Seminar in Cognitive Science

: COGSCI 600 Winter 2013; Graduate Seminar in Cognitive Science

Description: Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary study of mind and intelligence. This seminar will discuss cutting edge topics concerning human and computer intelligence.

Organizer: Paul Thagard

Office hours (HH368): TTh 11:30-12:30, and by appointment.

Email: pthagard@uwaterloo.ca. Phone: extension 33594.

Web page: http://cogsci.uwaterloo.ca/courses/cogsci600.2013.htm. l

This is the core course for the Graduate Diploma in Cognitive Science.

Time: Tuesday, 1-3:20, HH 334. To improve learning, please turn off all electronic devices such as phones, computers, and transcranial magnetic stimulators. See blog for reasons.

Readings: Readings for each week are available electronically: see links below.

Assignments: Each student will write a research essay of approximately 20 pages. Essay proposals should be submitted in class by February 26 . The proposal should be maximum one page, and indicate the question you hope to answer and how more than one of the disciplines of cognitive science is relevant to answering it. Students will present their work in class April 2. The final essay is due April 9. The essays can be on any topic related to the investigation of mind and intelligence, but must be interdisciplinary: they should draw on at least two of psychology, philosophy, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, linguistics, and anthropology. Any reference style is acceptable, but be sure to indicate your sources. Mark breakdown: proposal 5%, presentation 5%, essay 80%. 10% of the course grade will be based on 1-page essays to be handed in each week concerning the week's readings. Discussion questions to guide your reading will be available 1 week before the relevant class.

Schedule:

Week	Date	Instructor	Reading	Topic
1	Jan. 8	Paul Thagard, Philosophy	Thagard, 2012	What is cognitive science?
2	Jan. 15	Nancy Barrickman, Anthropology	Seed and Tomasello, 2010; von Schaik, 2006	Origins of cognitive complexity
3	Jan. 22	Chris Eliasmith, Philosophy & Systems Design Eng.	Eliasmith et al., 2012	How to build a brain
4	Jan. 29	Jesse Hoey, Computer Science	Hwang & Hoey, 2012	Do it yourself smart home
5	Feb. 5	Dana Kulic, Electrical and Computer Engineering	Kulic et al. 2012,Samadani et al. 2012	What can robots learn from human motion?
6	Feb. 12	Matt van der Meer, Biology	Schacter & Addis, 2007,Corballis, 2012	Decoding the neural basis of planning in the rat
7	Feb. 26	Sarah Tolmie, English	Describe this dance	Dance dance innovation
8	Mar. 5	Jonathan Fugelsang, Psychology	Ozubko & Fugelsang, 2010	The application and modification of beliefs in decision-making
9	Mar. 12	Tobias Schröder	Kiesling et al., 2011	Changing minds about cars: Modeling the adoption of innovations in transportation
10	Mar. 19	Randy Harris, English	Harris, 2002	This is your brain on rhetorical figures
11	Mar. 26	John Turri, Philosophy	Turri 2012a, Turri 2012b	Experimental philosophy: Knowledge and assertion
12	Apr. 2	Student presentations	None	Various