Language is at the heart of human interaction. What are the linguistic habits that unite or divide us? This First-Year Seminar introduces students to dialects of English speakers around the world. Students will explore the major properties that cross-cut different varieties of English, including regional or socially-driven accents of North America, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia, as well as other World Englishes. Particular attention will be paid to pronunciation, so students will practice the International Phonetic Alphabet and learn acoustic analysis through hands-on activities, but discussion will also focus on dialectal differences in word choice, sentence structure, and linguistic meaning. We will engage with known and emerging varieties of English by drawing on academic sources, multimedia materials, and real-world experience. Who speaks with an accent? Everyone!

• Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Renwick, Margaret
• Room: Krieger 134A
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/12
• PosTag(s): COGS-LING

Introductory course dealing with theory, methods, and current research topics in the study of language as a component of the mind. What it is to "know" a language: components of linguistic knowledge (phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics) and the course of language acquisition. How linguistic knowledge is put to use: language and the brain and linguistic processing in various domains.

• Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Yarmolinskaya, Julia
• Room: Gilman 132
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 12/68
• PosTag(s): COGS-LING, COGS-COGPSY

When the brain is damaged or fails to develop normally, even the most basic cognitive abilities (such as the ability to understand words, or perceive objects) may be disrupted, often in remarkable ways. This course explores a wide range of cognitive deficits, focusing on what these deficits can tell us about how the normal brain works. Topics include brain anatomy and causes of brain damage, reading and spelling deficits, unilateral spatial neglect, hemispheric disconnection, cortical plasticity, and visual perception of location and orientation. Students read primary sources: journal articles that report deficits and discuss their implications.

• Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: McCloskey, Michael E
• Room: Mergenthaler 111
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 8/125
• PosTag(s): COGS-COGPSY, COGS-NEURO

This course provides an introductory survey of the cognitive neuroscience of language – a multidisciplinary field in the intersection of Linguistics, Psycholinguistics, and Neuroscience. We will explore current research on the neural bases of the perception, production, and acquisition or human language in neuro-typical and impaired individuals.

• Days/Times: TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
• Instructor: Yarmolinskaya, Julia
• Room: Krieger 111
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 1/19
• PosTag(s): BEHB-BIOBEH, COGS-COGPSY, COGS-NEURO, COGS-LING

This course aims to provide a deeper understanding of cognitive neuroscience methods and theory on certain contemporary topics in the field through a series of labs and activities. Example labs include building psychophysical experiments using PsychoPy, exploring the brain using MRI images using MRIcron and developing artificial neural networks using simBrain. Basic cognitive neuroscience theories will be discussed in class before each lab/activity to bring everyone to the same page. Emphasis will be placed on developing a scientific mindset in approaching problems. You will build your own experiment from your own idea and execute it in-class. No pre-requisite required.

• Days/Times: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
• Instructor: Li, Donald
• Room: Krieger 108
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 14/24
• PosTag(s): COGS-NEURO, BEHB-BIOBEH

This course is an advanced seminar and research practicum course. It will provide the opportunity to learn about fMRI methods used in the field of vision science and for students to have hands-on experience to develop, design and analyze a research study on topics in the cognitive neuroscience field of high-level vision. In the first part of the course students will read recent fMRI journal papers and learn about common fMRI designs and analysis methods; in the second part of the course students will conduct a research study to address a research question developed from readings. Students are expected to write a paper in a short journal article format at the end of the course and to present their results in front of the class. Research topics will vary but with special focus on topics in high-level visual processing.

• Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Li, Donald
• Room: Krieger 111
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 2/26
• PosTag(s): COGS-NEURO, COGS-COGPSY, NEUR-CG

This course examines the cognitive and neural mechanisms that allow us to use linguistic knowledge to produce and understand language in real time. You will learn about the key findings on language perception, production, and acquisition, while gaining hands-on, laboratory-style experience with some of the methods commonly used to study language performance. The focus of the class is on the relation between experimental findings and linguistic theory, addressing two core questions of psycholinguistics: How is language organized and implemented in the brain? How (if at all) does our mental machinery shape natural language? Also available as AS.050.633.

