COURSE SYLLABUS
(Monday 13.30-15.10 except 27 th October and 8 th December,
Thursday 2 nd October 9.00-10.40, Thursday 16 th October, 9.00-10.40)
Instructor :
Knoblich, Günther
(email: knoblichg@ceu.hu)
Department of Cognitive Science
Central European University, Fall 2014
PhD in Cognitive Science, 2 Credits
Course e-learning site: http://ceulearning.ceu.hu/course/view.php?id=3236
Office hours: Flexible, talk to me in class or contact me by email
Course Description
This course will give a broad overview of the fundamental assumptions and findings in
Cognitive Science, the interdisciplinary study of the mind. The initial lectures will cover general ideas that have been driving the study of the human mind for the last fifty years.
These will include the view that the mind functions like a digital computer, the view that the mind can be modeled with artifical neural networks, and the view that the mind should be conceived of as a dynamical system closely tied to the environment. Later lectures will give an overview of important topics in Cognitive Science. Each session of the course will consist of a lecture part, a student presentation, and a discussion/question part.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students will:

Be able to explain and actively use core concepts in Cognitive Science

Be able to critically discuss the advantages and disadvantages of different methods used in Cognitive Science

Know how the different disciplines constituting Cognitive Science relate to one another

Have an overview of the main research questions in Cognitive Science

Be able to effectively present original research in CS to an audience of peers
Course Requirements
(1) Essay (50% of the final grade). One essay of 1500-2000 words (deadline 22 nd
Nov; topic provided on 24 th
Oct). Grading criteria are: coverage of appropriate research, clarity of structure and arguments, appropriate link between theory and evidence, critical evaluation, writing style, and form (e.g., accurate references). Grades can only be provided in mid-January due to CEU rules.
(2) Presentations (40% of the final grade). This will be up to two presentations (30 minutes), depending on the number of course attendees. Grading criteria will be:
Quality of content, structure, and exposition.
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(3) Contributions to discussion (10%). Attendees are expected to be present during all sessions and to contribute with questions and comments to the discussions.
COURSE SCHEDULE
22 nd September 2014. Introduction (G)
This session will give a brief history of Cognitive Science and the disciplines that contribute to Cognitive Science. It will also introduce the different topics to be covered and address practical issues related to the course, e.g., assigning presentations to students.
General reading:
Bermudez, J. L. (2010). Cognitive Science: An introduction to the science of the mind . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1-141.
29 th September 2014. Physical Symbol Systems (G)
This session will provide an overview of the physical symbol systems hypothesis and other Cognitive Science accounts that have proposed to conceptualize the human mind in close analogy to digital computers.
General reading:
Bermudez, J. L. (2010). Cognitive Science: An introduction to the science of the mind . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 142-214.
Newell, A., & Simon, H. A. (1976). Computer science as empirical inquiry:
Symbols and search. Communications of the ACM, 19(3) , 113-126.
THURSDAY 2 nd October 2014, 9-10.40. Neural Networks (G)
This session will provide an overview of neural network accounts and provide examples for how they have shifted the research focus in Cognitive Science from symbolic processing to brain-like computing.
General reading:
Bermudez, J. L. (2010). Cognitive Science: An introduction to the science of the mind . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 215-283.
Reading for presentations:
Riesenhuber, M., & Poggio, T. (1999). Hierarchical models of object recognition in cortex. Nature neuroscience, 2(11) , 1019-1025.
6 th October 2014. The Brain and Cognitive Science
Instructor: Gergely Csibra
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This session will address the opportunities and pitfalls of different brain imaging methods that have had a continuously increasing impact on Cognitive Science during the last 20 years.
General reading:
Bermudez, J. L. (2010). Cognitive Science: An introduction to the science of the mind . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp 325-362.
Reading for presentations:
Poldrack, R. A. (2006). Can cognitive processes be inferred from neuroimaging data? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 10 , 59-63.
13 th October 2014. Dynamical Systems
Instructor: Vero Ramenzoni
This session will address dynamical systems approaches in Cognitive Science postulating that the mind should be understood as a physical device that is in constant interaction with its environment. Extreme versions of this approach negate the concept of representation.
General reading:
Bermudez, J. L. (2010). Cognitive Science: An introduction to the science of the mind . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 410-462.
