Departments & Programs

Cognitive Science

Major in Cognitive Science—B.S.

Students must complete the following Foundations, Intensive Writing, Foreign Language, and Breadth of Inquiry requirements:

  1. Writing, same as B.A. degree (Intensive Writing, English Composition).
  2. Mathematics: three courses to include (a) MATH-M 211; (b) another MATH course at or above the 200 level; (c) another MATH course at or above the 300 level (includes PSY-K 300 and equivalent statistics courses).
  3. Foreign language: three semesters in the same language, or equivalent proficiency.
  4. One Critical Approaches to the Arts and Sciences course (COLL-C 103, C104, C105, or approved equivalents)
  5. Arts and Humanities: two courses.
  6. Social and Historical Studies: two courses.
  7. Natural and Mathematical Sciences: two courses.
Major Requirements

1. CORE: The five-course sequence: Q240, Q250, Q260, Q270, and Q320. Q260 and Q320 are first- and second-8-week courses respectively and are normally scheduled so that they may be taken consecutively during the same semester. Cognitive science majors who receive a grade of B or higher in CSCI-C 211 or equivalent are exempt from Q260.

2. CONCENTRATION: Three courses in one of the following areas: cognition, computation, informatics, language, logic, and neuroscience. Of these three courses, at least two must be at or above the 200 level, and at least one at or above the 300 level.

The following courses are preapproved for the six concentrations:

  • Cognition  Psychological and Brain Sciences P325, P329, P330, P335, P350, P424, P435, P438, P440, P441, P443; Speech and Hearing Sciences S307.
  • Computation  Cognitive Science Q351, Q360; Computer Science A321, C211, C212, C241, C311, C335, C343, B351 (or their Honors equivalents).
  • Informatics  Informatics I210 (or Computer Science A201), I211 (or Computer Science A202 or C212), I300, I320; Computer Science A346.
  • Language  Linguistics L303, L306, L307, L308, L310, L325, L430, L490; Psychological and Brain Sciences P438, P441; Speech and Hearing Sciences S201, S290, S302, S307, S319, S333, S378, S420, S436.
  • Logic  Philosophy P250, P251, P350, P352; Mathematics M384, M385; Computer Science B401, P415.
  • Neuroscience  Physics P317; Psychological and Brain Sciences P326, P337, P346, P407, P410, P411, P423, P426, P441.

In addition to these preapproved concentrations, other specialized concentrations may be designed by individual students and submitted for approval to the cognitive science undergraduate curriculum committee.

3. COGS: Q301 Brain and Cognition.

4. COMPUTATION: Two courses at the 200-level or above from the approved list of courses in Computer Science. Please see the listing for "Computer Science" in the section of this Bulletin entitled "Courses Related to Cognitive Science," which can be found under "Cognitive Science."

5. BREADTH: Three ADDITIONAL courses from at least two different departments, outside of the concentration area. For a list of such courses, please see the section of this Bulletin entitled "Courses Related to Cognitive Science," which can be found under "Cognitive Science." The cognitive science undergraduate curriculum committee must approve courses not on the list on an individual basis.

6. SENIOR SEMINAR: Students must complete Q400 Senior Seminar in the Cognitive and Information Sciences.

7. RESEARCH: At least 6 credit hours from any combination of COGS Q493, Q495, and Q499.