• Days/Times: MW 3:00PM - 4:15PM
• Instructor: Koval, Pasha
• Room: Krieger 134A
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 9/15
• PosTag(s): COGS-LING, COGS-COGPSY

Over the last decade, there has been amazing progress in deep learning AI systems for vision and language, and more and more cognitive neuroscientists are using these tools to study the human brain. This course will give an overview of popular deep learning methods, including convolutional neural networks, recurrent neural networks, variational autoencoders, and transformers, with the goal of addressing two key questions: 1) to what extent do these deep learning systems act like humans, and 2) what questions can they help us answer about the human mind and brain. The class will involve a mix of lectures, hands-on coding assignments, and reading/discussion of primary research articles. The course will focus heavily on vision but will include some topics in language (including large language models) and social cognition.

• Days/Times: TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
• Instructor: Isik, Leyla
• Room: Krieger 300
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 3/17
• PosTag(s): COGS-NEURO, COGS-COMPCG, NEUR-CP, NEUR-CG

This course provides an introduction to the fields of first and bilingual language acquisition by looking at questions such as the following: Can the grammar of a native language be learned solely on the basis of noticing statistical correlations among words? How does native language acquisition explain — or is explained by — the universal properties, shared by all languages, of words and grammars? How does being exposed to multiple languages from birth affect language acquisition and what happens when a child is not exposed to any language early in life? This is the first part of a two-part course sequence on first and second language acquisition.

• Days/Times: TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
• Instructor: Yarmolinskaya, Julia
• Room: Krieger 111
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 8/19
• PosTag(s): COGS-LING, COGS-COGPSY

An introduction to the emerging field of sociophonetics, which lies at the interface between sociolinguistics and phonetics. Students will learn how to analyze phonetic data in service of research questions motivated by social factors including speakers’ region of origin, gender, ethnicity, or other characteristics. Extensions will be made to articulatory phonetics, speech perception, and phonological formalizations. Knowledge of linguistics and phonology/phonetics, including the International Phonetic Alphabet and basic acoustic phonetics, is strongly recommended. The course will draw material from textbooks, scholarly articles, and hands-on phonetic analysis culminating in final projects on topics chosen by students. It is recommended that students have successfully completed AS.050.325 Phonology I prior to enrollment in this course.

• Days/Times: MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
• Instructor: Renwick, Margaret
• Room: Krieger 111
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 7/20
• PosTag(s): COGS-LING

This course introduces techniques for computational modeling of aspects of human cognition, including perception, categorization, and induction. Possible topics include maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference, structured statistical models (including hierarchical and graphical models), nonparametric models. The course emphasizes the close connections among data analysis, theory development, and modeling, with examples drawn from language and vision. Also offered as AS.050.671.

• Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Wilson, Colin
• Room: Krieger 111
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 2/26
• PosTag(s): COGS-COMPCG, NEUR-CG, NEUR-CP

How do humans make sense of the visual world around them? This course will provide an introductory survey of current research, methods, and theories in visual cognition. We will draw upon topics in cognitive psychology, cognitive neuroscience, cognitive neuropsychology, and artificial intelligence.

• Days/Times: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
• Instructor: Li, Donald
• Room: Krieger 111
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 5/25
• PosTag(s): COGS-COGPSY, COGS-COMPCG, COGS-NEURO

How does the mind work? Cognitive science addresses this question from a multidiscliplinary perspective, drawing upon methods and ideas from psychology, neurophysiology, neuroscience, philosophy, linguistics, and computer science. Within this framework, computational cognitive science has two related goals. The first is to create computational models of human cognition, computer programs that simulate certain aspects of the mind. The second is to understand how to produce intelligent behavior in machines, taking cues from humans. The computational frameworks we will discuss include symbolic structured representations, probabilistic inference and artificial neural networks, as applied to concept learning, language and vision. While this class does not have formal prerequisites, some programming experience (e.g., AS 250.205 Introduction to Computing or equivalent) and mathematical preparation (e.g., AS.110.107 Calculus II or equivalent) are essential. An optional, hands-on lab (AS.050.212) is offered to supplement this course. It is highly recommended that students with less extensive computational and mathematical experience register for this lab.

• Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Rawlins, Kyle
• Room: Latrobe 107
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 34/40
• PosTag(s): COGS-COMPCG

This course surveys theory and research concerning how mental processes are carried out by the human brain. Currently a wide range of methods of probing the functioning brain are yielding insights into the nature of the relation between mental and neural events. Emphasis will be placed on developing an understanding of both the physiological bases of the techniques and the issues involved in relating measures of brain activity to cognitive functioning. Methods surveyed include electrophysiological recording techniques such as EEG, ERP, single/multiple unit recording and MEG; functional imaging techniques such as PET and fMRI; and methods that involve lesioning or disrupting neural activity such as cortical stimulation, animal lesion studies, and the study of brain-damaged individuals. Also offered as AS.050.603. It’s strongly recommended that students have background in one of the following courses: AS.050.105 OR AS.200.141.

• Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Bonner, Mick
• Room: Hodson 110
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 229/250
• PosTag(s): COGS-COGPSY, COGS-NEURO

How do we juggle multiple languages in our brain? Do children get confused when they grow up exposed to more than one language? Is it possible to forget one’s native language? Are the first and second languages processed in different areas of the brain? How does brain damage impact the different languages of a polyglot? Does knowing a second language affect non-linguistic cognitive processing? This course will address questions such as these through an exploration of cognitive and neural processes underlying bilingual and multilingual language processing. Also offered as AS.050.606.

• Days/Times: TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
• Instructor: Yarmolinskaya, Julia
• Room: Krieger 111
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/19
• PosTag(s): COGS-COGPSY, COGS-LING, COGS-NEURO

This course is a hands-on lab supplement for AS.050.202 Introduction to Computational Cognitive Science. While this lab is optional, it is highly recommended to students with less extensive computational and mathematical experience.

• Days/Times: F 12:00PM - 12:50PM
• Instructor: Rawlins, Kyle
• Room: Krieger 111
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 38/40
• PosTag(s): n/a

This is a survey course in developmental psychology designed for individuals with some basic background in psychology or cognitive science, but little or none in development. The course is strongly theoretically oriented, with emphasis on issues of nature, and development psychology as well as relevant empirical evidence. The principle focus will be early development, i.e., from conception through middle childhood. The course is organized topically, covering biological and prenatal development, perceptual and cognitive development, the nature and development of intelligence, and language learning. Also offered as AS.050.639.

• Days/Times: TTh 10:30AM - 11:45AM
• Instructor: Yarmolinskaya, Julia
• Room: Krieger 111
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/19
• PosTag(s): COGS-COGPSY, COGS-NEURO, BEHB-SOCSCI

This course explores theories of speech sound generation in the human vocal system, in order to learn the relationships between discrete linguistic classes of sounds and their articulatory and acoustic manifestations. Foundations for these theories include an understanding of the anatomy employed during speech, as well as principles of airflow and pressure, which are united in the source-filter theory of speech production. As speech unfolds in time, the resulting acoustic signal is altered according to the vocal tract’s configuration, leading to characteristic acoustic manifestations for vowels and consonants. These phonetic cues, in turn, ground formal phonological representations via distinctive feature theory. The course includes a practical introduction to measurement of the acoustic correlates of speech sounds.

• Days/Times: MW 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: Renwick, Margaret
• Room: Krieger 134A
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 8/15
• PosTag(s): COGS-LING

When we think about our ability to see, we tend to think about our eyes, but in fact vision happens mostly in the brain. This course explores the remarkable perceptual deficits that occur when the visual regions of the brain are damaged or fail to develop normally, focusing on what these perceptual malfunctions tell us about normal visual perception. Topics include visual system anatomy and physiology; functional specialization in the lower visual system as revealed by cerebral achromatopsia (color blindness resulting from brain damage) and akinetopsia (impaired motion perception); cortical plasticity in the visual system; spatial deficits in perception and action; and the implications of high-level visual deficits, including prosopagnosia (impaired face recognition), Charles Bonnet syndrome (complex visual hallucinations in blind areas of the visual field), blindsight (accurate responding to visual stimuli despite apparent inability to see them), and aphantasia (lack of visual imagery).

