Introduction

to Cognitive Science
- Spring 2016


[NOTE: The official version of this document is always the one posted on the Canvas
site for the class.]

Listings: CGS 360, LIN 373-7, PHL 365-2
Class: M/W/F 12-1pm, CLA 0.122


Instructor
Prof. David Beaver, Ph.D.
Office: CLA 4.708
Office hours: Mon 2-3pm, Tue 10-12am
E-mail: dib@utexas.edu
Teaching Assistant
Katya Levina
ekaterina.levina@utexas.edu

Class description
This course is an introduction to the modern study of how the mind
works. We will explore how humans perceive the world, how they
acquire and represent knowledge, and how they reason, understand
language and make decisions. Central to the course will be the
computational theory of mind and the embodiment of thought and
consciousness in a few pounds of grey meat. All these topics are
central to the interdisciplinary field of Cognitive Science, an area
in which UT boasts enormous strength. The course will incorporate
presentations from faculty across Computer Science, Linguistics,
Neurobiology, Philosophy, and Psychology.
Course objectives:
To introduce you to key issues involved in the study of mind, and
provoke you into thinking more about them. To give you a sense of
the range of perspectives and methods used across the cognitive
sciences, and study the extent to which diverse approaches cohere.
To introduce you (through guest lectures) to a selection of leading
cognitive scientists at UT, and the type of research they conduct.
Topics:

Week Primary topic

1 Reason and Cognitive Science
2 Logic & Probability
3 Representation & Search
4 Decision Making
5 Learning
6 Neural Nets
7 Visual Perception
8 Attention & Consciousness
9 Decision making
10 Speech perception
11 Pragmatics
12 Topics in Language
13 Limits of reason
14 Game Theory
15 Neuroscience

Method of evaluation:
You will be expected to demonstrate your developing
understanding of the field in several ways:
. a) Discussion board & participation 25%
. b) Assignments 35%
. c) Midterm 15%
. d) Final exam 25%
.

Discussion board posts: Every week you will be required to post

(via Canvas) brief reactions (a minimum of 100 words) to selected
readings. The post should be made before the beginning of class on
the due date.
Posts can address any aspect of the readings and students are
encouraged to relate them to other subjects (e.g., "It would very
hard to get to an automated speech recognition system to take into
account this type of information for the following reasons ...") and
their own area of expertise (e.g., "I wonder how agrammatic
aphasics would behave in this task. It seems likely that ...") and
consider novel implications of the readings. Writing style for the
posts should be clear but may be casual. Assume that your
audience has read any required paper that you are commenting on
but has no idea about other areas of study that you know.
Posts will be graded on a 3 point scale: 0 (missing), 1
(satisfactory), 2 (good)
Assignments: There will be 7 assignments throughout the
semester; they consist of answers to a series of short questions
about the material covered. Assignments will usually be handed
out at least one week before the work is due. Each assignment is
worth 10 points.
10 pts 9 8 7 6 5 or less
= A+ =A =B =C =D =F
= outstanding, insightful, perfect = very good = good = adequate,
passing
= missing main points = less than 1/3 finished and/or correct
Assignments should be submitted on Canvas as a pdf file.
Homework submitted past the due date will not be graded except
by prior agreement of the TA at least 24 hours before the due date.
If you have a certified medical reason why you could not complete
the assignment on time, the TA may, at their discretion, grant an
extra 24 or 48 hours. The greater the advance notice of a need for
extension, the greater the likelihood that it will be granted.
Midterm: This will consist of essay and short answer questions
and will take place during regular class time on Friday, March 26.
No late tests will be given without a documented serious reason. In
this case, you must notify me in advance of the exam time, or as
soon as humanly possible thereafter.
Attendance and participation: You are required to attend and
participate in all classes. Please be advised that you are responsible
for knowing what is said in class, whether you are there or not.
Thus if you choose not to attend any given lecture, you should get
notes from your classmates. Active participation may turn out to be
particularly useful if you end up with a borderline letter grade.
Grading scale
Final grades will be given according to the following grading
scale.

