Instructor:  Craig Graci
Text:  "Cognitive Science: An Introduction", by David Green and others
Office:  114 Snygg Hall
Telephone:  315.312.2690

Course Description

This course will introduce the fundamental questions, findings, and methods of cognitive science. The computational approach to cognition and the notion of mental representation are introduced within the interdisciplinary framework of the field. Basics of cognition, computation, neural networking, and Darwinean processes are introduced. Elements of logic and linguistics are formally presented, computationally considered, and applied to issues of representation and reasoning. Theoretical and practical issues of human / machine communication are explored. High level aspects of vision are discussed. Creativity is investigated within the realms of painting, music composition, and story generation. The topics of emotion, embodiment, dynamical systems, and emergent behavior are mentioned in connection with conjectures pertaining to thinking and consciousness. Philosophical questions are considered. Symbolic computations in Prolog are featured.

Main Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course students will be able to:

• Articulate the computational assumption which underlies the field of cognitive science.
• Discuss the interdisciplinary nature of the field and define the contributing fields.
• Describe the concept of mental representation and describe several of the standard knowledge representations.
• Represent arguments in terms of logic, manipulate logical formulae in truth preserving ways, apply inferencing mechanisms of standard logic, and discuss various perspectives relating to the psychological plausability of logic.
• Represent knowledge in Prolog, perform symbolic computations in prolog, and describe the Prolog language in terms of the logic of resolution.
• Explain elements of cognition in terms of basic models of memory, attention, problem solving, planning and learning.
• Define and illustrate the higher level cognitive phenomena of conceptualization and classification, rule generation and application, analogical reasoning, and metaphorical thinking.
• Define grammars for language generation, perform derivations, discuss the language instinct, and describe language in basic semiotic terms.
• Craft a question answering system in Prolog by coupling a definite clause grammar with a very small relational knowledge base.
• Explain the phenomenon of visual processing at a high level of abstraction.
• Describe the basic structure and operation of natural and artificial neural networks.
• Define Darwin Machines and abstractly describe their manifestation in genetic algorithms, genetic programming, and the science of memetics.
• Describe a model of creativity inspired by darwinean theory and suggest its role in computationally creating paintings, music, and narratives.
• Explain the relevance of emotion, embodiment, dynamic systems, and emergent behaviour to the field of cognitive science.
• Debate the relevance of the Turing Test, the value of Chinese Room argument, and the implications of Godel's Incompleteness Theorem.

Requirements

You are required to regularly attend class. You are required to take all quizzes and exams. You are required to do homework in the form of readings, programming assignments, and other exercises. Beyond this, you are required to render the contents of the course, lecture notes, handouts, assignments, exams, etc., in form of a notebook, a Web site, or some combination of the two.

Grading

Your grade will be determined on the basis of:

• Your performance on three half-class exams and a final exam, each of which will be crafted on the basis of lectures, readings, programming assignments, and other exercises. (roughly 45 percent)
• Your performance on homework. (roughly 20 percent)
• Attendance and your performance on quizzes. (roughly 20 percent)
• Your rendering of the course as a notebook, a Web site, or some combination of the two. (roughly 15 percent)

Other Things