1. Welcome to…. Psychology 85 Introduction to Cognitive Science Summer 2015 Instructor: Sean McAuliffe T.A.: Carolyn Bufford

2. Reasons this class is sometimes different from most psych classes “I seek not to know the answers, but to understand the questions.” Kung Fu (TV Show in 1970s) Instructor will not always have a definitive answer (e.g. “DO we have free will”) We will consider what is theoretically possible which is very different from what is practically possible More interactive than typical psychology course Students tend to be more intelligent and more motivated

3. Course Syllabus

4. A rock A virus An amoeba A dog A chimpanzee Professor McAuliffe Yourself Does it have a mind? Why or Why Not?

5. Cognitive Science: The scientific study of the mind. How do we recognize a mind?

6. Cognitive Science: The scientific study of the mind. How do we recognize a mind? Perception / Response Learning / Memory Abstract Reasoning Language … Experience / Consciousness

7. A Brief History of Cognitive Science 1. The Philosophy Stage How do we know we have a mind? Because we have experiences! 2. Introspectionism Stage What is the structure of our experiences? Problems? 3. Behaviorism Stage What is the structure of our behavior? Lets look at associations between stimuli and responses, and how they are learned! Problems?

8. The Cognitive Revolution 1. Noam Chomsky Language and language learning cannot be explained in terms of simple Stimulus-Response associations! 2. Hubel and Wiesel There are neurons in the brain that respond selectively to specific kinds of stimuli in the environment! 3. Alan Turing Any pattern of responses to any input at all can be understood in terms of a program that is carried out by a general computing machine. linguist neuroscientist computer scientist psychologists evolutionary biologists philosophers