2017-18 General Catalog

273 Social Sciences 2
(831) 459-2002
http://psychology.ucsc.edu

---

Program Description

Cognitive science has emerged in the last few decades as a major discipline that promises to be increasingly important in the 21st century. Focused on achieving a scientific understanding of how human cognition works and how cognition is possible, its subject matter encompasses cognitive functions (such as memory and perception), the structure and use of human language, the evolution of the mind, animal cognition, artificial intelligence, and more.

The cognitive science degree provides a strong grounding in the principles of cognition through courses in cognitive psychology, and, in addition, provides breadth in the interdisciplinary aspects of cognitive science such as anthropology, linguistics, biology, philosophy, and computer science. Graduates will be well prepared for advanced training in research fields of cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience, technology industries such as human-computer interaction, and health fields in the treatment of brain disorders.

The cognitive science major is intended for students wishing to enter doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.) programs in cognitive psychology, cognitive science, or cognitive neuroscience to pursue careers in research; enter the field of public health to work with individuals with neurological disorders and learning disabilities; or to enter the field of human-computer interaction design; or pursue other related careers.

The Department of Psychology administers the program and student major advising.

Preparation for the Major

Students who are not prepared to begin the calculus requirement should take preparatory courses offered by the mathematics and applied mathematics departments, including pre-calculus.

Requirements for the Cognitive Science Major

The undergraduate degree program in cognitive science is a program offering a course of study leading to the bachelor of science (B.S.) degree. Fifteen courses (77 credits) are required. Because some courses have additional prerequisites, students should read the descriptions of courses carefully, noting the prerequisites for courses of interest to them.

Lower-Division Requirements:

Introduction to Cognition (one of PSYC 20A or 20B)

Statistics (one of PSYC 2, AMS 5 or AMS 7/L)

Calculus (one of AMS 11A, MATH 11A, 19A or 20A)

Computer Programming (one of CMPE 13/L, CMPS 5C, 5J, 5P, 12A)

Upper-Division Requirements:

Students must complete 11 courses toward the major after completing the lower-division requirements. At least eight of these must be upper-division courses (a minimum of 42 credits). These must include Psychology 100, three upper-division core courses and three upper-division cognitive psychology electives, as described below. Students must also complete four interdisciplinary electives in other departments, which may or may not be upper-division. Students must ensure that one of the interdisciplinary electives is an upper-division course.

Psychology 100, Research Methods in Psychology (7 credits)

Core Courses

Students must complete a course from three of the following areas:

Perception (Psychology 120 or 121)

Neuroscience (Psychology 123)

Language (Psychology 125)

Memory (Psychology 129)

Cognitive Psychology Electives

Students must complete three additional upper-division Psychology courses from the following list. One of the core courses that is not used to satisfy the core courses requirement may be used to satisfy this requirement. One of these cognitive electives must be a Cognitive Senior Seminar as designated by the asterisks below.

Any of Psychology 120-138 (i.e., the Cognitive Series)

Psychology 104, Development in Infancy

Psychology 105, Children’s Thinking

Psychology 119E, The World of Babies *

Psychology 119F, Language Development *

Psychology 119P, Children and Technology *

Psychology 139A, Cognitive Laboratory*

Psychology 139B, Consciousness *

Psychology 139C, The Psychology of Lying and Deception *

Psychology 139D, Modeling Human Performance *

Psychology 139F, Psychology and Evolutionary Theory *

Psychology 139G, Conversations *

Psychology 139H, Weird Science *

Psychology 139J, Forgetting*

Psychology 139K, Face Recognition*

Psychology 139L, Illusions*

Psychology 181, Psychological Data Analysis

Psychology 194B, Advanced Cognitive Research

Psychology 195A, Senior Thesis

Psychology 204-252, graduate cognitive courses, by petition

*denotes Senior Seminar

Interdisciplinary Electives

Students must complete four interdisciplinary electives from lists of courses pre-approved by the Psychology Department, one of which must be upper-division. The electives fall into four groups: Evolution; Artificial Intelligence and Human-Computer Interaction; Linguistics; Philosophy. Three of the four electives must be selected from the same group. Students are responsible for planning their course of study to complete any necessary prerequisites for electives they wish to take. Possible sequences of interdisciplinary courses, including prerequisites, are given below.

