Courses

Course ID	Title	Offered
COGST1105	Introduction to Linguistics Overview of the science of language, especially its theoretical underpinnings, methods, and major findings. Areas covered include: the relation between sound and meaning in human languages, social variation in language, language change over time, universals of language, and the mental representation of linguistic knowledge. Students are introduced to a wide variety of language phenomena, drawn not only from languages resembling English, but also from many that appear to be quite unlike English, such as those native to the Americas, Africa, Asia, Australia, and the South Pacific. Full details for COGST 1105 - Introduction to Linguistics	Fall, Spring.
COGST1212	Music on the Brain This course is for anyone who listens to music or plays music and wonders what's happening in your brain that makes you feel the way you do. Starting with the music each of you knows and loves—the soundtrack to your life—we'll tackle questions like: What is the relationship between speech and music? Do animals have music, too? How does the brain process aspects of music, including rhythm, melody, harmony, and form? Why does some music trigger an emotional response? What does it mean to say that music is an embodied behavioral act? What is the relationship between music and memory? Through lectures, discussions, experiments, compositions, recording technologies, student presentations/performances and writing assignments we'll explore how/why you've chosen the particular tunes on the soundtrack of your life, and how your brain processes musical thoughts and experiences. Full details for COGST 1212 - Music on the Brain	Spring.
COGST2090	Developmental Psychology One of four introductory courses in cognition and perception. A comprehensive introduction to current thinking and research in developmental psychology that approaches topics from both psychobiological and cognitive perspectives. We will use a comparative approach to assess principles of development change. The course focuses on the development of perception, action, cognition, language, and social understanding in infancy and early childhood. Full details for COGST 2090 - Developmental Psychology	Spring.
COGST2150	Psychology of Language Provides an introduction to the psychology of language. The purpose of the course is to introduce students to the scientific study of psycholinguistic phenomena. Covers a broad range of topics from psycholinguistics, including the origin of language, the different components of language (phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics), processes involved in reading, computational modeling of language processes, the acquisition of language (both under normal and special circumstances), and the brain bases of language. Full details for COGST 2150 - Psychology of Language	Spring.
COGST2310	Introduction to Deductive Logic Covers sentential languages, the truth-functional connectives, and their logic; first-order languages, the quantifiers "every" and "some," and their logic. Full details for COGST 2310 - Introduction to Deductive Logic	Fall, Spring.
COGST2350	How the Brain Makes the Mind There is no getting away from the brain. Everything a person does, creates, thinks, feels, believes, and experiences (including making sense of course descriptions!) depends on it. But, how? How could a three pound mass of cells and the body in which it exists "see," "decide," or "remember," let alone navigate a busy city, play soccer, or write poetry? This course will provide students with the foundational concepts and tools they will need to begin to address these questions, providing insight into how modern cognitive neuroscientists understand the brain, how it works, and how the mind emerges from all of this. Students will learn core principles of modern human cognitive neuroscience (e.g., brain structure versus function, connectivity, reuse) and their application to cognition (e.g., action, perception, attention, memory, emotion, language, cognitive control, and consciousness). Topics in neuroanatomy, human neuroscience methods, and neurological conditions will also be covered. Full details for COGST 2350 - How the Brain Makes the Mind
COGST3140	Computational Psychology This course states and motivates the observation that cognition is fundamentally a computational process and explores the implications of this idea. Students are introduced to a variety of conceptual tools for thinking about cognitive information processing, including statistical learning from experience and the use of patterns distilled from past experience in guiding future actions. They learn to apply these tools to gain understanding of perception, memory, motor control, language, action planning, problem solving, decision making, reasoning, intelligence, and creativity. Full details for COGST 3140 - Computational Psychology	Spring.
COGST3302	Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology This course is an introduction to both phonetics (the study of the physical properties of the sounds of human language) and phonology (the organization and patterning of those sounds). The first part of the course focuses on the main areas of phonetics: articulation, acoustics, and perception. Students acquire basic skills, such as production and perception of speech sounds, transcription using the International Phonetic Alphabet, and instrumental analysis of speech. In the second part of the course students are introduced to key concepts in phonology, including rules, representations, and analysis of sound patterns. Throughout the course aspects of the sound systems of a wide range of world languages are studied. Full details for COGST 3302 - Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology	Spring.
COGST3310	Deductive Logic A mathematical study of the formal languages of standard first-order propositional and predicate logic, including their syntax, semantics, and deductive systems. The basic apparatus of model theory will be presented. Various formal results will be established, most importantly soundness and completeness. Full details for COGST 3310 - Deductive Logic	Spring.
