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Description of Courses Offered by Cognitive Science

185:201 Cognitive Science: A Multi-disciplinary Introduction (4 credits) is a lecture/recitation course taught by a single instructor.  This course introduces students to the diverse set of concepts and formal and experimental techniques used in cognitive science.
Pre or Co-requisites: a course in computer science (198), linguistics (615), philosophy (730), or psychology (830) .
Sample Syllabus for course 185:201  

 

185:253 Human Nature and Diversity: Sex, Love & Parenting; Morality, Religion & Race (4 credits) is a lecture course taught by Stephen Stich. The first goal of this course is to introduce students to some of the central ideas and theories in cognitive science that have been used to explain both human diversity and universal features of human nature. The second goal is to explore the implications of those ideas for a range of important philosophical questions. The course is organized around four areas where questions about human nature and human diversity are of great importance in contemporary society:  i) Mating (sex, love and parenting); (ii) morality; (iii) religion; (iv) race.    
Prerequisite: Permission of Instructor.   Credit is not given for this course and 01:730:253
NOTE: Course satisfies the Core Curriculum: 21st Century Challenges [21C] and Arts and Humanities [AHo]
Sample Syllabus for course 185:253

 

185:301 Cognition and Decision Making (4 credits) is a lecture/recitation course taught by a single instructor.  This course introduces students to the subjects of reasoning and decision-making as a means of exploring a number of issues central to the field of cognitive science.
Prerequisite: Introduction to Cognitive Science (01:185:201)
NOTE: Course satisfies Core Curriculum: Quantitative and Formal Reasoning (QQ).
Sample Syllabus for course 185:301 

 

185:310 The Concept of "Concepts" in Cognitive Science (3 credits) is a lecture course taught by a single instructor.  This course introduces students to the study of concepts from a broad interdisciplinary point of view, surveying how concepts are understood in Psychology, Philosophy, Computer Science and Neuroscience. Emphasis is on both differences in how these various disciplines view concepts as well as commonalities in the underlying ideas.
Prerequisite: Introduction to Cognitive Science (01:185:201)
Sample Syllabus for course 185:310

 

185:320 Research Methods in Cognitive Science (3 credits) is a lecture course taught by a single instructor.  This course introduces students to a foundation for thinking critically about research in cognitive science. Topics may include the scientific method and consideration of strengths and weaknesses of a range of approaches, statistical reasoning and principles for ethical conduct of research.
Prerequisite: Introduction to Cognitive Science (01:185:201) or Cognition and Decision Making (01:185:301) or Undergraduate Seminar in Cognitive Science (01:185:411)
Sample Syllabus for course 185:320 

 

185:330 Meaning and Numbering (3 credits) is a lecture course taught by a single instructor.  It will illustrate some central issues in cognitive science—and strategies for addressing questions about the contributions of innate endowment and individual experience
(a.k.a., Nature and Nurture) to mature cognition—via discussion and comparison of two important case studies: the human capacity
to understand linguistic expressions, and the apparently more widespread capacity to make numerical comparisons.
Prerequisite: Introduction to Cognitive Science (01:185:201)    Credit is not given for this course and 01:730:327
Sample Syllabus for course 185:330

 

185:335 Neural Structure of Language (3 credits) is a lecture course taught by a single instructor.  Language is a deceptively complex computational system. In this course, we will explore how linguistic structure is represented and processed in the brain, and how the computational machinery that generates language intersects with different cognitive capacities and brain structures. We will focus on a few major themes: neural evidence of linguistic structures and structure-building; major brain regions associated with language and competing models of their functions; and the underlying cognitive resources necessary for producing and comprehending language.
Prerequisite: Introduction to Cognitive Science (01:185:201)
Sample Syllabus for course 185:335

 

185:340 Language and Cognition (3 credits)  [previously 185:410]  is a lecture course taught by a single instructor. Topics may include speech perception, language acquisition, priming, disorders, speech errors, sentence processing, memory, color, and numerosity. 
Prerequisites: Introduction to Cognitive Science (01:185:201) AND Introduction to Linguistic Theory (01:615:201) 
Credit is not given for this course and 01:615:445 
NOTE: Course satisfies Core Curriculum: Quantitative and Formal Reasoning (QQ).
Sample Syllabus for course 185:340

