Please use Degree Navigator to generate an academic report for the Cognitive Science minor. Degree Navigator is an advising tool designed to help students make informed decisions regarding their academic progress. It allows you to manage your general education, major, and minor requirements.
To declare your minor in Cognitive Science, please submit a minor declaration form using myMajor.
If you have questions, please contact
General Description of the Minor Program
(Click here to download a flyer with the minor requirements and track information)
Cognitive Science is an interdisciplinary area of scholarship concerned with understanding the nature and development of such intelligent capacities as perception, language, reasoning, planning, problem-solving, and related skills, whether these capacities are instantiated in biological or artificial systems. The goal of the Cognitive Science minor is to provide a structured way for undergraduates to study and carry out research in cognitive science with guidance from faculty members affiliated with the Program in Cognitive Science. Any undergraduate may pursue a minor in cognitive science, regardless of his or her major. The interdisciplinary Cognitive Science minor is likely to be of particular interest to undergraduates majoring in fields that are directly related to cognitive science (e.g., computer science, linguistics, philosophy, psychology, anthropology, biological sciences, mathematics, statistics, biomathematics, communication, and engineering).
Undergraduate Minor Requirements
The interdisciplinary minor in Cognitive Science consists of a minimum of 18 credits, distributed as follows
(click each category to view a complete list of approved courses):
At least three courses offered by Cognitive Science
- 01:185:201 Cognitive Science: A Multi-disciplinary Introduction (4 credits)
- 01:185:253 Human Nature and Diversity (4 credits)
- 01:185:301 Cognition and Decision Making (4 credits; offered every other spring semester)
- 01:185:310 The Concept of "Concepts" in Cognitive Science (3 credits; offered every other fall)
- 01:185:320 Research Methods in Cognitive Science (3 credits)
- 01:185:330 Meaning and Numbering (3 credits)
- 01:185:335 Neural Structure of Language (3 credits)
- 01:185:340 Language and Cognition (previously 410; 3 credits
- 01:185:345 Person Perception and Social Cognition (3 credits)
- 01:185:350 Fundamentals of Cognitive Neuroscience (3 credits)
- 01:185:401 Visual Intelligence (3 credits)
- 01:185:411 Undergraduate Seminar in Cognitive Science (4 credits; offered each spring)
- 01:185:412 Advanced Topics in Cognitive Science Ii (3 credits)
- 01:185:413 Advanced Topics in Cognitive Science: Cog Neuro (3 credits)
- 01:185:414 Advanced Topics in Cognitive Science: Decision Making (3 credits)
- 01:185:415 Advanced Topics in Cognitive Science: Language (3 credits)
- 01:185:416 Advanced Topics in Cognitive Science: Minds,Machines & Computation (3 credits)
- 01:185:417 Advanced Topics in Cognitive Science: Perception (3 credits)
- 01:185:430 Cognitive Neuroscience through Case Studies (4 credits)
A minimum of 3 credits in formal or analytic methods used in cognitive science
The following courses automatically count:
- 01:198:107: Computing for Math and the Sciences (3)
- 01:198:111: Introduction to Computer Science (4)
- 01:198:112: Data structures (4)
- 01:198:205: Introduction to Discrete Structures I (4)
- 01:198:206: Introduction to Discrete Structures II (4)
- 01:615:305: Syntax (3)
- 01:615:315: Phonology (3)
- 01:615:325: Semantics (3)
- 01:615:411: Morphology (3)
- 01:640:300: Introduction to Mathematical Reasoning (3)
- 01:640:338: Discrete and Probabilistic Models in Biology (3)
- 01:640:339: Mathematical Models in the Social Sciences (3)
- 01:640:361: Set Theory (3)
- 01:640:428: Graph Theory (3)
- 01:640:454: Combinatorics (3)
- 01:640:461: Mathematical Logic (3)
- 01:640:477: Mathematical Theory of Probability (3)
- 01:640:478: Probability II (3)
- 01:640:481: Mathematical Theory of Statistics (3)
- 01:730:201: Introduction to Logic (3)
- 01:730:315: Applied Symbolic Logic (3)
- 01:730:407: Intermediate Logic I (3)
- 01:730:408: Intermediate Logic II (3)
- 01:830:200: Quantitative Methods in Psychology (4)
- 01:830:400: Advanced Statistical Methods in Psychology (3)
- 01:960:379: Basic Probability and Statistics (3)
- 01:960:381: Theory of Probability (3)
- 01:960:382: Theory of Statistics (3)
- 01:960:401: Basic Statistics for Research (3)
A minimum of an additional 6 elective credits
Any course listed as an approved formal/analytic course may be counted as electives. If you take more than the required 3-courses offered by Cognitive Science in requirement #1, any additional course will be counted as an elective.