COGST4230	Navigation, Memory, and Context: What Does the Hippocampus Do? Although the hippocampus has been the subject of intense scrutiny for nearly 50 years, there remains considerable disagreement about functional contributions the hippocampus makes to learning and memory process. This course will examine the diverse functions attributed to the hippocampus with an eye toward integrating the differing viewpoints in the literature. After a brief historical overview, students will discuss cutting-edge literature on the hippocampal role in spatial navigation, learning, and memory, and context processing. Full details for COGST 4230 - Navigation, Memory, and Context: What Does the Hippocampus Do?	Spring.
COGST4240	Computational Linguistics I Computational models of natural languages. Topics are drawn from: tree syntax and context free grammar, finite state generative morpho-phonology, feature structure grammars, logical semantics, tabular parsing, Hidden Markov models, categorial and minimalist grammars, text corpora, information-theoretic sentence processing, discourse relations, and pronominal coreference. Full details for COGST 4240 - Computational Linguistics I	Spring.
COGST4310	Topics in Cognitive Science A seminar series examining current and classical ideas in human sciences and the humanities. Themes vary from semester to semester. Full details for COGST 4310 - Topics in Cognitive Science	Fall, Spring.
COGST4350	Mind, Self, and Emotion Offered to students who are currently conducting research or planning to do research in the near future on one of the three topics-memory, self, or emotion. The course examines current data and theories concerning the topics from a variety of perspectives and at multiple levels of analysis, particularly focusing on the interconnections among these fields of inquiry. The "scale of observation" is viewed as occurring within the person (brain mechanisms, including genetics), at the level of the person (content-goals, beliefs, desires, etc.), and between persons (relationships and group interaction-including culture). Full details for COGST 4350 - Mind, Self, and Emotion	Fall.
COGST4510	Topics in the Philosophy of Aesthetics An investigation of central topics in the philosophy of art, with an emphasis on issues about the mind. Readings will be drawn from philosophy and psychology. Full details for COGST 4510 - Topics in the Philosophy of Aesthetics	Spring.
COGST4700	Undergraduate Research in Cognitive Science Experience in planning, conducting, and reporting independent laboratory, field, and/or library research in an interdisciplinary area relevant to Cognitive Science. Full details for COGST 4700 - Undergraduate Research in Cognitive Science	Fall, Spring.
COGST4710	Cognitive Science Research Workshop Provides a research workshop in which undergraduate students who are engaged in research in a particular area relevant to cognitive science can meet across disciplines to learn and practice the essentials of research using interdisciplinary approaches. In this workshop, students critique and discuss the existing literature in a field of inquiry, individual students present their research designs, methods, and results from their independent research studies, debate the interpretation of their research results, and participate in the generation of new research hypotheses and designs, in a peer group of other undergraduate students involved in related research. Full details for COGST 4710 - Cognitive Science Research Workshop	Fall, Spring.
COGST4720	Current Research in Emotion, Cognition, and Brain The course will cover advanced topics in research on the emotions from central neural and peripheral physiological perspectives, with an emphasis with how emotions shape different aspects of cognition and behavior. Full details for COGST 4720 - Current Research in Emotion, Cognition, and Brain	Fall.
COGST6101	Cognitive Science Proseminar This course surveys the study of how the mind/brain works, drawing primarily from six disciplines: philosophy, psychology, developmental science, neuroscience, linguistics, and computer science. Full details for COGST 6101 - Cognitive Science Proseminar	Spring.
COGST6140	Computational Psychology This course states and motivates the observation that cognition is fundamentally a computational process and explores the implications of this idea. Students are introduced to a variety of conceptual tools for thinking about cognitive information processing, including statistical learning from experience and the use of patterns distilled from past experience in guiding future actions. They learn to apply these tools to gain understanding of perception, memory, motor control, language, action planning, problem solving, decision making, reasoning, intelligence, and creativity. Full details for COGST 6140 - Computational Psychology	Spring.
COGST6510	Topics in the Philosophy of Aesthetics An investigation of central topics in the philosophy of art, with an emphasis on issues about the mind. Readings will be drawn from philosophy and psychology. Full details for COGST 6510 - Topics in the Philosophy of Aesthetics	Spring.
COGST6620	Topics in Philosophy of Mind Advanced discussion of a topic in Philosophy of Mind. Full details for COGST 6620 - Topics in Philosophy of Mind	Spring.
COGST7090	Developmental Psychology One of four introductory courses in cognition and perception. A comprehensive introduction to current thinking and research in developmental psychology that approaches problems from both psychobiological and cognitive perspectives. We will use a comparative approach to assess principles of development change. The course focuses on the development of perception, action, cognition, language, and social understanding in infancy and early childhood. Full details for COGST 7090 - Developmental Psychology	Spring.

