Introduction to Cognitive Science I : Antecedents

Jayashree Ramadas, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education
V. N. Purav Marg, Mankhurd, Mumbai 400 088.

Informal notes from a Graduate Course given at HBCSE during September - December, 2002.

• Contents
• List of Figures
• Introduction
• Philosophy
  • References for Philosophy Lectures
  • Philosophy Lecture 1
    • Ancient Greece
    • Ancient India
    • Cartesian rationalism and dualism
    • Immanuel Kant
    • Structuralism
    • Developments in logic
    • The cognitive revolution (pre-view)
    • Functionalism (pre-view)
  • Philosophy Assignment
  • Philosophy Tutorial
    • Mind-body dualism
    • Materialism
  • Philosophy Lecture 2
    • Functionalism (contd:)
    • Levels of explanation
    • Characteristics of an information processing system
    • Ontology (of an algorithm or a mental state)
    • Describing mental states
    • Epistemological problems with the AI view
  • Philosophy Seminar ``Cognition, Science and Reality'' Abhijeet Bardapurkar (27-9-02)
• Artificial Intelligence (AI)
  • References for AI Lectures
  • AI Lecture 1
    • Cybernetics
    • Information theory
    • Compution theory
    • Turing Machine
    • Problems with the computational view
    • Computers
    • Simulating human thinking - early developments in symbolic AI
    • The classical AI approach
    • Knowledge representation techniques
    • Inference mechanisms
  • AI Seminar 1 ``Neural Networks'' Shirish Pathare (4-10-02)
  • AI Lecture 2
    • Problems with classical (symbolic AI) models
    • Brain-like computational modelling: neural networks (concept)
    • Neural networks (history)
    • Top-down vs. bottom-up approaches
    • Neural networks and brain function
    • Neural networks and characteristics of human cognition
    • Other bottom-up techniques
  • AI Assignment
  • AI Tutorial
  • AI Seminar 2 ``Bugs and Errors in Subtraction: An Information Processing Approach'' Rakhi Banerjee (25-10-02)
• Psychology
  • References for Psychology Lectures
  • Psychology Lecture 1
    • Philosophical influences
    • Associationism
    • Psychophysics
    • Introspectionism
    • Structuralism/ Functionalism
    • Psychometric theory
    • Wane of ``structuralism'', rise of behaviourism
    • European alternatives to behaviourism
    • Areas of American psychology uninfluenced by behaviourism
  • Psychology Assignment
  • Psychology Lecture 2
    • Cognitivism in USA
    • Influence of information processing in psychology
    • The concept of ``information''
    • Post the 1956 MIT symposium
    • Metacognition
    • Constructivism
    • Influence of context: situated cognition
    • Evolutionary psychology
    • Psychology Seminar ``Situated Cognition'' Ritesh Khunyakari (20-11-02)
• Neuroscience
  • References for Neuroscience Lectures
  • Neuroscience Lecture 1
    • Neuroscience and cognitive science
    • Discovery of the neuron
    • The reflex arc debate
    • Overview of brain structure (for tutorial)
    • Brain function (selected early views)
    • Structural mapping and localisation debate
    • Early deficit studies
    • Stimulation studies
    • Against localisation
    • Hebb and the theory of cell assemblies
    • Later deficit studies
  • Neuroscience Seminar 1 ``Understanding sex differences in cognitive abilities'' Swati Mehrotra (8-11-02)
  • Neuroscience Lecture 2
    • Single neuron electrophysiology
    • Brain imaging techniques
    • The association cortices (ACs)
    • Language and lateralisation
    • Current version of localisation
    • Bottom-up and top-down approaches in neuroscience
    • Glossary of neurological disorders (+ related structural terms)
  • Neuroscience Seminar 2 ``Physiological Basis of Memory'' Sindhu Mathai (10-12-02)
• Linguistics
  • References for Linguistics Lectures
  • Linguistics Lecture 1
    • Some definitions
    • Linguistics in ancient India
    • Beginnings of contemporary linguistics
    • Structuralism
    • Prague school
    • American structural linguistics
  • Linguistics Lecture 2
    • Formalism vs. Functionalism
    • Generative grammar
    • Competence and performance
    • Two historical alternatives for a generative grammar
    • Transformational grammars
    • Chomsky's repudiation of behaviourism
    • Early evidence for transformational grammar
    • Syntax and semantics
    • Some later developments
  • Linguistics Seminar ``Language Acquisition'' Pranita Gopal (6-12-02)
  • Linguistics Assignment
• Anthropology
  • References for Anthropology Lectures
  • Anthropology Seminar ``Cultural Influences on Memory'' Sindhu Mathai (16-12-02)
  • Anthropology Lecture 1
    • Early anthropological ideas
    • The Enlightenment
    • Evolutionary anthropology
    • Alternatives to evolution
    • Diffusional anthropology
    • Functional school
  • Anthropology Lecture 2
    • Culture and language
    • Culture and personality approach
    • Structural anthropology
    • Cognitive anthropology or ``Methodology''
    • Symbolic anthropology
    • Further developments in functionalism
  • Anthropology Assignment
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