PDF reflects print version of the catalogue (beginning to East Asian Languages and Cultures)Cognitive Science
Bachelor of Arts in Cognitive Science
Director: Toben Mintz, Ph.D.
Total required units for major: 43-48 units
(16 core units, 18-20 flexible core units, 9-12 elective units)
Cognitive science is an interdisciplinary major that focuses on the mind and cognition from a variety of perspectives and approaches. The core and electives sample from courses from anthropology, computer science, linguistics, mathematics, philosophy and psychology.
The major consists of four fixed core courses, plus two tiers of flexible core courses. The first tier generally consists of more introductory courses and the second tier of more advanced courses, although there are exceptions, and some courses satisfy either tier. Students must take two courses from the first tier and three courses from the second. The purpose of the flexible tiers is to structurally implement interdisciplinary breadth with some degree of flexibility. The flexible core is a subset of the electives, from which students can choose in order to complete the required number of units.
Students may elect to focus their curriculum from one of three tracks, which are suggested courses of study for focusing on a particular theme in cognitive science. This may be accomplished through individual advisement: language, reasoning and decision‑making, and the computational mind.
| Core Requirements | Units | |
|---|---|---|
PSYC 100 | Introduction to Psychology | 4 |
| PSYC 274 | Statistics I | 4 |
| PSYC 301L | Cognitive Processes | 4 |
| PSYC 339L | Origins of the Mind | 4 |
| 16 | ||
| Flexible Core Requirements (5 courses) | Units | |
|---|---|---|
| Two courses from: | ||
| CSCI 455x | Introduction to Programming Systems Design | 4 |
| LING 210 | Introduction to Linguistics | 4 |
| LING 301* | Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology | 4 |
| LING 302* | Introduction to Syntax and Semantics | 4 |
| PHIL 250ab | Elementary Formal Logic | 2-2 |
| PHIL 262 | Mind and Self: Modern Conceptions | 4 |
| PSYC 304L | Sensation and Perception | 4 |
| PSYC 336L | Developmental Psychology | 4 |
| Three courses from: | ||
| ANTH 306 | Primate Social Behavior | 4 |
| ANTH 308 | Origins and Evolution of Human Behavior | 4 |
| CSCI 460* | Introduction to Artificial Intelligence | 3 |
| LING 405 | Child Language Acquisition | 4 |
| LING 407 | Atypical Language | 4 |
| PHIL 350 | Symbolic Logic | 4 |
| PHIL 422 | British Empiricism | 4 |
| PHIL 462 | Philosophy of Mind | 4 |
| PHIL 465 | Philosophy of Language | 4 |
| PSYC 304L | Sensation and Perception | 4 |
| PSYC 336L | Developmental Psychology | 4 |
| PSYC 401 | Evolutionary Psychology | 4 |
| PSYC 406 | Psycholinguistics | 4 |
| PSYC 433* | Children’s Learning and Cognitive Development | 4 |
| PSYC 420 | Animal Behavior | 4 |
| PSYC 422* | Human Judgment and Decision Making | 4 |
| PSYC 450L | Neural Network Models of Social and Cognitive Processes | 4 |
| PSYC 454 | Social Cognition | 4 |
| 18-20 | ||
| Electives (3 courses) | Units | |
|---|---|---|
| ANTH 200L | The Origins of Humanity | 4 |
| ANTH 306 | Primate Social Behavior | 4 |
| ANTH 308 | Origins and Evolution of Human Behavior | 4 |
| ANTH 406 | Theory and Method in Biological Anthropology | 4 |
| CSCI 101L | Fundamentals of Computer Programming | 3 |
| CSCI 102L* | Data Structures | 3 |
| CSCI 200L* | Object-Oriented Programming | 3 |
| CSCI 271* | Discrete Methods in Computer Science | 3 |
| CSCI 455x | Introduction to Programming Systems Design | 3 |
| CSCI 460* | Introduction to Artificial Intelligence | 3 |
| LING 210 | Introduction to Linguistics | 4 |
| LING 301* | Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology | 4 |
| LING 302* | Introduction to Syntax and Semantics | 4 |
| LING 405 | Child Language Acquisition | 4 |
| LING 407 | Atypical Language | 4 |
| MATH 116 | Mathematics for the Social Sciences | 4 |
| PHIL 250ab | Elementary Formal Logic | 2-2 |
| PHIL 262 | Mind and Self: Modern Conceptions | 4 |
| PHIL 350 | Symbolic Logic | 4 |
| PHIL 422 | British Empiricism | 4 |
| PHIL 423 | The Critical Philosophy of Kant | 4 |
| PHIL 462 | Philosophy of Mind | 4 |
| PHIL 463 | Theories of Action | 4 |
| PHIL 465 | Philosophy of Language | 4 |
| PHIL 486 | Methodologies of the Sciences | 4 |
| PSYC 304L | Sensation and Perception | 4 |
| PSYC 336L | Developmental Psychology | 4 |
| PSYC 401 | Evolutionary Psychology | 4 |
| PSYC 406 | Psycholinguistics | 4 |
| PSYC 420 | Animal Behavior | 4 |
| PSYC 422* | Human Judgment and Decision Making | 4 |
| PSYC 424 | Neuropsychology | 4 |
| PSYC 425 | Functional Imaging of the Human Brain | 4 |
| PSYC 433* | Children’s Learning and Cognitive Development | 4 |
| PSYC 440 | Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience | 4 |
| PSYC 450L | Neural Network Models of Social and Cognitive Processes | 4 |
| PSYC 454 | Social Cognition | 4 |
| 9-12 | ||
Total units: 43-48