 

185:345 Person Perception and Social Cognition (3 credits) is a lecture course taught by a single instructor.  This course will survey major topics in social cognition. Social cognition is the study of how we understand ourselves and others as social agents and draws from psychology, neuroscience, and philosophy. This course is broken down into three main units: (1) cognitive architecture, (2) social capacities, and (3) the social world. The goals of this course are to introduce students to contemporary debates in social cognition and help them develop as researchers in their abilities to read long-form academic articles and write clear, critically engaged papers.
Prerequisite: Introduction to Cognitive Science (01:185:201)
Sample Syllabus for course 185:345

 

185:350 Fundamentals of Cognitive Neuroscience (3 credits) is a lecture course taught by a single instructor.  How does our brain give rise to our abilities to perceive, act and think? This course explores the cognitive and neural processes that support attention, learning, memory, language, and guided behaviors with an emphasis on the neural mechanisms that form the substrates of human cognition. It introduces basic neuroanatomy, functional imaging techniques, and behavioral measures of cognition, and discusses methods by which inferences about the brain bases of cognition are made. This course also provides a survey of current research in cognitive neuroscience. Representative topics include perceptual and motor processes, decision making, learning and memory, attention, reward processing, reinforcement learning, sensory inference and cognitive control.
Prerequisite: Introduction to Cognitive Science (01:185:201)
Sample Syllabus for course 185:350

 

185:360 Origins of Cognition (3 credits) is a lecture course taught by a single instructor.  Where does human knowledge come from? In this course we will explore the origins of human knowledge through the lens of cognitive developmental science, and link it to ideas from other academic fields, such as philosophy, behavioral biology, neuroscience, and anthropology. The topics may include: depth, space, number, language, music, social understanding and learning & plasticity. We will examine findings and ideas from developmental science, broadly construed.  Most importantly, we will learn about these findings and ideas both through readings and lectures, and through doing in-class experiments ourselves! 
Prerequisite: Introduction to Cognitive Science (01:185:201)
Sample Syllabus for course 185:360

 

185:395 OR 185:396  Research in Cognitive Science (3 credits each) is a supervised research internship in cognitive science.  
May include laboratory/library research.  Final written report required. 
Prerequisites: Introduction to Cognitive Science (01:185:201) AND Permission of Instructor.
(185:395 is also a Prerequisite for 185:396)

NOTE:  A maximum of 3-credits of research count towards your upper division elective credits, AND only 1-research course can be used towards the 4-Cognitive Science courses required for the major OR 3-required for the minor.  
Only faculty who are Executive Committee members or Affiliates in the Center for Cognitive Science can oversee research courses in Cognitive Science.  Once you have a faculty advisor, please submit a completed/signed  Research in Cognitive Science Application Form so an SPN can be provided for course registration.

 

185:401 Visual Intelligence (3 credits) is a lecture course taught by several instructors. This course aims to introduce students to the study of visual intelligence from a computational and behavioral point of view. The emphasis is on understanding the representations
that our visual systems generate, and the computations that are used to generate them.
Pre or Co-requisites: 1: Sensation & Perception (01:830:301).    May be taken concurrently.  2: Statistics I (01:960:211)   OR  3: Quantitative Methods in Psychology (01:830:200)   NOTE:  must have earned a B or higher in 2 ]
Sample Syllabus for course 185:401

 

185:411 Undergraduate Seminar in Cognitive Science (4 credits) is a seminar course team-taught by faculty affiliated with the Center for Cognitive Science. Faculty from psychology, computer science, linguistics, philosophy, and cognitive science will give single seminars in which they show how these diverse set of concepts and formal and experimental techniques are used to address a particular problem within cognitive science. Taught in Spring semesters. 
Prerequisite: Introduction to Cognitive Science (01:185:201)
NOTE: This course satisfies the capstone requirement of the Cognitive Science major.
Sample Syllabus for course 185:411

 

185:412 **Advanced Topics in Cognitive Science II (3 credits) is a multi-sectioned course with each section investigating advanced problems and issues in cognitive science.  Check the Center’s Upcoming Courses webpage for titles, descriptions, and requirements
of any sections being offered.
  **ONLY ONE (1) SECTION MAY BE TAKEN PER SEMESTER. FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION,
     CONTACT THE UNDERGRADUATE DIRECTOR AT: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Prerequisite: Introduction to Cognitive Science (01:185:201)
NOTE: This course satisfies the upper-division electives for any track of the Cognitive Science major. 
Sample Syllabus for course 185:412

