Cognitive Science
The Cognitive Science Program at the University of Arizona was established in 1986. Cognitive Science is the interdisciplinary study of the mind, encompasses the study of intelligent behavior as well as the brain mechanisms and computations underlying that behavior.
The field is at the intersection of several other disciplines, including philosophy (knowledge representation, logic), psychology (basic human cognition, perception and performance), computer science (computational theory, artificial intelligence and robotics), linguistics (theories of language structure) and cognitive neuroscience (brain mechanisms for intelligent behavior). It is a model interdisciplinary program. Typical research areas of cognitive science include judgment and decision making, language comprehension and production, language acquisition, visual recognition of objects and events, attention, learning and memory, goal directed movement in complex environments and consciousness.
The Cognitive Science Program maintains strong links with the Center for Consciousness Studies at the University of Arizona, a unique research center focusing on interdisciplinary study of consciousness and neighboring phenomena such as perception, emotion and self-consciousness.
Faculty
- Jessica Andrews-Hanna (Psychology)
- Genesis Arizmendi (Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences)
- Tzu Yin (Vicky) Lai (Psychology)
- Janet Nicol (Linguistics)
- Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini (Linguistics)
Academic Programs offered by Cognitive Science
Cognitive Science offers two academic programs: An undergraduate major and a graduate minor.
The undergraduate major in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science (NSCS) was developed and implemented in collaboration with the other units in the School of Mind, Brain and Behavior. The NSCS curriculum provides a common set of core courses and two tracks in cognitive science and one in neuroscience, thereby ensuring that NSCS majors will have the tools to understand and collaborate with scientists in a variety of disciplines that study the mind, brain, and behavior. The NSCS major is timely: bridging among disciplines is the new frontier.
A Graduate Minor in Cognitive Science offered by the Graduate Interdisciplinary Program.
Graduate students with an interest in Cognitive Science must be admitted to the University of Arizona through a department that offers a Ph.D. Major. (There is no restriction on students' home departments.) Once admitted to the University of Arizona, graduate students are encouraged to express their interest in completing a graduate minor in Cognitive Science by contacting the Director of the Cognitive Science Program. Interested students are welcome; there isn't a separate admission process.