Eliasmith, C. (1996). The third contender: A critical examination of the dynamicist theory of cognition. Philosophical Psychology, 9 , 441-463.
Reprinted in P. Thagard (ed) (1998) Mind Readings: Introductory Selections in
Cognitive Science. MIT Press.
Reading for presentations:
Riley, M. A., Richardson, M. J., Shockley, K., & Ramenzoni, V. C. (2011).
Interpersonal synergies. Frontiers in Psychology, 2 , 38, doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00038.
Riley, M. A., Shockley, K., Van Orden, G. (2012). Learning from the body about the mind. Topics in Cognitive Science, 4 , 21-34.
16 th October 2014. Language and Concepts
Instructor:
Bálint Forgács
This session will provide a short introduction to how research on language has shaped Cognitive Science.
General reading:
Ray Jackendoff (2002). Foundations of Language. Brain, Meaning, Grammar,
Evolution. Chapter 1 . Oxford University Press.
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Gazzaniga, M. S., Ivry R. B. & Mangun G. R. (2009). Cognitive Neuroscience:
The Biology of the Mind (3nd ed.). Chapter 10. Language and the Brain . New
York/ London: W.W. Norton & Company.
Reading for presentations:
Friederici, A. D. (2009). Pathways to language: fiber tracts in the human brain.
Trends in Cognitive Sciences 13(4) , 175-181.
THURSDAY 20 th October 2014, 9-10.40. Notions of Modularity
Instructor: John Michael
This session will introduce different notions of modularity that continue to play an important role in how Cognitive Scientists view the function of mind and brain.
General reading:
Bermudez, J. L. (2010). Cognitive Science: An introduction to the science of the mind . Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 287-323.
Optional Further Reading:
Barrett, H. C. & Kurzban, R. (2006). Modularity in cognition: Framing the debate. Psychological Review 113 :628-647.
Reading for presentations:
Sperber, D. and Wilson, D. (2002), Pragmatics, Modularity and Mind-reading.
Mind & Language, 17 : 3–23. doi: 10.1111/1468-0017.00186
3 rd November. Notions of Embodied Cognition
Instructor: Cordula Vesper
This session will address a variety of notions of embodied cognition that are inspired by cognitive neuroscience, robotics, and/or the dynamical systems approach.
General reading:
Wilson, M. (2002). Six views of embodied cognition. Psychonomic Bulletin &
Review, 9 , 625-636.
10 th November 2014. Perception and Action (G)
THE TOPIC OF THE ESSAY WILL BE ANNOUNCED IN THIS SESSION.
This session will provide an overview of Cognitive Science research on perception, action, and the close links between them.
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General reading:
Milner, A. D., & Goodale, M. A. (2008). Two visual systems re-viewed.
Neuropsychologia, 46(3) , 774-785.
Rizzolatti, G., & Sinigaglia, C. (2010). The functional role of the parieto-frontal mirror circuit: interpretations and misinterpretations. Nature Reviews
Neuroscience, 11(4) , 264-274.
Reading for presentations:
Casile, A., & Giese, M. A. (2006). Nonvisual motor training influences biological motion perception. Current Biology, 16(1) , 69-74.
17 th November 2014. Memory (G)
This session will address Cognitive Science explanations for the functioning of human memory. The focus will be on classical functional distinctions as well as recent neuroscience findings.
General reading:
Squire, L. R., & Wixted, J. T. (2011). The Cognitive Neuroscience of Human
Memory since H.M. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 34 , 259-288.
Reading for presentations:
Diekelmann, S., & Born, J. (2010). The memory function of sleep. Nature
Reviews Neuroscience, 11 , 114-126.
24 th November 2014. Thinking (G)
This session will provide an overview of Cognitive Science research addressing human thinking abilities. The focus will be human’s abilities to solve difficult problems in systematic and intuitive ways.
General reading:
Holyoak, K. J., & Morrison, R. G. (2013). The Oxford Handbook of Thinking and Reasoning , pp. 413-512.
Reading for presentations:
Öllinger, M., et al. (2013). Cognitive mechanisms of insight: The role of heuristics and representational change in solving the eight-coin problem. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 39(3) , 931-939.
1 st December 2014. A Social Turn in Cognitive Science?
Instructor: Natalie Sebanz
This lecture will provide an overview of developments in Cognitive Science that highlight the role of social interaction for understanding the mind. This will
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introduce some of the topics covered in more detail in the core course ‘Social
Cognition’ in the following term.
General reading:
Tomasello, M., Melis, A., Tennie, C., & Herrmann, E. (2012). Two key steps in the evolution of human cooperation: The interdependence hypothesis. Current
Anthropology, 56 , 1-20. van Schaik, C. P & Burkart, J. M. (2011). Social learning and evolution: The cultural intelligence hypothesis. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society
B, 366, 1008-1016.
Reading for presentations:
Hutchins E. (1995). How A Cockpit Remembers its Speeds. Cognitive Science,
19 , 265-288.
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