Courses

This Argument and Inquiry seminar will focus on the cognitive changes experienced by children in the preschool and elementary school years, in such realms as perception, attention, memory, thinking, decision-making, knowledge representation, and the acquisition of academic skills. Weekly observation at local day care centers or elementary schools will be a required course component.

This A&I course is about artificial intelligence (AI) and its place in our lives. We will spend time wondering about how AI systems work and about how we use them. This will involve asking big questions, identifying puzzles and misinformation, and spending a lot of time thinking about robots. Doing so will involve engaging with scientific research, news articles, comics, and other forms of popular media. The primary skills this class focuses on are critical news literacy, cooperative problem solving, writing, editing, and re-writing.

An interdisciplinary study of the history and current practice of the cognitive sciences. The course will draw on relevant work from diverse fields such as artificial intelligence, cognitive psychology, philosophy, biology, and neuroscience. Topics to be discussed include: scientific revolutions, the mind-body problem, embodied cognition, perception, representation, and the extended mind.

An interdisciplinary examination of issues concerning the mind and mental phenomena involved in the uniquely human activity of making and understanding music. The course will draw on psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, computer science, biology, and philosophy. Topics to be discussed include: the embodied cognition of rhythm, linguistic syntax and musical structure, mental representations of musical sound and action, musical learning and development, tone and beat deafness, and perfect pitch and neural plasticity.

This is an interdisciplinary class about embodied practice. It will draw upon theories of embodiment and skill mastery in both Japanese Philosophy and Embodied Cognitive Science. One major theme of the course will be the notion of no-mind [mushin] and its relationship to practice, expertise, and lived experience. We will ground our inquiry in contemporary works in aesthetics, martial arts like Kyudo, and bodily mechanics. The course will also create opportunities for students to practice skills of interdisciplinary research and cross-cultural philosophical writing.

PHIL 207 is cross listed with CGSC 207.

Cross-listed courses CGSC 232/PSYC 232. An introduction to the study of mental activity. Topics include attention, pattern recognition and perception, memory, concept formation, categorization, and cognitive development. Some attention to gender and individual differences in cognition, as well as cultural settings for cognitive activities. A grade of C- or better must be earned in both Psychology/Cognitive Science 232 and 233 to satisfy the LS requirement.

Cross-listed courses CGSC 233/PSYC 233. Students will participate in the replication and planning of empirical studies, collecting and analyzing data relevant to major cognitive phenomena. A grade of C- or better must be earned in both CGSC/PSYC 232 and 233 to satisfy the LS requirement.

This course will investigate the cognitive dimensions of cutting edge research in artificial intelligence and machine learning. We will apply qualitative research methods to create an annotated library of cognitive terms in “AI” research. Doing so will help put “AI” research in context. By the end of the term we will have co-created resources that can be used by others to help understand the complexities of cognition and its relationship to technology and the world.

Students work on a research project related to a faculty member's research interests, and directed by that faculty member. Student activities vary according to the field and stage of the project. The long-run goal of these projects normally includes dissemination to a scholarly community beyond Carleton. The faculty member will meet regularly with the student and actively direct the work of the student, who will submit an end-of-term product, typically a paper or presentation.

This course will provide an in-depth study of phenomenology, covering both its history and contemporary debates, and phenomenology-inspired research in cognitive science, psychology and neuroscience. Roughly half the course will be devoted to the history of phenomenology, setting the main views within their historical context and explaining how these views respond to the difficulties of their predecessors. The other half will discuss contemporary philosophical debates and scientific research involving phenomenological approaches. In addition to the CGSC 130 prerequisite, a 200-level Cognitive Science, Psychology or Philosophy course is recommended.

Students work on a research project related to a faculty member's research interests, and directed by that faculty member. Student activities vary according to the field and stage of the project. The long-run goal of these projects normally includes dissemination to a scholarly community beyond Carleton. The faculty member will meet regularly with the student and actively direct the work of the student, who will submit an end-of-term product, typically a paper or presentation.

The organizing and writing of a senior thesis in cognitive science, overseen by a CGSC faculty member and in cooperation with other seminar members.  Students will present drafts of their theses to the class for feedback and will offer one another constructive criticism on the writing and organization of each paper.  Students will be expected to produce a 25-40 page paper that will eventually serve as a capstone to their CGSC major during CGSC 400.

Students will complete their Cognitive Science comps projects, in response to feedback from their comps advisor.  Students will also give a public presentation of their comps project to a Carleton audience.