1 12 September, 2000HKU Introduction to Cognitive Science COGN 1001 Schedule –11:40 – 12:30 –Tuesday: K. K. Leung Building, LG 102 –Thursday: K. K. Leung Building, LG 109 Syllabus - BBoard -

2 12 September, 2000HKU Lecturers Psychology - Dr A. Francis Computer Science - Dr. Q. Huo Linguistics - Dr. A. Bodomo Neuroscience - Dr. I. Bruce Philosophy - Dr. J. Lau [Cognitive Science Centre Director]

3 12 September, 2000HKU Tutorials Tutors –Lo Lap Yan –Savio Wong Wai Ho Grading 40% Coursework 25% Five Assignments 10% Tutorial Participation and Attendance 05% Attendance 60% Final Exam

4 12 September, 2000HKU So, what’s the course about, already!?! What do Cognitive Scientists study? Why? How?

5 12 September, 2000HKU What? Information in the brain

6 12 September, 2000HKU Basic Assumptions Information can be processed and stored (remembered), retrieved, changed, communicated and turned into action.  There are rules (logical or otherwise) by which information is manipulated or processed.

7 12 September, 2000HKU Cognitive Science is a basic science  Like chemistry, physics, or biology  The activities of the nervous system can be analysed at different levels  Psychological  Computational  Neurological All the levels are relevant and are not reducible

8 12 September, 2000HKU History It all starts with Philosophy (Decartes, Mind/Body problem). Post-behaviorist Psychology (Chomsky, Miller; Modern Linguistics) Cognitive Neuropsychology (from Broca to fMRI) Computer Science (Turing, von Neuman, neural computation)

9 12 September, 2000HKU Why? Brains do amazing things

10 12 September, 2000HKU A few things brains do  Recognize people and things  Reach out and pick up things  Speak and understand language(s)  Read and write  Navigate the streets of Hong Kong  Lecture on Cognitive Science  Etc.

11 12 September, 2000HKU Why study these things? To help us better understand human behaviors. To help make our computers better at doing human- like tasks.

12 12 September, 2000HKU Why not just study brains?

13 12 September, 2000HKU The brain is as complex as anything we know  1280 – 1380 grams  180 billion neurons (80+ billion involved in information processing)  1 trillion connections (1,000,000,000,000) (some cells have up to 15,000 connections!)  at least 60 possible neurotransmitter chemicals  dozens of different kinds of cells: bushy, spiny, stellate, basket; chopper; Purkinje, Golgi …  nearly 100 functionally distinguishable areas

14 12 September, 2000HKU The relationship between anatomy or physiology and behavior is very complex

15 12 September, 2000HKU Studying brains (alone) might not tell us what we want to know. Like studying architecture or urban planning by looking only at bricks! We need to study behavior from many perspectives.

16 12 September, 2000HKU How? That’s the rest of the course!

17 12 September, 2000HKU The five major areas Psychology Physiology Philosophy Computer Science Linguistics COG SCI

18 12 September, 2000HKU Cognitive Psychology Information in the brain What is the physical structure of the nervous system, and what is its role in human behavior? Perception Categorization Representation Memory Attention (Language) Learning Thought

19 12 September, 2000HKU Perception

20 12 September, 2000HKU

21 12 September, 2000HKU Computer Science "Knowledge representation" –What is AI? –Semantic networks and frames –Predicate logic –Rule-based systems

22 12 September, 2000HKU “Creatures” created by Rodney Brookes at MIT Partial semantic network for “water”

23 12 September, 2000HKU Linguistics What are the mental processes and representations underlying language production and understanding? Language Structure Phonology Morphology Syntax Semantics Pragmatics Literacy

24 12 September, 2000HKU University of California Perceptual Sciences Laboratory (D. Massaro)

25 12 September, 2000HKU Physiology Horrifying complexity of connections among neurons in the brain Relatively simple interactions between neurons –excitation & inhibition Voyage through the visual system for the image of a brown dog Simple retinal processing to parallel processing of form, colour, motion to object recognition Limitations of the Neuroscience approach to Cognition

26 12 September, 2000HKU MRI (axial) fMRI (coronal) EEG/ERP recording

27 12 September, 2000HKU Philosophy Two roles of Philosophy in Cognitive Science Role #1 : baby science nursery –"what you do to a problem until it can be solved by science”: work with scientists to find the best way to study a problem –many sciences developed out of philosophy Role #2 : building inspector –examines foundational assumptions and concepts e.g. What are computations? What is consciousness? What makes something a representation?

28 12 September, 2000HKU