Cognitive Science 600

Cognitive Science 600
Graduate Seminar in Cognitive Science

Winter Term 2006
Wednesdays 10:00-11:50 a.m.
PAS 4288 (In the back research area. Just ignore signs saying you should not enter the area...)

Course Coordinator: Daniela O'Neill, Office: PAS 4015, Phone: 888-4567 ext. 2545, email: doneill@uwaterloo.ca. My office hours are basically any afternoon after 2 p.m. Just email me to let me know you'd like to meet.

Introduction

Cognitive Science is the interdisciplinary study of mind and intelligence . This seminar will discuss a variety of topics concerning the nature of human and computer intelligence that feature the latest research and are often the source of much debate in their respective fields. Cognitive Science 600 is the core course in the Graduate Certificate program in Cognitive Science.

Announcements

January 4: Class will begin in the first week of term, with Paul Thagard as our first speaker. Please be sure to have read the relevant reading for this class ahead of time. The reading is available in pdf form in the schedule below.

Assignments

A 1- to 2-page essay to be handed in each week concerning the week's readings. Please use 1.5 spacing and 12-point font at minimum (My eyes thank you!) Worth 10% of grade. No late papers accepted. If you will be away, please email me your essay before the beginning of class. These essays should demonstrate to me that you have read the assigned reading(s) and that you have thought about the material discussed in the reading(s). They should not be summaries of the readings, but reflect your thinking about the readings.

A participation grade of 1% for each week with a speaker (10% in total). The quality of your contribution(s) count - not the quantity.

A research essay (maximum 15 pages, double-spaced, 12 font type). The topic of this essay can vary, but must involve cognitive science in a significant way. I encourage you to integrate this essay with research you are already doing and use it as an opportunity to expand your thinking on your research. It will be graded by me, and if outside my area of expertise, I will recruit another faculty member on the Cognitive Science board (or from the relevant field) to grade it. Worth 70% of your grade. This essay will be due to me in the last class, March 29.

A one-page description of your research essay topic due February 15th, just to make sure you are on the right track (and to help you get started on thinking about it well-ahead of the deadline...)

A class presentation of your research essay topic. The last two week's of the seminar will be set aside for this. We will work out the schedule of speakers in class. The time limit will depend on the number of students. This presentation will be worth 10% of your grade.

Students and faculty are also welcome to audit the course. Students who want to audit the course must complete the weekly essays and participate weekly in the discussion.

Schedule

All assigned readings are included here in pdf form. Be sure to read them in advance of each speaker's talk and come prepared to discuss them in class with everyone and the speaker. A brief weekly written assignment based on the readings is also due at the in each class.

Date	Speaker	Title of Talk	Assigned Background Readings
January 4	Paul Thagard, Philosophy	What is Cognitive Science?	Being interdisciplinary:Trading zones in cognitive science
January 11	Tim Kenyon, Philosophy	Cognitive Science and Epistemology: How the Empirical Study of Human Weirdness Affects our Confidence in Testimonial Evidence	The suggestibility of children's memory
January 18	Ori Friedman, Psychology	Belief-Desire Reasoning in Children and Adults	Theory of Mind as a mechanism of selective attention
January 25	Pascal Poupart, Computer Science	Cognitive Assistive Technologies for People with Dementia	1. A planning system based on Markov decision processes to guide people with dementia through the activities of daily living 2. A decision-theoretic approach to task assistance for people with dementia
February 1	Don Grierson, Civil Engineering	Using Cognitive Science to Improve the Safety of Structures Against Terrorist Attacks	1. Method for conceptual design applied to office buildings 2. Probability versus safety of high-rise office buildings
February 8	Kate Larson, Computer Science	Deliberative Agents and Mechanism Design	Mechanism design and deliberative agents
February 15 (Essay topic due)	Chris Eliasmith, Philosophy	Computational Neuroscience	Moving beyond metaphors: Understanding the mind for what it is
February 22	Reading Week - No Class
March 1	Johnathan Fugelsang, Psychology	Knowledge Mediation in Complex Causal Thinking	Theory and data interactions of the scientific mind: Evidence from the molecular and cognitive laboratory
March 8	Randy Harris, English	Cognitive Rhetoric	No reading
March 15	Derek Koehler, Psychology	Case-based Biases in Intuitive Probability and Pricing Judgements	Modeling patterns of probability calibration with random support theory: Diagnosing case-based judgment
March 22	Student Presentations
March 29 (All essays due)	Student Presentations

Links to Previous Seminars

Cognitive Science 600 S05 Course co-ordinator, Randy Harris
Cognitive Science 600 F03 Course co-ordinator, Chrysanne DiMarco
Cognitive Science 600 F02 Course co-ordinator: Paul Thagard
Cognitive Science 600 F01 Course co-ordinator: Paul Thagard