COGST1105

Introduction to Linguistics

Overview of the science of language, especially its theoretical underpinnings, methods, and major findings. Areas covered include: the relation between sound and meaning in human languages, social variation in language, language change over time, universals of language, and the mental representation of linguistic knowledge. Students are introduced to a wide variety of language phenomena, drawn not only from languages resembling English, but also from many that appear to be quite unlike English, such as those native to the Americas, Africa, Asia, Australia, and the South Pacific.

Full details for COGST 1105 - Introduction to Linguistics

Fall, Spring.

COGST1212

Music on the Brain

This course is for anyone who listens to music or plays music and wonders what's happening in your brain that makes you feel the way you do. Starting with the music each of you knows and loves—the soundtrack to your life—we'll tackle questions like: What is the relationship between speech and music? Do animals have music, too? How does the brain process aspects of music, including rhythm, melody, harmony, and form? Why does some music trigger an emotional response? What does it mean to say that music is an embodied behavioral act? What is the relationship between music and memory? Through lectures, discussions, experiments, compositions, recording technologies, student presentations/performances and writing assignments we'll explore how/why you've chosen the particular tunes on the soundtrack of your life, and how your brain processes musical thoughts and experiences.

Full details for COGST 1212 - Music on the Brain

Spring.

COGST2090

Developmental Psychology

One of four introductory courses in cognition and perception. A comprehensive introduction to current thinking and research in developmental psychology that approaches topics from both psychobiological and cognitive perspectives. We will use a comparative approach to assess principles of development change. The course focuses on the development of perception, action, cognition, language, and social understanding in infancy and early childhood.

Full details for COGST 2090 - Developmental Psychology

Spring.

COGST2150

Psychology of Language

Provides an introduction to the psychology of language. The purpose of the course is to introduce students to the scientific study of psycholinguistic phenomena. Covers a broad range of topics from psycholinguistics, including the origin of language, the different components of language (phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics), processes involved in reading, computational modeling of language processes, the acquisition of language (both under normal and special circumstances), and the brain bases of language.

Full details for COGST 2150 - Psychology of Language

Spring.

COGST2310

Introduction to Deductive Logic

Covers sentential languages, the truth-functional connectives, and their logic; first-order languages, the quantifiers "every" and "some," and their logic.

Full details for COGST 2310 - Introduction to Deductive Logic

Fall, Spring.

COGST2350

How the Brain Makes the Mind

There is no getting away from the brain. Everything a person does, creates, thinks, feels, believes, and experiences (including making sense of course descriptions!) depends on it. But, how? How could a three pound mass of cells and the body in which it exists "see," "decide," or "remember," let alone navigate a busy city, play soccer, or write poetry? This course will provide students with the foundational concepts and tools they will need to begin to address these questions, providing insight into how modern cognitive neuroscientists understand the brain, how it works, and how the mind emerges from all of this. Students will learn core principles of modern human cognitive neuroscience (e.g., brain structure versus function, connectivity, reuse) and their application to cognition (e.g., action, perception, attention, memory, emotion, language, cognitive control, and consciousness). Topics in neuroanatomy, human neuroscience methods, and neurological conditions will also be covered.

Full details for COGST 2350 - How the Brain Makes the Mind

COGST3140

Computational Psychology

This course states and motivates the observation that cognition is fundamentally a computational process and explores the implications of this idea. Students are introduced to a variety of conceptual tools for thinking about cognitive information processing, including statistical learning from experience and the use of patterns distilled from past experience in guiding future actions. They learn to apply these tools to gain understanding of perception, memory, motor control, language, action planning, problem solving, decision making, reasoning, intelligence, and creativity.

Full details for COGST 3140 - Computational Psychology

Spring.

COGST3302

Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology

This course is an introduction to both phonetics (the study of the physical properties of the sounds of human language) and phonology (the organization and patterning of those sounds). The first part of the course focuses on the main areas of phonetics: articulation, acoustics, and perception. Students acquire basic skills, such as production and perception of speech sounds, transcription using the International Phonetic Alphabet, and instrumental analysis of speech. In the second part of the course students are introduced to key concepts in phonology, including rules, representations, and analysis of sound patterns. Throughout the course aspects of the sound systems of a wide range of world languages are studied.

Full details for COGST 3302 - Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology

Spring.

COGST3310

Deductive Logic

A mathematical study of the formal languages of standard first-order propositional and predicate logic, including their syntax, semantics, and deductive systems. The basic apparatus of model theory will be presented. Various formal results will be established, most importantly soundness and completeness.

Full details for COGST 3310 - Deductive Logic

Spring.

COGST4230

Navigation, Memory, and Context: What Does the Hippocampus Do?

