Tentative Course Offerings

COGS 87 (A00): How Minds and Groups Make Religion and Superstition | Professor Gedeon Deak

Why do humans, individually and in groups, attribute natural events to supernatural agents? How does the human brain accept religious beliefs, even in the face of contradictory evidence? We will examine how cognitive, developmental, and cultural factors work together to cause humans to believe in the supernatural.

COGS 150: Large Language Models and Cognitive Science | Professor Sean Trott

This course will approach the topic of Large Language Models (LLMs) from a Cognitive Science perspective. Topics covered include: the history of AI and Cognitive Science; basic mechanics of LLMs; the emerging field of "LLM-ology"; philosophy of mind; how LLMs can help inform research on human cognition; the role of sensorimotor grounding in cognition and the development of multimodal LLMs; and the impacts of LLMs on human culture and society more broadly. 

Prerequisites: (COGS14A) and (COGS14B or MATH11 or PSYC60)

COGS 160 (A00): Lang Devlpmnt/Early Childhood | Professor Gedeon Deák

This course is a mixed Practicum/Seminar course designed to provide hands-on experience in research on infancy and early childhood. Students learn skills and are assigned responsibilities based on the project to which they are assigned. Students also participate in a journal club and prepare brief end-of-quarter presentations and reports. It is a 3-quarter sequence. Content, skills, and responsibilities evolve and expand every quarter. Students work with a supervisor who oversees training and task progress. 

Prerequisites: GPA of 3.3 or better; commitment to this COGS 160 for 3-quarters; permission of instructor based on interview and availability. 

Request enrollment by contacting Dr. Deak (gdeak@ucsd.edu).

COGS 160 (B00): Cognitive and Neuroscience for Architecture | Professor David Kirsh

This is a seminar and project-oriented class in which students and several faculty explore what is known at cognitive, neuroscientific and behavioral levels about the interaction of person and building (human building interaction, HBI). It is part of the emerging field of research concerned with applications of Cognitive Science and Neuroscience to Architectural and Urban Design. Topics include: what is HBI; how space and movement are cognized and used; what is architectural atmosphere; what is the metaverse and its forthcoming roles in architecture; how can we quantify effects of buildings on persons and study HBI scientifically; what is architectural legibility; what is place: how do we understand it and remember; how does architecture affect our emotions; how does it affect our work; how does it shape personal well-being and social dynamics. Students and faculty will critically present the contents of research papers, and work in practicums whose goal will be to investigate specific roles that science may play in reshaping architectural and urban design. Faculty include several members from Cognitive Science and the Salk Institute, guest lecturers from University of London, and architects from the US and abroad.

Class meet Monday 11:00am-1:50pm in CSB 003

Enrollment is by permission of the instructor only, request enrollment via EASy.

COGS 193: Cognitive Science Career Seminar | Professor Bradley Voytek

This course emphasizes career readiness, with a focus on practical training in professional skills, networking, and career development. Students will be able to engage with professionals in many domains to learn how their educational breadth provides them with career advantages.

Class meet Tuesday 9:00am-10:50am in CSB 003

This class is open to juniors and seniors only.

DSGN 2: Designing Your Future Self | Professor Jim Hollan

This class examines how principles from cognitive science and design can be applied to the ”wicked problem” of designing your future self. The focus is on designing your undergraduate life and helping you think deeply about designing your future self.

This class is only open to Freshman and Sophomore.

DSGN 119: Design at Large - Resilience In a Changing World | Professor Eliah Aronoff-Spencer

The near future is clarifying itself. Over the coming decades, life will change as we know it on planet Earth. From climate instability to culture change, plagues of misinformation to global pandemics, human society faces more threats than at any other time in our history. At the same time, humanity is newly equipped to adapt, with emerging tools like artificial intelligence, synthetic biology and social innovation that have the power to reverse the narrative of impending global disruption. The time is now for us to integrate these pwoerful new methods - to intentionally design a more Just and Resilient future together.

The Resilience In a Changing World series will invite speakers to speculte on how we get from here to there, from our current inflection point to habitable futures where both our people and planet thrive amidst increasing uncertainty and change.

2 units, P/NP grade.  Meets Wednesdays 4:00pm-5:00pm at DIB 208.

Prerequisites: COMM 124A or COGS 10 or DSGN 1

DSGN 160: Designing through experiments (and experimental design)| Professor Clemence Idoux

When developing a product, service, website, etc., how do you determine the optimal design features? Instead of relying solely on principles and instinctive intuition, experiments can be employed to generate compelling evidence. In this class, we will learn how to utilize experiments and causal methods to evaluate different designs and enhance the design process. Students will gain insights into how to leverage behavioral economics to devise rigorous and informative experiments, the results of which can be seamlessly integrated into the design framework. Additionally, students will acquire the skills to employ statistical methods for analyzing the outcomes of these experiments. The class will include many examples and applications, as well as a final project to provide opportunities for students to apply the skills they have learnt.

COGS 87 (A00): How Minds & Cultures Make Religion & Superstition | Professor Gedeon Deak

Why do humans, individually and in groups, attribute natural events to supernatural agents? How does the human brain accept religious beliefs, even in the face of contradictory evidence? We will examine how cognitive, developmental, and cultural factors work together to cause humans to believe in the supernatural.

COGS 87 (B00): How to be wrong: Case studies in human failure, borked tools, and bad data | Professor Jason Fleischer

Science, technology, engineering, business, and even getting a university degree are human activities that need data. We will examine some common ways that our minds and our tools cause failure through examples of disasters and mishaps. Space shuttles explode, lost COVID-19 data costs lives, and AI programs are racist. Hopefully you will come out the other end with some new ideas and habits to help you avoid similar traps in your life and career. Bonus: we will also talk about how to (not) screw up your university experience!

COGS 160 (A00): Communication in Infancy | Professor Gedeon Deák

This course is a mixed Practicum/Seminar course designed to provide hands-on experience in research on infancy and early childhood. Students learn skills and are assigned responsibilities based on the project to which they are assigned. Students also participate in a journal club and prepare brief end-of-quarter presentations and reports. It is a 3-quarter sequence. Content, skills, and responsibilities evolve and expand every quarter. Students work with a supervisor who oversees training and task progress. 

Prerequisites: GPA of 3.3 or better; commitment to this COGS 160 for 3-quarters; permission of instructor based on interview and availability. 

Request enrollment by contacting Dr. Deak (gdeak@ucsd.edu).

COGS 171GS: Mirror Neuron System and Social Cognition | Professor Jaime Pineda

This class will examine the neuroanatomy, physiology, and functional correlates of the human mirror neuron system and its putative role in social cognition, e.g., action understanding, empathy, and theory of mind. We will examine the developmental, neuroimaging, electrophysiological, as well as clinical evidence for and against this hypothesis.

Global seminars summer course in Barcelona, Spain. MTuWTh 9:00:12:00 pm. For more details, go here.

Cogs 171GS is an approved course for Neuroscience Specialization elective, Cognitive Behavioral Neuroscience elective, and general elective for CogSci major.

COGS 174GS: Drugs: Brain, Mind, and Culture | Professor Jaime Pineda

This course explores the relationship between drugs, the brain, mind, and culture. On our multidisciplinary adventure, we will examine phenomena as small and transient as chemical-docking at brain receptors, and as broad and ongoing as drug use through history. In addition to attending lectures, you will take an active role in learning by participating in discussion of the current and controversial topics presented in your reader, and by forming a group and making a course-related presentation.

Global seminars summer course in Barcelona, Spain. MTuWTh 9:00:12:00 pm. For more details, go here.

Cogs 174GS is an approved course for Neuroscience Specialization elective, Cognitive Behavioral Neuroscience elective, and general elective for CogSci major.