The following additional courses automatically count:
- 01:119:195: Brain, Mind and Behavior (3)
- 01:146:245: Fundamentals of Neurobiology (for CBN majors) (3)
- 01:146:295: Essentials in Cell Bio and Neuro (for non-CBN majors) (3)
- 01:146:445: Advanced Neurobiology I (4)
- 01:146:447: Advanced Neurobiology II (3)
- 01:185:--- : Any Cognitive Science course
- 01:198:314: Principles of Programming Languages (4)
- 01:198:344: Design and Analysis of Computer Algorithms (4)
- 01:198:405: Seminar in Computers and Society (3)
- 01:198:415: Compilers (4)
- 01:198:424: Modeling and Simulation of Continuous Systems (4)
- 01:198:428: Introduction to Computer Graphics (4)
- 01:198:440: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (4)
- 01:198:452: Formal Languages and Automata (3)
- 01:447:380: Genetics (4)
- 01:447:384: Genetics Analysis I (4)
- 01:447:385: Genetics Analysis II (4)
- 01:447:410: Research in Genetics-Writing Intensive (3)
- 01:447:484: Behavioral and Neural Genetics (3)
- 01:615:201: Introduction to Linguistic Theory (3)
- 01:615:330: Historical Linguistics (3)
- 01:615:350: Pragmatics (3)
- 01:615:360: Theories of Language (3)
- 01:615:371: Psychology of Language (3)
- 01:615:373: Language Acquisition (3)
- 01:615:421: Language Typology (3)
- 01:615:431: Investigations into an Unfamiliar Language (3)
- 01:615:435: Experimental Methodologies in Language Acquisition (3)
- 01:615:440: Language Development (previously 433, 3)
- 01:615:441: Linguistics and Cognitive Science (3)
- 01:615:445: Language and Cognition (3)
- 01:615:451: Phonetics (3)
- 01:615:455: Computational Linguistics (3)
- 01:615:465: Introduction to Prosody (3)
- 01:615:471: Selected Topics in Linguistics (3)
- 01:615:491: Practicum in Linguistics (3)
- 01:730:210: Philosophy of Language (3)
- 01:730:220: Theory of Knowledge (3)
- 01:730:253: Human Nature and Diversity (4)
- 01:730:328: Philosophy of Psychology (3)
- 01:730:329: Minds, Machines and Persons (3)
- 01:730:360: Philosophical Aspects of Cognitive Science (3)
- 01:730:412: Epistemology (3)
- 01:730:418: Philosophy of Science (3)
- 01:730:419: Philosophy of Perception (3)
- 01:730:420: Philosophy of Language (3)
- 01:730:422: Philosophy of Logic (3)
- 01:730:424: The Logic of Decision (3)
- 01:730:425: Philosophy of Mind (3)
- 01:730:428: Topics in the Philosophy of Psychology (3)
- 01:830:301: Sensation and Perception (3)
- 01:830:303: Memory (3)
- 01:830:305: Cognition (3)
- 01:830:307: Perception in Cognitive Science (3)
- 01:830:310: Neuropsychology (3)
- 01:830:311: Conditioning and Learning (3)
- 01:830:313: Physiological Psychology (3)
- 01:830:351: Psychology of Language I (3)
- 01:830:361: Developmental Psychobiology (3)
- 01:830:401: Advanced Topics in Human Cognition (3)
- 01:830:402: Advanced Topics in Human Cognition (WI) (3)
- 01:830:410: Advanced Topics in Psychobiology (3)
- 01:830:411: Advanced Topics in Psychobiology WI (3)
- 01:830:412: Neuropsychopharmacology (3)
- 01:830:463: Behavioral Pharmacology (3)
- 01:830:480: Advanced Topics in Visual Perception (3)
- 01:830:484: Language Acquisition (previously 353; 3)
- 01:940:363: Bilingualism in the Spanish-Speaking World (3)
- 01:940:368: The Bilingual Mind (3)
- 01:960:384: Intermediate Statistical Analysis (3)
This course list will be updated periodically as appropriate.
Additional requirements:
- 3-Cognitive Science Courses (185 Curriculum)
- Grades of "C" or better must be earned in all courses counted toward the minor.
- No more than 4-credits at the 100-level may be counted towards the minor.
- At least half of the credits towards the minor must be at the 300-level or above.
- No more than 2-courses from any one department (major or non-major curriculum) may count towards the minor with the exception of CogSci curriculum 185.
- The same course cannot be used to fulfill both the formal/analytic and elective requirements.
How to Declare a Minor in Cognitive Science
To declare a minor in Cognitive Science, please use myMajor. Students are recommended to declare the minor at the same time, or shortly after, they declare a major field of study. Either before or immediately after declaring the Cognitive Science minor, students must take three of our required courses offered by Cognitive Science and/or a formal/analytic methods course,
Students should be aware that many of the courses listed have prerequisites and not all of the courses are offered each semester.
Students should contact the departments that offer courses to learn about prerequisites and course schedules. The Undergraduate Program Director and advising staff can assist students with course selections, mentors and research/independent study projects. Students may petition the Undergraduate Program Director to have additional courses count as formal/analytic or elective courses by emailing:
