Dr. Johannes Mahr
jmahr@yorku.ca
Office Location:  N824 Ross Building

Imagine you are an alien coming to earth to study the creatures living here. You discover that there are all manner of seemingly intelligent beings on this planet. However, they all seem to be made out of stuff that itself doesn’t seem to have any intelligence. How can this be? How can intelligence emerge out of unintelligent stuff? This question is what the field of cognitive science has set itself to answer. Cognitive science seeks to understand how mental processes can arise in nature by integrating findings from such varied disciplines as philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, computer science, linguistics, anthropology, and artificial intelligence. Fundamental to this endeavor has been the idea that minds are the result of information processing carried out by the brain. In this course, we will explore where this idea comes from, why it might be useful to think of minds in this way, and look at cases where it has been successfully applied. As a result, this course will serve both as an introduction to the cognitive sciences and as an introduction to philosophical issues in cognitive science.

Technical requirements for taking the course: This course will have virtual and in-person elements. Students are expected to watch lectures online (uploaded twice a week) and attend in-person seminars. Lectures will be uploaded in video format to the course website. Weekly tutorial-attendance is mandatory to complete the course.

Students should be prepared for the possibility that the some or all tutorials in the course become fully remote, with meetings being hosted on Zoom, as circumstances require. In order to have access to the lectures and fully participate in Zoom meetings, students should ensure that they have access to a stable, higher-speed internet connection, as well as a computer with a webcam and microphone, and/or a smart device with these features.

All lectures, the schedule of readings, course announcements, and course policies will be posted to the eClass site for this course. All assignments will either be submitted via eClass or completed in-person during weekly tutorials. The instructors will also use eClass as their primary way of communicating with students.

Here are some useful links for student computing information, resources and help:

Student Guide to Moodle

Zoom@YorkU Best Practices 

Zoom@YorkU User Reference Guide

Computing for Students Website

Student Guide to eLearning at York University

To determine Internet connection and speed, there are online tests, such as Speedtest, that can be run.]

Times and locations: Lectures will be uploaded to the course eClass on Monday and Wednesday afternoons. Tutorials will take place in-person on Monday mornings between 9:30 and 10:30 am on Keele Campus.

Virtual office hours: The instructor will be available to meet with students for scheduled office hours virtually through Zoom (T 4 – 5pm). All students are encouraged to attend office hours, individually or as a group, and discuss assignments and, more generally, topics related to the course that are of interest to the students. Individual meetings can also be scheduled by appointment.

The course textbook is Cognitive Science: An Introduction to the Science of the Mind, 4th Edition, by José Luis Bermúdez. Additional readings will be made available online through the eClass website.

Papers (2/3)                            40%

Weekly Quizzes (6/10)           40%

Final Exam                             20%

This course will make use of pre-recorded 45-minute lectures that are uploaded twice a week (Mondays and Wednesdays) and weekly in-person 50-minute tutorials (Mondays). Each lecture will be based on a number of required readings. Tutorials are mandatory and will involve weekly quizzes assessing students’ understanding of the previous week’s lectures and readings. Additionally, the course will involve a number of written assignments uploaded to the eClass and a final, in-person exam. The course will involve no live virtual meetings outside of office hours.

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

1. Understand and evaluate some of the major theories in cognitive science.
2. Understand the main methodologies of cognitive science.
3. Critically evaluate research in cognitive science.

Additional Information:

Coursework will consist of weekly multiple-choice quizzes administered in tutorials, the submission of three QALMRI papers, and the completion of a final exam.

Course policies

Grading

The grading scheme for the course conforms to the 9-point grading system used in undergraduate programs at York (e.g., A+ = 9, A = 8, B+ - 7, C+ = 5, etc.).  Assignments and tests* will bear either a letter grade designation or a corresponding number grade (e.g.  A+ = 90 to 100, A = 80 to 90, B+ = 75 to 79, etc.). Final course grades may be adjusted to conform to Program or Faculty grades distribution profiles.

Students will be able to drop their lowest grade for paper assignments and their four lowest grades for weekly quizzes.

Assignment Submissions

Assignments will be submitted either during tutorials or via eClass. If students need an extension on a paper or paper planning assignment, they should make the request before the due date. Reasonable extensions will be granted.

Contacting Instructors

You should contact the instructors via email. Please note that we will be responding to messages only during working days (i.e. not on weekends or holidays).

Course Recordings:

Any recordings for this course should be used for educational purposes only and as a means for enhancing accessibility. Students do not have permission to duplicate, copy and/or distribute the recordings outside of the class (these acts can violate not only copyright laws but also FIPPA).

Academic honesty and integrity

In this course, we strive to maintain academic integrity to the highest extent possible. All submitted coursework must be an expression of the student’s own understanding and ideas. Please familiarize yourself with the meaning of academic integrity by completing SPARK’s Academic Integrity module at the beginning of the course. Breaches of academic integrity range from cheating to plagiarism (i.e., the improper crediting of another’s work, the representation of another’s ideas as your own, etc.). All instances of academic dishonesty in this course will be reported to the appropriate university authorities, and can be punishable according to the Senate Policy on Academic Honesty.

Student Accommodations

We are committed to fairly accommodating students with disabilities. Please contact the instructors and Student Accessibility Services (https://accessibility.students.yorku.ca/) as soon as possible, and we will all work together to find a fair accommodation. Note that in addition to sending the letter, accommodations for individual assignments must specifically be requested well ahead of the assignment's deadline.