Cognitive Science Program
at the University of Virginia

Previously Approved Courses

Fall 2005

Cognitive Psychology | Philosophy | Linguistics | Neuroscience

 

Previously Approved Courses by Semester

| Spring 2007|
Fall 2006 | Spring 2006 | Fall 2005 | Spring 2005 | Fall 2004| Spring 2004 | Fall 2003 | Spring 2003 | Fall 2002

 

Back to Current Courses

 

Cognitive Psychology

PSYC 210: Introduction to Learning and Behavior

The course will examine historical and current theories that explain how different types of learning provide the foundation for most, if not all forms of an organism's behavior. We will cover these theories by carefully examining the most important research experiments that contributed to our current understanding of the principles and concepts that shape our behavior. The lecture content will focus heavily on experimental findings derived from research of learning processes in human and non-human species. The concept of Learning will be explored from the perspective of theories of Classical Conditioning,Operant Conditioning
and more recent theories of the organization of behavior derived from human studies.

Instructor:Cedric Williams

PSYC 215: Introduction to Cognition

Cognition is the activity of knowing: the acquisition, organization, and use of knowledge. Emphasizing fundamental issues, this course introduces such basic content areas in cognitive psychology as perception, memory, language, cognitive development, and philosophy of science.
*If course is full through ISIS: A waiting list will be maintained through the psychology website. Do not contact the professor.

Instructor: Vikram Jaswal

PSYC 230: Introduction to Perception

Study of selected topics in perception, particularly visual perception; the role of stimulus variables, learning and motivation of perception.
*If course is full through ISIS: A waiting list will be maintained through the psychology website. Do not contact the professor.

Instructor: Dennis Proffitt

Important Note about PSYC 305 and 306

It is important for you to attend the first PSYC 305 or 306 lecture. You will sign an attendance sheet and be given instructions for completing an online form to confirm your lab registration. If you do not attend class you will be dropped from lecture and the lab. Coming to class late is not an excuse for missing this information. If you are unable to attend, you must contact the Director of Undergraduate Studies before the lecture. The purpose of the online form is to change your lab section if you are not happy in your current lab. The Director of Undergraduate Studies is the only person who can add or change your lab assignment. There are no Course Action forms for lab changes. The order of priority for lab changes are based on the number of alternate labs you select. If your lab is not changed you will be responsible for making the required adjustments to your schedule to accommodate a lab that still has space. Lab changes should be final by the afternoon of the first Friday (if not sooner) of the semester. After that time, you may change to any lab that is open via ISIS, but at the end of the first full week of classes the lab assignments will be locked. Please do not make a special appeal to the instructor, lab T.A., or the Director of Undergraduate Studies if you do not get the lab section you want. You are responsible for checking ISIS to confirm your lab section. All labs begin the first full week of classes. Failure to attend the lab in which you are registered may result in a penalty in your lab grade.

PSYC 305-1: Research Methods & Data Analysis I
* Prerequisites: Psyc 101 or any 200-level Psyc course

Introduction to research methods in psychology, integrating statistical analysis. Emphasis on descriptive statistics and non-experimental research methods. Use of computers for data analysis, experimentation, and report writing. This course is required for majors and is the first part of a two-part series (305-306).
*If course is full through ISIS: A waiting list will be maintained through the psychology website. Do not contact the professor.

Instructor: James Freeman

PSYC 305-2: Research Methods & Data Analysis I
* Prerequisites: Psyc 101 or any 200-level Psyc course

Introduction to research methods in psychology, integrating statistical analysis. Emphasis on descriptive statistics and non-experimental research methods. Use of computers for data analysis, experimentation, and report writing. This course is required for majors and is the first part of a two-part series (305-306).
*If course is full through ISIS: A waiting list will be maintained through the psychology website. Do not contact the professor.

Instructor: Barbara Spellman

PSYC 306: Research Methods & Data Analysis II
* Prerequisites: Psyc 305 ( with C- or better)

Second part of a two-part series required for psychology majors. Emphasis on inferential statistics (t-tests and ANOVA) and issues in experimentation.
*If course is full through ISIS: A waiting list will be maintained through the psychology website. Do not contact the professor.
**Course May Meet Second Writing Requirement**

Instructor: Karen Schmidt

PSYC 403: Language Development: Learning Words
*Prerequisite Psyc 305 and Psyc 306
*Enrolment Restrictions: 3rd or 4th year Psych, CogSci, or Linguistics majors, or instructor permission

This seminar will focus on how children learn the meanings of words. We will consider various theoretical debates, such as whether children acquire words through domain-general learning mechanisms or by mechanisms more specialized for word learning. We will also consider the extent to which word learning requires an ability to analyze other people's goals, intentions, and interests, and whether this helps to explain why language is specific to humans. Throughout, we will pay close attention to how children's early word learning interacts with and is influenced by their developing cognitive abilities.
*If course is full through ISIS: A waiting list will be maintained through the psychology website. Do not contact the professor.

Instructor: Vikram Jaswal

PSYC 409: Different People-Different Cognitive Minds
* Prerequisites:PSYC 215, PSYC 305/306

The course is designed to give students an understanding and appreciation of the size and scope of individual differences, such as sex and age difference, in cognition. Topics covered will include the evolution of individual differences research in cognitive psychology, the methodologies employed in this research, and critical discussion of the potential causes and consequences of individual differences in cognition.
*If course is full through ISIS: A waiting list will be maintained through the psychology website. Do not contact the professor.

Instructor: Diane Berish

PSYC 515: Advanced Cognition
* Prerequisites:PSYC 215

This course picks up where Introduction to Cognitive Psychology leaves off. It is assumed that you know that material. The pace is faster, and the reading material is primarily original source materials (that is, experiments and theories, not literature reviews).
*If course is full through ISIS: A waiting list will be maintained through the psychology website. Do not contact the professor.

Instructor: Daniel Willingham

PSYC 581: Emotion and Cognition

The cognition-emotion seminar covers the connection between thinking and feeling in two ways. The first part asks about the causes of emotion, and the second asks about the consequences of emotion. Part 1 concerns the nature and definition of emotion and the role of cognitive appraisals in their elicitation and intensity. Distinctions will be made among concepts such as affect, emotion, mood, and temperament. Part 2 concerns the consequences of emotion for cognition, experience, and behavior. Of interest will be such topics as the effects on judgment and decision-making, processing and performance, and memory and attention, and the role of culture.
*If course is full through ISIS: A waiting list will be maintained through the psychology website. Do not contact the professor.

Instructor: Gerald Clore

PSYC 583: Cognitive Aging
* Prerequisites:Cognitive Psychology, 4th year or graduate level

Survey of topics related to the effects of aging on cognition, including historical background, methodological issues, the role of health, disuse, and environmental change, and neurobiological factors.

Instructor: Tim Salthouse

PSYC 584: Coordination and Action
* Prerequisites:PSYC 215 and PSYC 305

How does the mind control bodily movements? How do our actions mold our perceptions? What cognitive processes underlie Tiger Wood's ability to produce perfect golf swings? Why do certain coaching and practice methods benefit athletic performance over others? Traditionally, such question received more attention from philosophers or sports scientists than from psychologists. However, recent developments in cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience provide new insights into our capacity to coordinate complex actions. In this course, we will overview specific topics related to the timing and sequencing of actions, bimanual coordination, and skill acquisition. The goal will be to understand how basic cognitive and brain mechanisms contribute to skill in real life activities, such as performing a piano piece or playing basketball. Each class session will center on in-class demonstrations and free-ranging discussions among students in psychology, cognitive science, and kinesiology. As an introduction to the study of motor control and coordination, this course is designed to benefit undergraduate and graduate students alike. No previous background in sports science, philosophy, or neuroscience is required beyond an understanding of basic research methods.
*If course is full through ISIS: A waiting list will be maintained through the psychology website. Do not contact the professor.

Instructor: Jackie Shin

 

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Philosophy

PHIL 242: Introduction to Symbolic Logic

A basic introduction to the concepts and techniques of modern formal logic. The aim of this course is to give the student a working knowledge of both sentential and quantifier logic. The emphasis is on developing an ability to carry out proofs within these systems and on developing an ability to translate sentences of natural language into symbolic notation. The course will acquaint the student with the concepts of formula, proof, interpretation and validity. Students will use logic software that will allow them to develop greater expertise with the material.

Instructor: Jonathan Stoltz

PHIL 332: Epistemology

Studies problems concerned with the foundations of knowledge, perception, and rational belief.

Instructor: Jonathan Stoltz

PHIL 542: Symbolic Logic
* Prerequisite: PHIL 242 or equivalent

Examines various results in metalogic, including completeness, compactness, and undecidability. Effective computability, theories of truth, and identity may also be covered.

Instructor: James Cargile

 

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Linguistics

LNGS 325/ *LNGS 701: Introduction to Linguistic Theory and Methodology

Introduces sign systems, language as a sign system, and approaches to linguistics. Emphasizes the application of descriptive techniques to data.

Instructor: Mark Elson

ANTH 504: Linguistic Field Methods

In this course we will work with a native speaker of an "exotic" language (i.e., a language that is not commonly taught in the U.S., hence likely not to be familiar to any of the students in the class). We try to figure out the phonological and grammatical structure of the language based on data collected from the native speaker consultant in class. Attendance is therefore mandatory. Assignments include one paper on phonology, one on morphology, and one on syntax (the nature of the assignment may vary depending on the particular language being studied).

Instructor: Ellen Contini-Morava

ANTH 548: Language and Thought

There is almost always more than one way to think about any problem. But could speaking a particular language make some strategies and solutions seem more natural than others to individuals? Can we learn about alternative ways of approaching the external world by studying other languages? The classic proposal of linguistic relativity as enunciated by Benjamin Lee Whorf is examined in the light of recent cross-cultural psycholinguistic research. We highlight the interplay between social intelligence, linguistic structure and general cognition. Finally, we ask how culturally-particular ways of talking about language itself might reflect and reinforce the common-sense ideas about the nature of language that underlie most linguistic research. During the term, students will prepare short written summaries of assigned readings, and a longer research paper.

Instructor: Eve Danziger

PSYC 403: Language Development: Learning Words
*Prerequisite Psyc 305 and Psyc 306
*Enrolment Restrictions: 3rd or 4th year Psych, CogSci, or Linguistics majors, or instructor permission

This seminar will focus on how children learn the meanings of words. We will consider various theoretical debates, such as whether children acquire words through domain-general learning mechanisms or by mechanisms more specialized for word learning. We will also consider the extent to which word learning requires an ability to analyze other people's goals, intentions, and interests, and whether this helps to explain why language is specific to humans. Throughout, we will pay close attention to how children's early word learning interacts with and is influenced by their developing cognitive abilities.
*If course is full through ISIS: A waiting list will be maintained through the psychology website. Do not contact the professor.

Instructor: Vikram Jaswal

PHIL 750: Philosophy of Language
*Note: for 700 level courses an undergraduate student would need to get the instructor's permission to enroll.
*Prerequisite: At least one course in Philosophy at the undergraduate level or above. A knowledge of first order predicate logic and basic metatheory is a plus but not essential.

Philosophical problems can often be either solved or dissolved by scrutiny of the language in which they are couched. What is more, language and linguistic interaction themselves raise questions of the deepest conceptual kind, answers to which illuminate cognition and social interaction. For these reasons language has been the premier area of inquiry among philosophers in the last century. This course will examine, from a non-technical point of view, topics that have been given the most intense treatment, all of which flow from the question, In virtue of what is language meaningful? Topics to be covered include the relation between thought and language; the possibility of an essentially private discursive realm; the view that one's linguistic framework somehow 'structures' reality; the method of solving or dissolving traditional philosophical problems by scrutiny of the language in which they are couched; the nature of linguistic meaning and the relation thereof to truth and to 'language games,' the relation between what is said in a given utterance and what is conveyed; the nature of interpretation and the role that it plays in organizing our understanding of the world.
The course should be of interest not only to philosophy students, but also to those in linguistics, psychology, cognitive science, literature, anthropology, and computer science.

