The Cognitive and Neural Sciences

Courses and Descriptions

Majors in the cognitive and neural sciences take a variety of courses from several disciplines. This list provides course names and descriptions for only those courses that are explicitly tied to cognition and behavior. For a complete list of program requirements, select the program of interest on the menu bar to the left. For course descriptions, consult the university catalog. 

Introduction to Cognitive Science - COGS 111 (3)

Introduces the basic concepts, issues and methodologies associated with the interdisciplinary study of human cognition. Insights will be appropriately drawn from several fields including biology, computer science, philosophy and psychology.

Introduction to Psychology - PSYC 121 (3)

Surveys the major areas of psychology including human development, emotion, learning, memory, intelligence, personality, abnormal behavior and psychotherapy.

Introduction to Behavioral Neuroscience - PSYC 125 (3)

Covers the organization and function of the human brain and nervous system - how we sense, move, feel and think. Details the operation of neurons, nervous system organization, sensation, movement, and human behavior, including mood, emotion, sleep, learning, memory, language and attention.

Fundamentals of Programming I - CS 210 (3)

Emphasizes problem-solving techniques used in the analysis and design of software solutions, including structured top-down design, abstraction, good programming style, debugging and testing. Programming constructs covered include control structures, functions, and basic, aggregate, and user-defined data types. Introduction to object-oriented design and recursion.

Fundamentals of Programming II - CS 215 (3)

Emphasizes the use of classes for encapsulation of abstract data types and abstract data structures. Topics include classes, templates, dynamic allocation, searching and sorting, recursion, and exception handling. Prerequisite: CS 210.

Modern European Philosophy - PHIL 221 (3)

Surveys the historical roots of our contemporary understanding of mind and cognition by examining the works of Descartes, Hobbes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume and Kant. Considers proponents of both the rationalist and empiricist traditions with focus on topics such as sensation and perception, the origin of ideas, the nature of scientific knowledge, and dualist, idealist and physicalist accounts of mind. 

Symbolic Logic - PHIL 231 (3)

Introduces fundamental principles and techniques of modern symbolic or mathematical logic including truth-functional logic, quantification theory, and the logic of relations.

Child and Adolescent Psychology - PSYC 226 (3)

Examines the developmental stages from conception through adolescence, giving special emphasis to physical, cognitive, social and emotional aspects related to maturational and learning processes.

Abnormal Psychology - PSYC 259 (3)

Examines abnormal behavior with emphasis on anxiety disorders, affective disorders and schizophrenia. Includes the biological and psychological bases of mental disorder and psychological factors involved in diagnosis and treatment of mental disorder.

Statistics for Psychologists - PSYC 245 (3)

Introduces statistical procedures including measures of control tendency, variability, correlation, and testing of hypotheses by t-test, chi-square, and analysis of variance. Emphasizes their use and interpretation in experimental and other areas of psychology.

Research Methods in Psychology - PSYC 246 (3)

Emphasizes scientific basis of psychology. Explores research methods of modern psychology. Covers use of statistics in design of behavioral experiments. Example experiments are conducted to aid comprehension. Students gain skills necessary for management of simple research and interpretation of research reports. Prerequisites: Psychology 121 and 245.

Algorithms and Data Structures - CS 315 (3)

Design and implementation of algorithms and advanced data structures with attention to complexity and space analysis. Problem-solving strategies including greedy and divide-and-conquer algorithms as well as dynamic programming techniques. Prerequisites: CS 215 and MATH 370.

Epistemology - PHIL 324 (3)

Significantly explores the questions “What is knowledge?”, “How do we know whether we have it, especially about the external world?”, and “Is it possible to have it?”. Considerable time will be devoted to the problem of skepticism and the challenges it places before our having knowledge.

Language Development - PSYC 326 (3)

Introduces the nature of language development in infancy and childhood, and examines the cognitive, developmental, environmental, and physiological influences on language skills.

Animal Behavior - BIOL 333 (3)

Studies the principles of biological rhythms, migration, aggression, competition, learning, reproduction and social behavior of animals.

Sensory and Perceptual Processes - PSYC 355 (3)

Examines the organization and processing of sensory information and influence on emotion, learning, thoughts and other personal factors on human perception.

Physiological Psychology - PSYC 357 (3)

Involves study of brain functions and physiological processes as they relate to behavior. Studies functions of hormonal mechanisms, nervous system and brain as they relate to emotion, motivation, thinking, learning, memory and other areas of human behavior. Also considers the effects of drugs, electrical stimulation of the brain and other means of behavior control.

Cognitive Psychology - PSYC 366 (3)

Examines the cognitive processes underlying perception, memory, language comprehension, thinking and problem-solving. There is an emphasis on theoretical models and experimental findings. The course also explores areas of applied cognitive psychology.

Human Evolution - ANTH 416 (3)

Outlines the stages of hominid biological and cultural evolution, with attention to human variation and the primates.

Animal Physiology - BIOL 427 (4)

Studies the normal functions of animal organs and systems. Topics include metabolism, transmission of nerve impulses, reproduction and the effects of hormones.

Artificial Intelligence - CS 430 (3)

Basic ideas and techniques underlying the design of intelligent computer systems. Topics include heuristic search, problem solving, game playing, knowledge representation, logical inference and planning. Advanced topics such as robotics, expert systems, learning and language understanding as time allows.

Linguistic Anthropology - ANTH 440 (3)

Surveys phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax, children's language acquisition, language origins, historical linguistics, ethnolinguistics and sociolinguistics.

Philosophy of Science - PHIL 445 (3)

Studies methodological problems of the natural and social sciences from a historical point of view. Also examines the logic of explanation and theory construction.

Philosophy of Mind - PHIL 447 (3)

Analyzes the relationship between mental and bodily phenomena and the nature of cognitive activity. Explores whether a strictly physicalist approach to mind is feasible.

Artificial Intelligence and Human Cognition - PHIL 448 (3)

Examines computational models of intelligence and artificial neural nets in the context of recent developments in cognitive science to ascertain what we can learn about human intelligence by the attempts to model it with machines.

Learning - PSYC 450 (3)

Considers theories of learning, conditions necessary for and conducive to learning, theories of learning, and the relationship between learning and memory. Provides an understanding of learning to enable the structuring of experiences in which learning will effectively occur.

Advanced Neuroscience - PSYC 457 (3)

Studies the human brain and nervous system in detail. Topics cover cellular and molecular neuroscience, neural integration, pharmacology, neuroendocrinology, nervous system development, and plasticity of the central nervous system.

Cognitive Development - PSYC 466 (3)

Examines the development of cognitive skills from birth through adolescence with emphasis on memory, attention, perception, language, and problem solving skills. 

Seminar in Philosophy, Neuroscience and Psychology - COGS 498 (3)

Explores a specific interdisciplinary topic that is pertinent to the contemporary study of cognition and behavior. (Course may be repeated for credit as the topic changes; however, it may be counted only once as a requirement toward the cognitive science major.) Prerequisite: Four other courses in cognitive science, philosophy, psychology or neuroscience.