BRIEF COURSE SUMMARY
The goal of cognitive science is to explain the operations of the (human) mind—its ability to perceive the world, to think and talk about the world, and to reflect self-consciously about its own thoughts. Cognitive science integrates research from multiple disciplines: cognitive psychology, linguistics, philosophy, computer science, and neuroscience. In this course, we examine some of the fundamental questions raised in cognitive science, and how they have been investigated and answered using approaches drawing on these multiple disciplines.

READING
The required readings for this course are primary sources (research articles, book chapters, etc.) that offer you direct experience of how cognitive science is conducted. The reading assignment should be completed by the date of assignment. Readings are available through the course website.

GRADING
Your grade will be determined by two midterm examinations (30%), your class attendance and participation (10%), presentations by your student group (20%), reading responses (10%), and the final project (30%).

Two take home exams (30% total, 15% each): The exams are take home, open book exams. They will be made available on Friday 10/12/2007 and 12/07/2007 on Sakai and are due the following Monday at the beginning of class. If you use any sources (course reading material, articles, web pages, books, etc.) you need to provide detailed references of them so that we can look them up. Use resources from the web at your own risk! There is a lot of information out there but not all of it is trustworthy.

Reading responses (10%): Before each class, you will email us your reactions to and questions about the reading. It should not be a summary of the readings but rather a detailed and focused question or a critical, concise, and transparently argued for reaction to the reading. Responses are due no later than three hours (10 am) before the class that the reading is assigned for. Each class at least one response will be read in class as part of the discussion and throughout the semester each student will have at least one of his/her responses read in class.

Class demos (20%): We will form groups of 3-4 students who will work together in presenting a demonstration to the class and in designing and completing the final project. The demonstration will consist of an experimental method described in one of the readings for the class, or otherwise discussed with one of us.

Final project and in-class presentation (30%): The final project will be (typically) an experimental cognitive science project developed in collaboration with your student group and the instructors. You will form a hypothesis, design the experiment, gather experimental data, and present your findings to the class at the end of the semester. Each individual student must hand in her or his own written report. The style and format of the report will be discussed in class. Class attendance (10%): If you must miss class because of a field trip etc., please inform the instructors. Material presented in class is often not in the reading and will be covered in exams.

Tentative schedule for the semester (download readings from course website):

Tentative schedule for the semester:

Tue 9/02	Introduction
Thur 9/04	Dualism	Descartes: Meditations 1 and 2
Tues 9/09	Behaviorism	Watson (1913); Breland & Breland (1961)
Thur 9/11	Cognitive Revolution	Skinner (1957); Chomsky (1959); Lashley (1951)
Tue 9/16	Functionalism	Turing (1950); Searle (1980)