Foundations of Cognition

Examination of theories and findings related to attention, language, memory, similarity and analogy, categories and concepts, learning, reasoning, and decision making. Emphasis is on theories and findings related to the processes that underlie the capacity to engage in cognitive tasks and how these are implemented in the brain and modeled computationally. Perspectives on the nature of mental representations, language and thought, modular versus general purpose design, and on what must be built in and what can be left to learning will all be considered. Open to Psychology PhD students only; instructor permission required to enroll.