ATCS (lec01) Introduction to Cognitive Science

The study of the mind

• One of the greatest intellectual challenges attacked from a vast array of different directions.

• Cognitive Science seeks a scientific understanding of the mind.

• We cannot see our minds working, so we must make inferences from indirect evidence.

What does the mind do?

• Perceiving - learning - remembering
• Controlling actions
• Planning - imagining - creating
• Understanding others - communicating with others
• Making decisions - solving problems
• Daydreaming

Everyday explanations

• We try to explain the actions of others and ourselves all the time by referring to their intentions, beliefs, emotions etc.
• Thus social cognition requires us to try to understand the mental states of others.
• But pop psychology has limits

Limitations of pop psychology

• Pop psychology accounts can be inconsistent, unreliable, specific and not predictive;
• they do not deal with many essential cognitive processes - such as how we see, how we speak, how we read.
• In short, it is easy to mislead ourselves about how our minds work.

Towards a science of mind

• A search for principles which can provide general, reliable accounts with predictive power.
• A basis for practical applications:

  - better understanding of learning may give better teaching methods; - intelligent computers may provide valuable services.

Tools for the study of mind

• need a language to give a common way of conceptualising phenomena;
• a framework in which to develop theories (we cannot hope to explain everything at once);

Methods for studying mental phenoman: 1. Language

• Metaphors may help:

  - the mind as machine - the mind as symbol system

• Mental representations and their nature are central to much theorising - yet even their existence is hotly debated!
• Mental processes are taken to act on representations.

2. Framework

 Biological level   neurons and the like
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 Cognitive level    mental representations and processes
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Behavioural level   performance of task

3. Methods

• introspection

  - think-aloud studies

• questionnaires and interviews

  - experiments - computer simulations

What Characterises Cognitive Science?

The analysis of particular cognitive abilities, e.g. Problem solving, language.

An interdisciplinary approach.