Group 1: Evolution

Anthropology 1, 100, 101, 104, 105, 106, 109, 112, 139 (also listed in Group 3), 173, 174, 175A, 184/L, 194B, 194H, Biology: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology 20C, 109, 124/L, 129/L, 140, 141L, 147, 172/L, Biology: Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology 80E, 105, 120, 125, Philosophy 127 (also listed in Group 4), 190F (also listed in Group 4)

Group 2: Artificial Intelligence and Human-Computer Interaction

Computer Engineering 8, 9, 80A, 80U, 131, 161, 167/L; Computer Science 17, 80B, 80J, 80V, 132, 140; Computational Media 20, 80K, 146, 148; Music 80L

Note: The upper-division School of Engineering courses in this section have additional prerequisites that are not listed here.

Note: The lower-division computer science courses in this section are not being offered at present.

Group 3: Linguistics

Anthropology 139 (also listed in Group 1), Linguistics 50, 53, 80C, 80D, 101, 102, 105, 111 (formerly Linguistics 55), 112 (formerly Linguistics 52), 113, 116, 117, 124, 125, 140, 151, 152, 155, 157, 158

Group 4: Philosophy

Philosophy 9, 11, 80S, 100B (formerly Philosophy 93), 100C (formerly Philosophy 94), 121, 123, 125, 127, (also listed in Group 1), 133, 135, 190 (by petition)

Major Qualification Requirements

Students may petition to declare the cognitive science major once they have completed the lower-division requirements. For students to be admitted to the major, they must have a 2.80 or higher cumulative GPA in the lower-division requirements and receive a C or better in each of the courses. Transfer students may substitute equivalent courses from other institutions. Students not meeting the grade requirements in the lower-division courses may take any of the listed alternatives as substitutions; the department will use the highest grade to compute GPA.

Students who are informed that they are not eligible to declare the major may appeal this decision by submitting a letter to the department chair within 15 days from the date the notification was mailed. Within 15 days of receipt of the appeal, the department will notify the student, college, and Office of the Registrar of the decision.

Comprehensive Requirement

UCSC requires that every student satisfy a senior exit/comprehensive requirement prior to graduation. Cognitive Science students will satisfy this requirement by receiving a passing grade in either a senior seminar (PSYC 139A-K, or 119E, or 119F, or 119P), or research experience (PSYC 194B, Advanced Cognitive Research, or PSYC 195, Senior Thesis).

Disciplinary Communication (DC) Requirement

Students of every major must satisfy that majors upper-division Disciplinary Communication (DC) requirement. The DC requirement in cognitive science is satisfied by completing Psychology 100, Research Methods in Psychology, and the Senior Seminar requirement.

Honors

Honors in the cognitive science major are awarded to graduating seniors whose UCSC GPA is a 3.6 or higher in psychology courses (1-189).

Highest honors in the major are reserved for students who meet the honors criteria as well as successful completion of a senior thesis, or whose UCSC GPA is a 3.9 or higher in psychology courses (1-189).

Cognitive Science Course Planners

Following are two recommended academic plans for students to complete the Cognitive Science major. Plan 1 assumes typical curriculum selections. Plan 2 assumes the maximum number of prerequisites.

Plan One
Year	Fall	Winter	Spring
1st (frsh)	MATH 2	MATH 3	Calculus
	PSYC 20	Programming
2nd (soph)	Interdisciplinary prerequisite	PSYC 2	PSYC 100
		Interdisciplinary prerequisite
3rd (jr)	Cognitive core	Cognitive core	Cognitive core
	Interdisciplinary elective	Interdisciplinary elective	Interdisciplinary elective
	Cognitive elective	Cognitive elective	Cognitive elective
4th (sr)	Interdisciplinary elective	Cognitive upper-division	Cognitive upper-division

Plan Two
Year	Fall	Winter	Spring
1st (frsh)	MATH 2	MATH 3	Calculus
	PSYC 20	Programming
2nd (soph)	Interdisciplinary prerequisite	PSYC 2	PSYC 100
		Interdisciplinary prerequisite	Interdisciplinary prerequisite
3rd (jr)	Cognitive core	Cognitive core	Cognitive core
	Interdisciplinary prerequisite	Cognitive elective
4th (sr)	Cognitive elective
	Cognitive elective	Interdisciplinary elective	Interdisciplinary elective
	Interdisciplinary elective	Interdisciplinary elective

[Return to top]

Revised: 09/02/17