Although the hippocampus has been the subject of intense scrutiny for nearly 50 years, there remains considerable disagreement about functional contributions the hippocampus makes to learning and memory process. This course will examine the diverse functions attributed to the hippocampus with an eye toward integrating the differing viewpoints in the literature. After a brief historical overview, students will discuss cutting-edge literature on the hippocampal role in spatial navigation, learning, and memory, and context processing.

Full details for COGST 4230 - Navigation, Memory, and Context: What Does the Hippocampus Do?

Spring.

COGST4240

Computational Linguistics I

Computational models of natural languages. Topics are drawn from: tree syntax and context free grammar, finite state generative morpho-phonology, feature structure grammars, logical semantics, tabular parsing, Hidden Markov models, categorial and minimalist grammars, text corpora, information-theoretic sentence processing, discourse relations, and pronominal coreference.

Full details for COGST 4240 - Computational Linguistics I

Spring.

COGST4310

Topics in Cognitive Science

A seminar series examining current and classical ideas in human sciences and the humanities. Themes vary from semester to semester.

Full details for COGST 4310 - Topics in Cognitive Science

Fall, Spring.

COGST4350

Mind, Self, and Emotion

Offered to students who are currently conducting research or planning to do research in the near future on one of the three topics-memory, self, or emotion. The course examines current data and theories concerning the topics from a variety of perspectives and at multiple levels of analysis, particularly focusing on the interconnections among these fields of inquiry. The "scale of observation" is viewed as occurring within the person (brain mechanisms, including genetics), at the level of the person (content-goals, beliefs, desires, etc.), and between persons (relationships and group interaction-including culture).

Full details for COGST 4350 - Mind, Self, and Emotion

Fall.

COGST4510

Topics in the Philosophy of Aesthetics

An investigation of central topics in the philosophy of art, with an emphasis on issues about the mind. Readings will be drawn from philosophy and psychology.

Full details for COGST 4510 - Topics in the Philosophy of Aesthetics

Spring.

COGST4700

Undergraduate Research in Cognitive Science

Experience in planning, conducting, and reporting independent laboratory, field, and/or library research in an interdisciplinary area relevant to Cognitive Science.

Full details for COGST 4700 - Undergraduate Research in Cognitive Science

Fall, Spring.

COGST4710

Cognitive Science Research Workshop

Provides a research workshop in which undergraduate students who are engaged in research in a particular area relevant to cognitive science can meet across disciplines to learn and practice the essentials of research using interdisciplinary approaches. In this workshop, students critique and discuss the existing literature in a field of inquiry, individual students present their research designs, methods, and results from their independent research studies, debate the interpretation of their research results, and participate in the generation of new research hypotheses and designs, in a peer group of other undergraduate students involved in related research.

Full details for COGST 4710 - Cognitive Science Research Workshop

Fall, Spring.

COGST4720

Current Research in Emotion, Cognition, and Brain

The course will cover advanced topics in research on the emotions from central neural and peripheral physiological perspectives, with an emphasis with how emotions shape different aspects of cognition and behavior.

Full details for COGST 4720 - Current Research in Emotion, Cognition, and Brain

Fall.

COGST6101

Cognitive Science Proseminar

This course surveys the study of how the mind/brain works, drawing primarily from six disciplines: philosophy, psychology, developmental science, neuroscience, linguistics, and computer science.

Full details for COGST 6101 - Cognitive Science Proseminar

Spring.

COGST6140

Computational Psychology

This course states and motivates the observation that cognition is fundamentally a computational process and explores the implications of this idea. Students are introduced to a variety of conceptual tools for thinking about cognitive information processing, including statistical learning from experience and the use of patterns distilled from past experience in guiding future actions. They learn to apply these tools to gain understanding of perception, memory, motor control, language, action planning, problem solving, decision making, reasoning, intelligence, and creativity.

Full details for COGST 6140 - Computational Psychology

Spring.

COGST6510

Topics in the Philosophy of Aesthetics

An investigation of central topics in the philosophy of art, with an emphasis on issues about the mind. Readings will be drawn from philosophy and psychology.

Full details for COGST 6510 - Topics in the Philosophy of Aesthetics

Spring.

COGST6620

Topics in Philosophy of Mind

Advanced discussion of a topic in Philosophy of Mind.

Full details for COGST 6620 - Topics in Philosophy of Mind

Spring.

COGST7090

Developmental Psychology

One of four introductory courses in cognition and perception. A comprehensive introduction to current thinking and research in developmental psychology that approaches problems from both psychobiological and cognitive perspectives. We will use a comparative approach to assess principles of development change. The course focuses on the development of perception, action, cognition, language, and social understanding in infancy and early childhood.

Full details for COGST 7090 - Developmental Psychology

Spring.

Courses by semester

Courses for Spring 2024