What is Cognitive Science What is Cognitive Science

What is Cognitive Science?

What is Cognitive Science? n. A Definition: Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary study of mind and intelligence, embracing philosophy, psychology, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, linguistics, and anthropology. – Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

What is Cognitive Science n Cognitive – – – – n science includes: Perception Action Learning Memory Attention Reasoning Decision-making Language use What about consciousness, emotions, and development?

What is Cognitive Science? Philosophy of Mind Philosophy Neuropsychology Psychology Cultural Anthropology Psycholinguistics Neuroethics Artificial Intelligence Linguistics Neuroscience Computer Science Cognitive Science Sample Topics

Quick History… The mind does not exist or is irrelevant Computational modeling of the black (“mind”) box

Cognitive Science: Kinds of Minds n Cognitive Science can be seen as the study of mind, but these minds can be: – human minds – animal minds – computer minds – robot minds – alien minds – group minds n In practice, human mind is studied mostly

Major Questions in Cognitive Science n How do we think? n What is the nature of mind? n What is knowledge? How is it possible? n How does the brain create a mind? n Can a computer think? n What is the nature of self? Is it an illusion? n What is consciousness?

Examples from Vision

Changing your Brain…

What Can I do With Cognitive Science? n Cognitive Science can be used to analyze, describe, predict, or even correct, augment, if not create minds. Some specific applications are: – Cognitive Modeling – Human Computer Interaction – Artificial Intelligence – Robotics – Data Science (Broadly Speaking) – Computational Linguistics (NLP; Alexa)

Our Major: Quick Facts n Our center has been around for nearly 30 years, but the major is new n It is one of the fastest growing majors on campus n Our major is designed so you can easily dual major (50% do so and take no extra time!) – This allows you to explore other fields, while still getting credit that can count towards your major

Our Major: Why might you study cognitive science? n n n Postgraduate Studies: if you want to go to medical or law school, or other graduate programs Research: if you are interested in getting research experience (we have faculty representatives from many departments) Interdisciplinary: if you want a broader curriculum that includes relevant courses from other departments Flexibility: If you want flexibility in your undergraduate education Cognitive Neuroscience: if you are interested in cell biology and neuroscience that includes higher level cognitive Minds and Machines: if you are interested in computer science, but want to focus more on application (AI and the intersection of computers and brains)

Our Major: To Declare: Requires that you take 201, and two other courses from the sections below n For the major, you must take 4 core cognitive science you are encouraged to take classes from other departments. n

Our Major: Distributional Credits and Capstone Requires that you take one course from 3 of the columns below n Take a capstone: either complete research or the 411 capstone course n Pick from 3 Columns Capstone Course Research

Our Major: Electives You can pick 1 of 5 tracks and must take 3 courses listed under the track that you select: n Perception n Language n Decision Making n Minds, Machines, and Computation n Cognitive Neuroscience

If you are interested in Majoring/Minoring… n. . . take our foundations 201 course: Mark your interest on the form provided by SAS (under multidisciplinary courses). Also, you can take intro to logic courses (Phil) n …sign up for FIGS: first year 1 credit, 10 week course taught in cognitive science by advanced undergraduate student n. . . join the club n …come to our events

Visit Our Website to Learn More! n HOMEPAGE: https: //ruccs. rutgers. edu/ n MAJOR: https: //ruccs. rutgers. edu/academics/undergraduate/aboutcognitive-science n CLUB: https: //ruccs. rutgers. edu/academics/undergraduate/cogsci-club n EVENTS: https: //ruccs. rutgers. edu/talks/list-of-upcomingevents/list. events/-