Advanced Topics in Cognitive Science (01:185:411)

Spring 2006

ANNOUNCEMENTS: None

(Last updated 3/21/2006)

Lecture Time and Location: Tuesdays 10:20 am-12:20 pm. ARC 206

Recitation Time and Location: Fridays 1-2 pm, Psych Bldg Annex, Room A139

Faculty Organizer: K. Stromswold

E-mail: karin@ruccs.rutgers.edu

Office hours: Monday 1-2 pm

Location: Busch Psychology, Room 233

Phone: (732) 445-2448

Recitation Leader: M. Chen

E-mail: chenml@ruccs.rutgers.edu

Office hours: Wednesdays 4-5 pm

Location: Busch Psych Bldg, Room 133A

Phone: (732) 445- 4959

READINGS:

Textbook: E. Lepore & Z. Pylyshyn (1999). What is cognitive science? Malden, MA: Blackwell.

Readings: Required readings are listed in the syllabus

Course Website and bulletin boards: http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/ruccs/academics_ucourse.html

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

1. Two short papers (7-10 pages each)

For each paper, you may choose any topic that has been covered in the lectures and/or readings. The first paper will be due on March 7, and the second one on April 25. If you hand in a paper late, a half a grade will be deducted for each day it is late.

Papers should be 7-10 pages (double spaced), and include a bibliography (references) that cites 4 or 5 articles or chapters. (References are not included in the page limit.). Three criteria will be used in grading your papers: (1) accurateness of your summary of previous work; (2) insightfulness of your original thoughts and critique, and (3) quality of writing.

You may choose from among the following 3 options for each of your 2 short papers:

1. Paper Summary & Critique. Pick one of the assigned readings. Go the References section at the end of that reading, and choose one of the articles/chapters cited in the References. (Begin by selecting a few, look them up in the library, and then make your final pick.) Once you've made your choice, write a summary of that article. It is important that the summary include your original critique and thoughts—e.g., how does the article fit into the bigger scheme of things, and (if it is an experimental paper) do the experiments address the issues they were meant to address, etc. Turn in a copy of the article along with your summary.

2. Topic Summary & Critique. This is similar to Choice #1 except that, instead of summarizing a specific article, you are summarizing one of the topics covered in class. Pick one of the lectures given so far, and write a summary of research on a topic that the lecture covered—and how it relates to Cognitive Science more generally. Again, the summary must include your original critique and thoughts.

3. Research Proposal. For one of the topics covered in class, think of what research project you could perform to address some issues that are still open / have not been adequately addressed. It is important that the paper first motivate the research you are proposing: Why would conducting the proposed research be important? What issues would it address? How does it advance on what is already known?

Professor Stromswold’s guide to writing a literature review:

http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/~karin/Cogsci_Litreview.pdf

2. LECTURE ATTENDANCE & PARTICIPATION

Attendance and participation in lectures is an integral part of this course. You may miss at most two lectures during the semester. For every unexcused absence beyond that, your course grade will be lowered by a half grade.

2. RECITATION SECTION ATTENDANCE & PARTICIPATION

Attendance and participation in recitation section is an integral part of this course. You may miss at most two recitation sections during the semester. For every unexcused absence beyond that, your course grade will be lowered by a half grade. If you cannot attend the recitation section because of a legitimate scheduling conflict, instead of attending recitation section, you may write a two-page TYPED critique for each lecture. Each critique is due the Friday immediately following the lecture. You may skip at most two lecture critiques. For every critique you skip beyond that, your course grade will be lowered by a half a grade.

4. ONLINE QUESTIONS & COMMENTS ON THE READINGS.

To help focus and promote class discussion, prior to each class, you must submit at least one short question or comment about the reading(s) for that class. Questions and comments must be posted at least 24 hours prior the lecture.

To post questions/comments, go the following website:

http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/ruccs/academics_ucourse.html

Click on the name of the appropriate lecturer. Then follow the instructions on the page to post your questions/comments for that lecturer. You are encouraged to respond to other students’ comments.

