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Also known as: CSE 140, Linguistics 105, Philosophy 044, Psychology
107.
INSTRUCTORS:
TEACHING ASSISTANTS:
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
COGS001 (under any of its cross-registered names) may be counted towards the
General Requirement in Formal Reasoning & Analysis (Gen Req IV). It has
been given at Penn for more than ten years, but the syllabus has been substantially
revised for this year's version.
From the description of COGS001 in the course register:
Cognitive Science is founded on the realization that
many problems in the analysis of human and artificial intelligence require
an interdisciplinary approach. The course is intended to introduce undergraduates
from many areas to the problems and characteristic concepts of Cognitive Science,
drawing on formal and empirical approaches from the parent disciplines of
computer science, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy and psychology. The
topics covered include Perception, Action, Learning, Language, Knowledge Representation,
and Inference, and the relations and interactions between them.
The course shows how the different views from the
parent disciplines interact, and identifies some common themes among the theories
that have been proposed. The course pays particular attention to the distinctive
role of computation in such theories, and provides an introduction to some
of the main directions of current research in the field. It is a requirement
for the BA in Cognitive Science, the BAS in Computer and Cognitive Science,
and the minor in Cognitive Science, and it is recommended for students taking
the dual degree in Computer and Cognitive Science.
How do individuals and groups get, create, exchange and use information? In
investigating that question, we come to grips with the nature of information,
computation, perception, action, memory, learning, reasoning, language and communication,
both as they are modeled in abstract mathematical terms and as they are embodied
in material processes. COGS 001 will introduce students to basic mathematical
concepts and techniques from areas such as information theory, formal language
theory, learning theory and game theory, and will show how these concepts and
techniques can be applied to selected problems in cognitive modeling.
COURSE LOCATION AND TIME:
Lectures: Tuesdays and Thursdays 1:30 - 3:00 in Logan Hall 17.
The course TAs will organize optional weekly section meetings to discuss
course content and to go over homeworks and exams, starting the week of
9/16. Dates and times will be listed here when they are determined.
PREREQUISITES:
None.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING:
There will be a midterm, a final exam, a term paper, and about six homework
assignments, contributing to the final grade as follows: homework 30%,
final exam 30%, midterm 20%, term paper 20%. The first homework assignment
will be due on 9/24. Homework assignments will be posted on the course
web site.
READINGS:
Course readings will be made available in digital form, linked to the schedule
of lectures and readings, or will be handed out in class.
LECTURE NOTES AND ON-LINE READINGS:
The lecture schedule will include links to
lecture notes and on-line readings. Lecture notes will usually be posted
after each lecture, while readings will usually be posted about a week
in advance of the lecture that discusses them.
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