• Days/Times: TTh 12:00PM - 1:15PM
• Instructor: McCloskey, Michael E
• Room: Gilman 50
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 53/75
• PosTag(s): NEUR-CG, COGS-COGPSY, COGS-NEURO

Introduces the basic methods and means of analysis used in contemporary syntax investigations, practicing with data from different languages. Also offered as AS.050.620.

• Days/Times: MW 3:00PM - 4:15PM
• Instructor: Koval, Pasha
• Room: Krieger 111
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 15/20
• PosTag(s): COGS-LING

An introduction to the basic principles underlying the mental representation and manipulation of language sounds and their relation to human perception and vocal articulation: how units of sound are both decomposable into elementary features and combined to form larger structures like syllables and words. The role of rules and constraints in a formal theory of phonological competence and in accounting for the range of variation among the world’s languages. Also offered as AS.050.625.

• Days/Times: MW 1:30PM - 2:45PM
• Instructor: Wilson, Colin
• Room: Krieger 111
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/20
• PosTag(s): BEHB-SOCSCI, COGS-LING

This course explores general issues and methodologies in cognitive science through the reading of classic works (from Plato and Kant through Skinner and Turing) and recent research articles to begin construction of a coherent picture of many seemingly divergent perspectives on the mind/brain. Recent brain-based computational models serve to focus discussion. Also offered as AS.050.626. Recommended Course Background: at least one course at the 300-level or higher in cognitive science, computer science, neuroscience, philosophy, or psychology.

• Days/Times: TTh 9:00AM - 10:15AM
• Instructor: Hale, John
• Room: Krieger 134A
• Status: Waitlist Only
• Seats Available: 0/15
• PosTag(s): NEUR-CG, NEUR-CP, COGS-COMPCG, COGS-PHLMND

Recent advancements in neuroscience, computational cognitive science and machine learning have led to new possibilities for understanding the mind and brain. With the current neural network modelling and artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, scientists are able to decode neural representation to understand one’s internal mental state. In this course, we will discuss how to utilize the latest technologies, including voxel-wise encoding models, convolutional neural networks (CNNs), generative adversarial networks (GANs) and transformers, to model neural representations with a focus on vision. Students will read latest primary research articles and gain hands-on neural modelling experience. Also offered as AS.050.637

• Days/Times: TTh 1:30PM - 2:45PM
• Instructor: Li, Donald
• Room: Krieger 108
• Status: Approval Required
• Seats Available: 22/23
• PosTag(s): COGS-COMPCG, COGS-NEURO, NEUR-CG, NEUR-CP, CSCI-OTHER

First language acquisition is natural and seemingly effortless. The situation is reversed when one tries to learn another language. This course discusses in what ways first and second language acquisition (SLA) differ and how individual differences of the learners as well as external factors contribute to the variability observed in rates and ultimate proficiency of second language learning in children and adults. We will discuss such topics as Universal Grammar access in early and late SLA, first language influence, critical periods, possibility of native-like attainment, and language attrition. Also offered as AS.050.649.

• Days/Times: TTh 3:00PM - 4:15PM
• Instructor: Yarmolinskaya, Julia
• Room: Krieger 111
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 6/19
• PosTag(s): COGS-LING, COGS-COGPSY

Have you ever wondered about the relationships between language and thought? Philosophers, linguists, psychologists, evolutionary theorists and cognitive scientists have too and this course will survey the current thinking on this matter. Classical papers such as those by Whorf and Sapir, more recent philosophical papers by people such as Fodor and Dennett, and recent empirical work by linguists and psycholingists on the relationship between language and thinking in development and in adults will be covered. Discussions will focus on the theoretically possible relationships between language and thought and the empirical data that speak to these. Juniors and seniors only. Freshmen and sophomores by permission of instructor only.

• Days/Times: W 1:30PM - 4:00PM
• Instructor: Landau, Barbara
• Room: Krieger 134A
• Status: Open
• Seats Available: 2/15
• PosTag(s): BEHB-BIOBEH, COGS-COGPSY, COGS-LING