        for Persons with Communication Disabilities
******* Oct 18:  ROBERT VAN VALIN, Linguistics;
                 topic: The logical problem of language acquisition
******* Oct 21:  JEAN-PIERRE KOENIG, Linguistics; topic: cognitive semantics
******* Oct 23:  JAN CHARLES-LUCE, Communicative Disorders & Sciences;
                 topic: Speech Production:  To Vary or Not to Vary;
                        the Decision May or May Not Be Yours

Oct 25-Nov 1   Anthropology                 Gardner, Ch 8 (pp 223-259)
					    Hutchins, E. (1995), ``How a
                                             Cockpit Remembers Its Speeds,''
                                             _Cog. Sci._ 19: 265-288.
                			    Osherson, 3.5 (Atran)
					    Osherson, 3.10 (Schwarz)
 					    Posner, Ch. 20 (D'Andrade)	

******* Oct 25:  MADELEINE MATHIOT, Linguistics;
                 topic: ethno-linguistics, an anthropological view of language use
******* Oct 28:  DONALD POLLOCK, Anthropology; topic: cognitive anthropology
******* Oct 30:  JUDITH FELSEN DUCHAN, Communicative Disorders & Sciences;
                                       topic: autism & the theory of mind
******* Nov  1:  CHARLES FRAKE, Anthropology;
                 topic: Cognition, Technology, and Social Display
                        in Early Navigation and Time Reckoning

Nov 4-8        Neurosciences                Gardner, Ch 9 (pp 260-288)
                                            Stillings, Ch. 7
 					    Posner, Ch. 8 (Sejnowski & Churchland)
					    Osherson, 1.13 (Zurif)
					    Osherson, 2.3 (Farah)
					    Osherson, 2.5 (Goodale)

******* Nov  4:  ALAN LOCKWOOD, Neurology, Nuclear Medicine,
                 & Communicative Disorders and Sciences;
                 topic: mapping cognitive function in the human brain
******* Nov  6:  JOAN SUSSMAN, Communicative Disorders & Sciences;
                               topic:  prototypes in speech perception

Nov 11-15      Perception                   Gardner, Ch 10 (pp 291-322)
					    Stillings, Ch. 12
					    Posner, Ch. 15 (Hildreth & Ullman)
					    Posner, Ch. 16 (Allport)	
					    Osherson, Vol. 2, esp.:
					    Osherson, 2.3 (Farah)
					    Osherson, 2.4 (Biederman)	
					    Osherson, 2.8 (Spelke et al.)
					    Osherson, 2.9 (Dretske)
					    Collins & Smith, 6.1 (Marr & Poggio)
					    Collins & Smith, 6.2 (Ullman)
					    Collins & Smith, 6.3 (McClelland & Rumelhart)

******* Nov 11:  DEBORAH WALTERS, Computer Science;
                                  topic: vision and neural networks
******* Nov 13:  NICHOLAS LEIBOVIC, biophysics\& ophthalmology;
                 topic:  cognitive science and neuroscience
******* Nov 15:  JAMES SAWUSCH, Psychology;
                 topic:  Perceptual constancy in spoken language processing

Nov 18-20      Mental Imagery               Gardner, Ch 11 (pp 323-339)
					    Stillings, Ch. 2, esp. sect. 2.7
				   	    Osherson, 2.7 (Kosslyn)
                                            Collins & Smith, 6.4 (Shepard & Metzler)
                                            Collins &  Smith, 6.5 (Pylyshyn)
                                            Collins &  Smith, 6.6 (Kosslyn)

******* Nov 20:  JERI JAEGER, Linguistics;
                 topic: Speech Production Planning:
                        Representations and Processes
******* Nov 22:  KARIN MICHELSON, Linguistics;
                 topic: Morphology and the Lexicon

Nov 22-25      Categorization               Gardner, Ch 12 (pp 340-359)


******* Nov 25:  DAVID MARK, Geography;
                 topic: cognitive and linguistic aspects of geographic space

Dec 2-4        Logic and reasoning          Gardner, Ch 13 (pp 360-380)
					    Posner, Ch. 12 (Johnson-Laird)	
					    Osherson, 3.9 (Rips)

******* Dec  4:  DAVID ZUBIN, Linguistics;
                 topic: Getting oriented in space

Dec 6-9        Deixis in narrative          (readings to be announced)

******* Dec  6:  SUSAN UDIN, Physiology;
                 topic: What you see affects how your brain develops,
                        and how your brain develops affects what you see

Dec 11         What is cognitive science?

CENTER FOR COGNITIVE SCIENCE
State University of New York at Buffalo
Colloquium and Business Meeting Schedule
FALL 1996
All colloquia are Wednesdays, 2:00-4:00 P.M., 280 Park Hall, North (Amherst) Campus, and are open to the public.
Refreshments are served.

Sep	 4	William J.Rapaport	 	
		Department of Computer Science & Center for Cognitive Science
		State University of New York at Buffalo
		"HOW MINDS CAN BE COMPUTATIONAL SYSTEMS"

	11	Robert Ader		
		Department of Psychiatry
		University of Rochester
		"THE ROLE OF CONDITIONING IN PHARMACOTHERAPY:
		 THE PLACEBO RESPONSE?"

	18	Peter Jackson			
		Thomson Legal Publishing
     		Rochester, NY
		"INFORMATION EXTRACTION FROM COURT REPORTS BY
		 NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING"

Oct	 2	John T. Sanders		
		Department of Philosophy
		Rochester Institute of Technology
		"ECOLOGICAL APPROACH TO COGNITIVE SCIENCE"

	 9	Eric Dietrich		
		Program in Philosophy, Computers, and Cognitive Science
		State University of New York at Binghamton
		"MATERIALISM CAN'T WIN, BUT IT CAN DRAW"

	16	Kenneth McRae			
		Department of Psychology
		University of Western Ontario
		"EVENT-SPECIFIC CONCEPTUAL KNOWLEDGE
                IS AN IMPORTANT ASPECT OF THEMATIC ROLES"

	23	Selmer Bringsjord	
		Department of Philosophy, Psychology, & Cognitive Science
                Department of Computer Science
                Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
		"COGNITION IS NOT COMPUTATION:
                 THE ARGUMENT FROM IRREVERSIBILITY"

Nov	 6	Marietje van der Schaar		
		Department of Philosophy
		University of Leiden
		"DEICTIC EXPRESSIONS IN DISCOURSE"

	13	Thomas Jacobson		 
		Department of Communication	
		State University of New York at Buffalo
		"`MAKING SENSE' OF COMPLEX APPLICATIONS ENVIRONMENTS"

	20	Istvan Bodnar
                Department of Philosophy
                University of Budapest, Hungary
                "ARISTOTLE'S THEORY OF PLACE
                 AND ITS RELEVANCE FOR COGNITIVE GEOGRAPHY"

		(Note:  Hexmoor's talk has been postponed till Spring)

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