COGS 493 Cognitive Science Senior Seminar

Fall 2009


Mondays 8:50-10:50 | Clark Hall 205

Instructor: Joe Cruz
Department of Philosophy and Progam in Cognitive Science

Office Hours: M, 12:30-2:30; W, Noon-1 | North Academic Building 306

 

The goal of the cognitive science senior seminar is threefold. Firstly, we will revisit the foundations of cognitive research by reading some of the classics that established cognitive science as a field in the middle of the 20th century. Secondly, we will engage current research trends in cognitive studies by looking at work published in the last five years on cognitive neuroscience, embodied cognition, dynamic systems theory, empirical approaches to consciousness, and situated robotics. In addition to attending to the specific empirical details of this latter work, we will also discuss how current research elaborates, expands, and sharpens early conceptions of the domain and methodology of cognitive science. Our final goal will be the preparation of individual research papers by members of the class. These will be on topics determined in collaboration with the instructor. Students will be responsible for presentations on the assigned readings, and for the development of a final paper involving independent research

 

 

 

Requirements and Grading

 

1) Seminar Symposium Papers

Each week, two students will craft individual symposium papers to be included among the readings for the seminar.  The authors of the symposium papers should take the assigned readings to be a starting point for their own investigations of the literature on the week’s topic.  Their task, then, is to synthesize and comment on the material they have read.  It will be their responsibility to provide an overview of the principal issues for that week.  Symposium authors are also encouraged to offer critical comments in their work.

 

Symposium pieces are due by 5:00 PM on the Sunday before our seminar meeting.  Symposium authors are asked to distribute their papers by email to the entire seminar.

 

Papers should be approximately 5 pages long.  Typewritten, double spaced in a 12 point font.  No title page.  Each student will be responsible for two symposium papers over the course of the semester.

 

(2 papers, 15% each.  i.e., 30% of the final grade)

 

2) Seminar Presentation and Discussion Leadership

The authors of the symposium papers for a given week are expected to lead discussion.  Faculty may choose to begin a week’s session with a presentation of their own.

 

(20% of the final grade)

 

3) Participation

Discussion is essential to the vitality of the seminar.  Thoughtful participation in discussion is also one indicator that you are reading carefully.

 

Many students are concerned with this aspect of the classroom dynamic, but it should not be a source of anxiety.  Keep in mind that your first priority is reading the assignments carefully and working diligently on the writing for the course.  Thoughtful, honest, and respectful participation derives from these.  Every effort will be made to ensure that the class is a welcoming forum for sharing serious ideas.  In addition, ‘participation’ is more inclusive than many students realize.  Being attentive and engaged in class and asking clarificatory questions fall under this heading.

 

(10 % of the final grade)

 

4) Final Paper

The final assignment for the course will be a term paper on a topic of your choice.  Students who hope to pursue Honors in Cognitive Science are advised to treat this paper as the first phase of thesis research.

 

In addition to writing the paper, you will give a brief (10-15 minute) presentation on your research topic in the final meeting of the semester.

 

Due by 5:00 PM on December 19th (the last day the Dean’s Office allows written work to be turned in).

 

10-15 pages.  Typewritten, double spaced in a 12 point font.  No title page.

 

(30% paper, 10% presentation. i.e., 40% of the final grade)

 

 

Students with disabilities who may need disability-related classroom accommodations for this course are encouraged to set up an appointment with the instructor as soon as possible and to contact the Dean’s Office (at x4262) to better insure that accommodations are provided in a timely manner.

 


Weekly Schedule of Topics and Readings

 

September 14             Introduction – Overview of syllabus, structure of course

A History of Cognitive Science

 

Bechtel, W., Abrahamsen, A., and Graham, G. (1998) The Life of Cognitive Science. In A Companion to Cognitive Science, Bechtel, W. et al., eds. Malden: Blackwell, pp. 2-104.

 

Seminar Leader(s): Cruz

 


September 21            Behaviorism and Language

 

Skinner, B. F.  (1957).  Verbal behavior.  NY: Appleton-Century-Crofts.  Selected chapters.

 

Chomsky, N. (1959).  Review of Verbal Behavior.  Language, 35, 26-58.

 

MacCorquodale, K. (1970).  On Chomsky's review of Skinner's Verbal Behavior.  Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 13, 83-99.

 

Seminar Leader(s): D. Moore & T. Zhuravleva

 

 

September 28             Mirror Neurons

 

Rizzolati, G., Arbib, M.A.  (1998).  Language within our grasp.  Trends in Neuroscience, 21, 188-194.

 

Iacoboni M, Dapretto M.  (2006). The mirror neuron system and the consequences of its dysfunction.  Nature Reviews of Neuroscience, 7, 942-951. 

 

Kilner, J.M., Friston, K.J., Frith, C.D.  (2007). Predictive coding: an account of the mirror neuron system.  Cognitive Processes, 8, 159-166.

Dinstein, E., Thomas, C., Behrmann, M., Heeger, D.J.  (2008). A mirror up to nature.  Current Biology, 18, R13-R18.

 

Kohler, E., Keysers, C., Umilta, M.A., Fogasi, L., Gallese, V., Rizzolati, G.  (2002). Hearing sounds, understanding actions: Action representation in mirror neurons. Science, 297, 846-848.

