Human Cognition in Evolution and Development
Cognitive Science 201.
Spring 2008. MW 12:30-1:45
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Conceptual Integration
Conceptual Integration, also known as "blending," is a defining
feature of higher-order human cognition, indispensable for all
behaviors typically taken as distinctive to human beings. This
course presents the cognitive mechanisms of conceptual integration,
the constraints on its operation, and its deployment and expression
in a range of human behaviors such as learning, invention, mathematical
and scientific discovery, language, art, music, gesture, social
understanding, institutional performance, reasoning, decision,
judgment, choice, design, and engineering. A student in the class
will work on an individual research project in any of a variety
of fields, including engineering (e.g., designing with blends),
computer science, the arts, the humanities, the social sciences,
cognitive neuroscience, and linguistics.
Introduction to Cognitive Linguistics
An introduction to the scientific study of language and its structures,
grounded in the study of the human mind. There are no prerequisites
except an interest in language and the mind. This course is suitable
as part of any undergraduate education. It can also be a gateway
to further study in cognitive science, through advanced courses,
special topics courses, the departmental seminar, and a capstone
experience. This course focuses on research that has been conducted
during the last ten to twenty years in the study of language,
form, meaning, and their relations to cognition.
Mental Space Theory
Mental Space Theory is a fundamental branch of cognitive science, widely used throughout the discipline.
Mental spaces are small conceptual arrays constructed for use in thought and action.
This course treats mental space construction, activation, connection,
and transformation, and the role of mental space networks in reason, communication,
invention, creativity, and distributed cognition.
The Artful Mind
This course is at the center of the conception of the distinctive
cognitive science program at Case, which emphasizes human higher-order
cognition in activities that distinguish human beings from other
species, and particularly behaviors for which there are no animal
models.
Human beings with mental architecture like ours came into existence
only yesterday, evolutionarily speaking—perhaps fifty thousand
years ago. At least, the archaeological record as we have it shows
no robust evidence of cognitively modern behavior before that
epoch. The staggering behavioral singularities that come with
cognitively modern minds—advanced tool use, decorative dress,
language, culture, religion, science, mathematics, art—present
us with the greatest scientific embarrassment, for they appear
to indicate a mysterious and unexplained discontinuity between
us and the entire rest of Life.
To have a cognitively modern human mind is to be robustly artful,
and conversely. This equivalence provides the inevitable starting
point for a field of study aimed at exploring obvious yet hard
questions: What is the evolutionary path from our remoter ancestors
who somehow lacked artful minds to the existence of cognitively
modern human beings, who cannot fail to be artful? How did the
artful mind emerge? In a leap, or through slow development? What
are the basic mental operations that make art possible for us
now, and how do they operate? What neurobiology subtends these
abilities? What is the interplay, in the phenomena of artfulness,
between biological dispositions, individual experience, and cultural
history?
The Life of the Mind
We will explore the descent of the modern human mind and its
exceptional capacities for innovation and creativity, with emphasis
on art, science, religion, language, technology, mathematics,
and other singularities. The writing component of the course will
concentrate on how to recognize and master styles of writing,
both academic and nonacademic, with emphasis on styles useful
during a career.
Textbooks:
Human Cognition in Evolution and Development
We will explore the descent and development of the modern human
mind and its exceptional capacities for innovation and creativity.
The course will be based on original articles, which will be posted
on Blackboard.
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