2
A: 93-100 A-: 90-92 B+: 87-89 B: 83-86
B-: 80-82 C+: 77-79 C: 73-76 C-: 70-72
D+: 67-69 D: 63-66 D-: 60-62 F: 0-59
However, I may lower (but not raise) the cutoffs (i.e. drop an A to
91 but never raise it to 95).
Prerequisites
The only general prerequisite is upper-division standing (although
individual departments may impose additional restrictions).
Although there are no specific course prerequisites, you will be
expected to think, read, and write about topics that involve a broad
range of disciplines and methodologies. Thus you will need to be
flexible. You will read discursive philosophical material, historical
accounts, and descriptions of experiments in psychology and
neuroscience, but you will also need to be comfortable learning
about relatively formal methods, for example involving basic
statistics, probability theory, and theory of computation. However,
it must be emphasized that you do not need to know any of this in
advance you just need to be completely fearless.
Texts
Readings will consist of primary papers from the literature and
short overview articles. They will be made available as pdf files on
Canvas. There is no course textbook. Required readings will be
posted on Canvas at least a week before the discussion board post
is due. Additional readings will be posted as needed.
Documented Disability Statement
The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request
appropriate academic accommodations for qualified students with
disabilities from the Division of Diversity and Community
Engagement, Services for Students with Disabilities. For more
information, contact the Office of the Dean of Students at 471-
6259 (voice), or 1-866-329-3986 (video phone). Faculty are not
required to provide accommodations without an official
accommodation letter from SSD. See:
http://www.utexas.edu/diversity/ddce/ssd/.
Academic Integrity
University of Texas Honor Code
The core values of The University of Texas at Austin are learning,
discovery, freedom, leadership, individual opportunity, and
responsibility. Each member of the university is expected to
uphold these values through integrity, honesty, trust, fairness, and
respect toward peers and community.
Each student in this course is expected to abide by the University
of Texas Honor Code. Any work submitted by a student in this
course for academic credit must be the student's own work.
You are encouraged to study together and to discuss information
and concepts covered in lecture and the sections with other
students. You can give "consulting" help to or receive "consulting"
help from such students. However, this permissible cooperation
should never involve one student having possession of a copy of
all or part of work done by someone else, in the form of an e-mail,
an e-mail attachment file, a diskette, a CD, or a hard copy.
Should copying occur, both the student who copied work from
another student and the student who gave material to be copied
will automatically receive a zero for the assignment. Penalty for
violation of this Code can also be extended to include failure of the
course and University disciplinary action.
During examinations, you must do your own work. Talking or
discussion is not permitted during the examinations, nor may you
compare papers, copy from others, or collaborate in any way. Any
collaborative behavior during the examination will result in failure
of the exam, and may lead to failure of the course and University
disciplinary action. I may use software in order to check for
academic dishonesty.
Religious Holy Days
By UT Austin policy, you must notify me of your pending absence
at least fourteen days prior to the date of observance of a religious
holy day. If you must miss a class, an examination, a work
assignment, or a project in order to observe a religious holy day, I
will give you an opportunity to complete the missed work within a
reasonable time after the absence.
Courtesy
Tardiness and early departure are disruptive and are unfair to the
rest of the class. In general, avoid entering or leaving class during a
lecture, but if it is unavoidable, take a seat near the door.
Use of E-mail for Official Correspondence to Students
All students should become familiar with the University's official
e-mail student notification policy. It is the student's responsibility
to keep the University informed as to changes in his or her e-mail
address. Students are expected to check e-mail on a frequent and
regular basis in order to stay current with University-related
communications, recognizing that certain communications may be
time-critical. The complete text of this policy and instructions for
updating your e-mail address are available at
http://www.utexas.edu/its/policies/emailnotify.html