 

Gallese, V., Keysers, C., Rizzolati, G.  (2004). A unifying view of the basis of social cognition.  Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8, 396-403.

 

Seminar Leader(s): B. Gurcay

 

 

October 5                   The Promise and Pitfalls of Cognitive Neuroscience

 

Gazzaniga, M. S., Ivry, R. B. Mangun,G. R. & Steven, M. S.  (2008). Cognitive Neuroscience: The Biology of Mind, 3rd ED. (Excerpt: pp. 148-159). 

 

Uttal, W. R. (2001). The new phrenology: the limits of localizing cognitive processes in the brain. Cambridge, MA, US: The MIT Press. Chapter 3, pp. 89-146.

 

Uttal, W. R. (2001). The new phrenology: The limits of localizing cognitive processes in the brain. Cambridge, MA, US: The MIT Press. Chapter 4, pp. 89-146.

 

Weisberg, D. S., Keil, F. C., Goodstein, J., Rawson, E., & Gray, J. R. (2008). The seductive allure of neuroscience explanations. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 20, 470-477.

 

Seminar Leader(s): B. Gurcay

 

 

October 19                   How Abstract is Abstract Thought?

 

Casasanto, D. & Boroditsky, L. (in press).  Similarity and proximity: When does close in space mean close in mind? Memory and Cognition.

 

 Landy, D. and Goldstone, R. L. (2007). How abstract is symbolic thought?  Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 33, 720-733.

 

Wilson, N. L., & Gibbs, R. W., Jr. (2007). Real and imagined body movement primes metaphor comprehension. Cognitive Science: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 31, 721-731.

 

Seminar Leader(s): C. Dorsey

 

October 26                Cognitive Science and Culture

Hutchins, E. (1996). Cognition in the wild. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Selected chapters.

 

Seminar Leader(s): R. Ezra

November 2                  Dynamical Systems

 

Spivey, M. (2007). The continuity of mind. NY: Oxford.  Selected chapters.

 

Seminar Leader(s): C. Dorsey & A. Stanley

 

 

November 9                 Developmental Robotics

Arkin, R. C. (1998) Behavior-Based Robotics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. pp. 20-27.

 

Asada, M., MacDorman, K. F., Ishiguro, H., Kuniyoshi, Y. (2001) Cognitive developmental robotics as a new paradigm for the design of humanoid robots. Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 37, 185-193.

 

Blank, D., Kumar, D., Meeden, L., and Marshall, J. (2005) Bringing up robot: Fundamental mechanisms for creating a self-motivating, self-organizing architecture. Cybernetics and Systems, 36, 125-150.

 

Seminar Leader(s): T. Zhuravleva

 

 

November 16               Tool Use in Non-Human Animals

 

Bluff, L.A., Weir, A.A.S., Rutz, C., Wimpenny, J.H., Kacelnik, A.  (2007). Tool-related cognition in New Caledonian crows.  Comparative Cognition and Behavior Reviews, 2, 1-25. 

                        Videos can be found embedded in the html version of this paper:

                       

           

McGrew, W.C.  (2004)  Primatology:  Advanced ape technology.  Current Biology, 14:R1046-7.

See related videos in the panel to the left of a paper by Sanz and co-workers, to be found here.

                       

Whiten, A., Goodall, J., McGrew, W.C., Nishida, T., Reynolds, V., Sugiyama, Y., Tutin, C.E.G., Wrangham, R.W., Boesch, C.  (1999)  Cultures in chimpanzees.  Science, 399:682-5.

 

Johnson-Frey, S.H.  (2003)  What’s so special about human tool use?  Neuron, 39:201-204.

 

 

Rutz, C., Bluff, L.A., Weir, A.A.S., Kacelnik, A.  (2007)  Video cameras on wild birds.  Science, 318:765.

                        Additional figures and videos can be found here:

                       

Visalberghi, E., Fragaszy, D.M., Savage-Rumbaugh, S.  (1995)  Performance in a tool-using task by common chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), bonobos (Pan paniscus), an orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus), and capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella).  Journal of Comparative Psychology, 109:52-60.

 

Seminar Leader(s): Cruz

           

November 23             Embodied Cognition

Anderson, M. (2003). Embodied cognition: a field guide. Artificial Intelligence, 49: 91-130.


Thompson, E. (2007). Mind in Life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP. Selected chapters.

 

Seminar Leader(s): A. Stanley

 

November 30             Non-Linguistic Thought

Bermúdez, J. (2003). Thinking without words. Oxford: Oxford UP. Selected chapters.

 

Seminar Leader(s): R. Ezra & D. Moore

 

December 7             Philosophical Synthesis Toward Action, Consciousness, and Empathy

Gallagher, S. (2008). Brainstorming. Exeter: Imprint Academic. Selected chapters.

 

Seminar Leader(s): Cruz

 

 Reading Period        Presentations

 

Honor Code

 

We will follow the academic Honor Code as described in the Course Catalog. 

 

We hope you will discuss your thoughts and your writing with people outside of class.  We also expect that we will have lively class discussions.  This means that you will need to cite others’ ideas in your writing. 


Plagiarism includes copying text or making use of ideas from any source (such as another person, a book, an article, or a web site) without acknowledging that source. Thus, in the assignments students must acknowledge all sources with citations, and either endnotes or footnotes containing the full reference information for those citations.