 

185:413 Advanced Topics in Cognitive Science: Cog Neuro (3 credits) is a topical course with each section investigating advanced problems and issues in cognitive neuroscience.  Check the Center’s Upcoming Courses webpage for titles, descriptions, and requirements of any sections being offered.
Prerequisite: Introduction to Cognitive Science (01:185:201)
NOTE: This course satisfies the upper-division electives for the Cognitive Neuroscience track of the Cognitive Science major.
Sample Syllabus for course 185:413

 

185:414 Advanced Topics in Cognitive Science: Decision Making/Behavioral Game Theory (3 credits) is a topical course with
each section investigating advanced problems and issues in the decision sciences. Check the Center’s Upcoming Courses webpage
for titles, descriptions, and requirements of any sections being offered.
Prerequisite: Introduction to Cognitive Science (01:185:201)
NOTE: This course satisfies the upper-division electives for the Decision Making track of the Cognitive Science major.
Sample Syllabus for course 185:414

 

185:415 Advanced Topics in Cognitive Science: Language (3 credits) is a topical course with each section investigating advanced problems and issues in cognitive science and language. Check the Center’s Upcoming Courses webpage for titles, descriptions, and requirements of any sections being offered.
Prerequisite: Introduction to Cognitive Science (01:185:201)
NOTE: This course satisfies the upper-division electives for the Language track of the Cognitive Science major.
Sample Syllabus for course 185:415

 

185:416 Advanced Topics in Cognitive Science: Minds, Machines & Computation (3 credits) is a topical course with each section investigating advanced problems and issues in cognitive science, including topics such as the computational theory of mind.   
Check the Center’s Upcoming Courses webpage for titles, descriptions, and requirements of any sections being offered.
Prerequisite: Introduction to Cognitive Science (01:185:201)
NOTE: This course satisfies the upper-division electives for the Minds, Machines & Computation track of the Cognitive Science major.
Sample Syllabus for course 185:416

 

185:417 Advanced Topics in Cognitive Science: Perception (3 credits) is a topical course with each section investigating advanced problems and issues in cognitive science and visual intelligence. Check the Center’s Upcoming Courses webpage for titles, descriptions, and requirements of any sections being offered.
Prerequisite: Introduction to Cognitive Science (01:185:201)
NOTE: This course satisfies the upper-division electives for the Perception track of the Cognitive Science major.
Sample Syllabus for course 185:417

 

185:420 Learning in Humans and Machines (3 credits) Interdisciplinary seminar course exploring the parallels between human learning and machine learning focusing on the set of shared computational problems faced by humans and machines which includes making complex decisions; predicting future events; storing and retrieving information efficiently; and generalizing knowledge to new situations. Prerequisite: 01:185:201
Sample Syllabus for course 185:420 

 

185:430 Cognitive Neuroscience Through Case Studies (4 credits) is a lecture course taught by a single instructor. Students will become knowledgeable about the structure and function of the human brain in people who do and do not have acquired or developmental brain disorders. Topics will include methods, vision, attention, movement and sensation, memory, neurodevelopment, and language, among others.
Prerequisites: Introduction to Cognitive Science (01:185:201)  OR  General Psychology (01:830:101)
Sample Syllabus for course 185:430

 

185:495 AND 496 Senior Honors Thesis (3 credits each)       Thesis research under the direction of a faculty advisor. 
Prerequisite: Introduction to Cognitive Science (01:185:201) and eligibility for departmental honors and approval of thesis topic
by a faculty advisor and the director of undergraduate studies.     
(185:495 is also a Prerequisite for 185:496)
NOTE:  A maximum of 3-credits of research count towards your upper division elective credits, AND only 1-research course
can be used towards the 4-Cognitive Science courses required for the major OR 3-required for the minor
.   
Only faculty who are Executive Committee members or Affiliates  in the Rutgers Center for Cognitive Science can oversee research courses in Cognitive Science.  Once you have a faculty advisor, please submit a completed/signed Honors Research in Cognitive Science Application Form so an SPN can be provided for course registration.