Instructor: Mitchell Green

SPAN 309: Introduction to Spanish Linguistics
*Prerequisite: SPAN 202 or equivalent.

This course offers a rigorous introduction to the formal study of the Spanish language. Topics include: articulatory phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, historical linguistics and dialectology. Taught in Spanish.

Instructor:Fernando Tejedo-Herrero

RUSS 503: Advanced Russian Grammar
*Prerequisites: RUSS 301, 302, and instructor permission; RUSS 401, 402 strongly recommended.

Graduate-level grammar and translation.

Instructor: Mark Elson

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Computer Science

All CS courses are acceptable except CS 110, CS 120, and CS 182.
ECE 200 will count for credit, but does not fill CS area requirement.

The most common intro-level CS courses for Cognitive Science majors are:

CS 101: Introduction to Computer Science
CS150: From Ada and Euclid to Quantum Computing and the World Wide Web
(Previously CS 200: Foundations of Computer Science, http://www.cs.virginia.edu/cs150/ )
CS 202: Discrete Mathematics

 

Neuroscience

BIOL 317 : Introduction to Neurobiology**

Analyzes the concepts of general neurobiology, including basic electrophysiology and electrochemistry, origin of bioelectric potentials, sensory, motor, integrative and developmental neurobiology, and conceptual models of simple learning.

Instructors: Kawasaki, Mellon, Provinceo

** Students may take PSYC 220 OR BIOL 317. BOTH WILL NOT COUNT TOWARD THE MAJOR **

PSYC 220: Intro to Psychobiology

After an overview of brain structure and organization, the course examines what we know about the biological bases of perception, learning and memory, emotion and psychopathology, as well as the regulatory behaviors: sleep, thirst, eating, sex, and those associated with psychoneuroimmunology.
*Includes Optional Review Session

Instructor: Peter Brunjes

PSYC 321: Psychobiology Laboratory
* Prerequisites:PSYC 220 or PSYC 420, PSYC 305 strongly recommended

This course is designed to give the student experience with techniques used to study brain-behavior relationships and provide a more comprehensive understanding of the biological basis of behavior. Techniques will include neuroanatomy, pharmacology and behavioral analysis.

Instructor: Lisa Goehler

PSYC 325: Psychopharmacology

This course reviews the mechanisms for the actions of drugs that have an effect on behavior. Topics include: Principles of neuropharmacology; The access of chemicals to brain; How the drugs interfere or interact with neurotransmission; The action of drugs used in seizures, movement disorders or affective disorders; Effects of drugs of abuse, and addiction; Integration of drugs and behavioral therapies.

Instructor: Alev Erisir

PSYC 401/501: Affective Neuroscience
* Prerequisites: Psych 305 and 306 (Psych 220 recommended), preference given to 4th year students;

Affective neuroscience is the study of the neural bases of emotion. The main goals of this course are: a) to provide an introduction to the major contemporary theories of emotion; b) to provide an introduction to theory and research into the neuroanatomical and neurochemical correlates and substrates of emotion and affective psychopathology; and c) to provide an introduction to the practical, methodological and inferential challenges facing affective neuroscience as a discipline. The course will involve a combination of lecture, discussion, and, where possible, demonstrations. Graduate and advanced undergraduate students are welcome.
*If course is full through ISIS: A waiting list will be maintained through the psychology website. Do not contact the professor.

Instructor: Jim Coan

PSYC 529 Advanced Psychobiology Laboratory
* Prerequisite PSYC 321
* Enrolment Restrictions: Instructor permission

Each student helps design and carry out an original research project related to neural bases of behavior. Six laboratory hours.

Instructor: Lisa Goehler

PSYC 582: Mind-body Interactions
* Prerequisites: PSYC 101, 220, and 305

Psychological states, such as stress, profoundly influence bodily functions. Similarly, signals from the body modulate psychological states including anxiety and depression as well as cognitive functions such as learning and memory. In this seminar we will explore the pathways and neural mechanisms by which these bi-directional interactions occur.

Instructor: Lisa Goehler

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