ctice@pbs.uucp (02/02/90)
In article <5819.25bf0751@pbs.uucp>, ctice@pbs.uucp writes: > I am a computer programmer, and I am contemplating going to graduate > school in the near future. As part of that, I am trying to pick an area of This is a summary of all the responses I got to my posting "Questions about Cognitive Science". I would like to thank everyone who took the time and effort to reply. Looking under Cognitive Psychology may give more information than looking under Cognitive Science, although the latter actually encompasses the former. Cognitive Science is the study of cognition in people, i.e. the study of intelligence and the mechanisms that may account for "intelligent" behavior. It can also be classified as the study of the human brain. It involves questions such as how do people understand language, see, store memory, etc. University libraries are more likely to have useful information than public libraries. Cognitive Science is NOT really a "sub-category" of Artificial Intelligence, although it overlaps with AI. It is a relatively new, inter- disciplinary field involving psychology, anthropology, philosophy, artificial intelligence, linguistics, and neurology (to name a few fields). It is a broad field, and very difficult to define precisely. One of the key differences between Cog Sci and AI is that Cog Scientists who do work with computer models design models based upon human cognition. AI researchers are not so restricted and are free to develop any problem solving system which performs those skills usually associated with humans, but not necessarily in the same manner as humans. Another opinion (fact?) is that mainstream AI involves a lot of mathematical analysis and theorem proving, while Cog Sci leans more towards empirical data, more broad coverage of issues with less specifics and less formal math. Some people in the field are: Don Norman at UCSD (Univ. of California - San Diego) Herb Simon at CMU (Carnegie Mellon University?) Allan Newell at CMU John Anderson Sarah Lesher at NCI (lesher@ncifcrf.gov) Randy Smith at MIT (randy@wheaties.ai.mit.edu) Donald Perlis at University of Maryland Suggested universities are: Arizona Brandice Brown University *Carnegie Mellon University *Massachusetts Institute of Technology State University of New York, Buffalo UCI University of California, Los Angeles *University of California, San Diego (contact Lynne Keith) University of Colorado, Boulder University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland University of Michigan University of Sussex, Brighton, England (School of Cog. & Comp. Sci) University of Washington, Seattle (contact Earl Hunt) University of Wisconsin, Madison *Yale *These universities were recommended most often Suggested books: "Foundations of Cognitive Science" (ed.) Posner, published by MIT press "The Minds New Science" by Gardner "Computers and Thought: A Practical Introduction to Artificial Intelligence" by Sharples, Hogg, Hutchinson, Torrance, & Young, published by MIT press a book by Johnson-Laird (1988?) (No title given) a book by Stillings (No title given) Suggested journals in the field are: "Cognitive Science" published by Ablex "Cog Psych" "Memory and Cognition" "Brain and Behavioral Sciences" Again, thanks for all your responses! Caroline Tice Public Broadcasting Service 1320 Braddock Pl. Alexandria, VA 22314 (UUCP: ...{csed-1,ida.org,vrdxhq}!pbs!ctice) (Voice: 703/739-5100) (VAX/VMS running DECUS UUCP 1.1, ANU News 5.9C)
salzberg@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU (Steven L Salzberg) (02/02/90)
In your message summarizing cognitive science programs and schools, you omitted one quite near to your own headquarters in D.C. Just up the road in Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University has a Cognitive Science Center, offering both undergraduate and graduate degrees. The Director of the center is Prof. Alfonso Carramazza. Steven Salzberg Dept. of Computer Science Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD 21218 salzberg@crabcake.cs.jhu.edu