Lecture Schedule & Readings

1/17: Karin Stromswold (Psychology/RuCCS). Introduction to Cognitive Science

BACKROUND READING FOR THE COURSE:

1) Pylyshyn, Z. (1999). What is in your mind? In E. Lepore & Z. Pylyshyn (eds.), What is cognitive science? Malden, MA: Blackwell, pp. 1-25.

http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/ftp/pub/papers/ruccsbook.PDF

2) Friedenberg, J & Silverman, G. (2006). Cognitive Science: An introduction to the study of the mind, pp. 1-26. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications

http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/~karin/Friedenberg_Intro.pdf

1/24: Stephen Stich (Philosophy/RuCCS). Rationality

READING: Samuels, R., Stich, S. & Tremoulet, P. (1999) Rethinking rationality: From bleak implications to Darwinian modules. In E. Lepore & Z. Pylyshyn (eds.), What is cognitive science?

http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/ArchiveFolder//Research%20Group/Publications/Rethink/rethink.html

1/31: Stephen Stich (Philosophy/RuCCS). Rationality (continued)

2/7: Alvin Goldman (Philosophy/RuCCS). Topic: Mindreading

READING: Goldman, A. & Mason, K. (to appear). Simulation. In P. Thagard (Ed.), Handbook of philosophy of psychology and cognitive science.

http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/~karin/GoldmanMason.pdf

2/14 Alan Leslie (Psychology/RuCCS). The development of theory of mind

READING: Leslie, A. M. (2000). "Theory of Mind" as a mechanism of selective attention. In M. S. Gazzaniga (ed.), The new cognitive neurosciences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 1235-1248

http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/~aleslie/Leslie_2000b_NEW_COGNITIVE_NEUROSCIENCES.pdf

2/21: Marian Chen (Psychology/RuCCS). Numerical development

READING: Feigenson, L., Dehaene, S. and Spelke, E. (2004) Core systems of number. Trends in Cognitive Science, 8(7).

http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/~karin/feigenson2004.pdf

2/28: Alan Prince (Linguistics/RuCCS). Introduction to Optimality Theory

READING: Tesar, B. Grimshaw, J. & Prince , A. (1999). Linguistic and cognitive explanation in Optimality Theory. In E. Lepore & Z. Pylyshyn (eds.), What is cognitive science? Malden, MA: Blackwell, pp. 295-326. (http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/forums/proseminar_fall03/Tesar.pdf)

Emphasis on section 1.

3/7: Bruce Tesar (Linguistics/RuCCS). Learnability Theory in Optimality Theory

Emphasis on section 4.

3/7: FIRST PAPER DUE

3/14: SPRING BREAK

3/21: Karin Stromswold (Psychology/RuCCS). Cognitive and Neural Bases of Language Development

READING:

Stromswold, K. (2000). The cognitive neuroscience of language acquisition. In M. Gazzaniga (ed), The cognitive neurosciences, second edition Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp 909-932.

http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/~karin/CogNeuroStrom.pdf

3/28: Karin Stromswold (Psychology/RuCCS). Genetics of Language: Implications for Cognitive Science

READING: Stromswold, K. (2005/to appear). Genetics of Language: What genetic studies reveal about the acquisition, structure and evolution of language.

http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/~karin/Stromswold_Evol.pdf

4/4: Ken Shan (Computer Science/RuCCS). Computational linguistics

READING: Links to readings may be found at http://www.cs.rutgers.edu/~ccshan/proseminar/

http://www.cs.rutgers.edu/~ccshan/proseminar

4/11: Thomas Papathomas: Top-down and bottom-up processes in vision – The case of binocular rivalry

READING: Papathomas TV. (1999). The brain as a hypothesis-constructing-and-testing agent. In E. Lepore & Z. Pylyshyn (eds.), What is cognitive science? Malden, MA: Blackwell, 230-247.

http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/~karin/Papathomas.pdf

4/18: Manish Singh: Object and Depth Perception

READING:

1)Rock, I. (1985). Perception. Scientific American Library. Chapter 3 (“The many paths to the third dimension”), pp. 71-89.

http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/~karin/Rock_Depth.pdf

2) Palmer, S. E. (1999). Vision Science: From photons to phenomenology. MIT Press. Chapter 6 (“Organizing objects and scenes”), pp. 280-300.

http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/~karin/Palmer_objects.pdf

4/25: Doug DeCarlo (Computer Science/RuCCS): Visual interaction

READING: Zeki (1999). Inner vision: An exploration of art and the brain.

http://www.cs.rutgers.edu/~decarlo/201

4/25 SECOND PAPER DUE.