Introduction to Cognitive Science COGN 1001 Schedule 11

Introduction to Cognitive Science • COGN 1001 • Schedule – 11: 40 – 12: 30 – Tuesday: K. K. Leung Building, LG 102 – Thursday: K. K. Leung Building, LG 109 • Syllabus http: //www. hku. hk/philodep/courses/icogsc 0001/ • BBoard http: //www. hku. hk/cgi-bin/philodep/bbs/start. cgi 12 September, 2000 HKU 1

Lecturers • • • Psychology - Dr A. Francis Computer Science - Dr. Q. Huo Linguistics - Dr. A. Bodomo Neuroscience - Dr. I. Bruce Philosophy - Dr. J. Lau [Cognitive Science Centre Director] 12 September, 2000 HKU 2

Tutorials • Tutors – Lo Lap Yan – Savio Wong Wai Ho • Grading • 40% Coursework • 25% Five Assignments • 10% Tutorial Participation and Attendance • 05% Attendance • 60% Final Exam 12 September, 2000 HKU 3

So, what’s the course about, already!? ! • What do Cognitive Scientists study? • Why? • How? 12 September, 2000 HKU 4

What? Information in the brain 12 September, 2000 HKU 5

Basic Assumptions • Information can be processed and stored (remembered), retrieved, changed, communicated and turned into action. · There are rules (logical or otherwise) by which information is manipulated or processed. 12 September, 2000 HKU 6

Cognitive Science is a basic science · Like chemistry, physics, or biology · The activities of the nervous system can be analysed at different levels - Psychological - Computational - Neurological • All the levels are relevant and are not reducible 12 September, 2000 HKU 7

History • It all starts with Philosophy (Decartes, Mind/Body problem). • Post-behaviorist Psychology (Chomsky, Miller; Modern Linguistics) • Cognitive Neuropsychology (from Broca to f. MRI) • Computer Science (Turing, von Neuman, neural computation) 12 September, 2000 HKU 8

Why? Brains do amazing things 12 September, 2000 HKU 9

A few things brains do · · · · Recognize people and things Reach out and pick up things Speak and understand language(s) Read and write Navigate the streets of Hong Kong Lecture on Cognitive Science Etc. 12 September, 2000 HKU 10

Why study these things? • To help us better understand human behaviors. 12 September, 2000 • To help make our computers better at doing humanlike tasks. HKU 11

Why not just study brains? 12 September, 2000 HKU 12

The brain is as complex as anything we know · 1280– 1380 grams · 180 billion neurons (80+ billion involved in information processing) · 1 trillion connections (1, 000, 000) (some cells have up to 15, 000 connections!) · at least 60 possible neurotransmitter chemicals · dozens of different kinds of cells: bushy, spiny, stellate, basket; chopper; Purkinje, Golgi… · nearly 100 functionally distinguishable areas 12 September, 2000 HKU 13

The relationship between anatomy or physiology and behavior is very complex 12 September, 2000 HKU 14

• Studying brains (alone) might not tell us what we want to know. • Like studying architecture or urban planning by looking only at bricks! • We need to study behavior from many perspectives. 12 September, 2000 HKU 15

How? That’s the rest of the course! 12 September, 2000 HKU 16

The five major areas Philosophy Physiology Computer Science COG SCI Linguistics Psychology 12 September, 2000 HKU 17

Cognitive Psychology • Information in the brain • What is the physical structure of the nervous system, and what is its role in human behavior? 12 September, 2000 • • HKU Perception Categorization Representation Memory Attention (Language) Learning Thought 18

Perception 12 September, 2000 HKU 19

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Computer Science • "Knowledge representation" – What is AI? – Semantic networks and frames – Predicate logic – Rule-based systems 12 September, 2000 HKU 21

“Creatures” created by Rodney Brookes at MIT Partial semantic network for “water” 12 September, 2000 HKU 22

Linguistics • What are the mental processes and representations underlying language production and understanding? • • • Phonology Morphology Syntax Semantics Pragmatics Literacy • Language Structure 12 September, 2000 HKU 23

University of California Perceptual Sciences Laboratory (D. Massaro) http: //mambo. ucsc. edu/ 12 September, 2000 HKU 24

Physiology • Horrifying complexity of connections among neurons in the brain • Relatively simple interactions between neurons – excitation & inhibition • Voyage through the visual system for the image of a brown dog • Simple retinal processing to parallel processing of form, colour, motion to object recognition • Limitations of the Neuroscience approach to Cognition 12 September, 2000 HKU 25

EEG/ERP recording MRI (axial) f. MRI (coronal) 12 September, 2000 HKU 26

Philosophy • Two roles of Philosophy in Cognitive Science • Role #1 : baby science nursery – "what you do to a problem until it can be solved by science”: work with scientists to find the best way to study a problem – many sciences developed out of philosophy • Role #2 : building inspector – examines foundational assumptions and concepts e. g. What are computations? What is consciousness? What makes something a representation? 12 September, 2000 HKU 27

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