April 10, 2013

Cognitive Science becomes Mind, Brain, and Behavior

Cognitive Science traditionally encompasses the fields of Linguistics, Computer Science, Cognitive Psychology, and Philosophy. More recent advances in neuroscience, genetics, and brain imaging have impelled the expansion of research in cognition and behavior to a new interdisciplinary range that includes biology, mathematics, anthropology, and sociology. In order to allow our students to address a wider range of research questions that reflect advances in the field, the Cognitive Science concentration has a revised curricular structure. These changes are reflected in our new designation as the Mind, Brain, and Behavior Concentration.

Cognitive Science Lecture: Communication in Marine Mammals, Monday, April 22, 5:00pm, Vassar Campus, Rockefeller 200

Peter Tyack of the Scottish Oceans Institute and St. Andrews and Woods Hole Oceanographics Institute in Massachusetts will Be visiting the Vassar campus on the 22nd and 23rd of April.  His public talk will be Monday, April 22 in Rockefeller 200 at 5:00 p.m.  Dr. Tyack's research is broadly in the area of animal communication, but his specialization has been in the study of communication in marine mammals.  His work includes the study of animal physiology, animal behavior, and psychoacoustics, and he has recently become very interested in the effects of increasing levels of mechanical sounds from ship propulsion systems and sonar on the physiology, behavior, and communications of whales and dolphins.  A web site with a list of his publications is available here if you would like to get a more detailed picture of the work he had been doing:  http://soi.st-andrews.ac.uk/staffProfile.aspx?sunID=plt.

Student-taught course on Consciousness
Course description: Through insights from any discipline (such as philosophy, psychology, computing, math, music, linguistics, cosmology, biology, anthropology, and creative writing), technique (such as research, discussion, field trips, making art, and standing on our heads), or experience we deem helpful, we will aim to resolve the Hard Problem of Consciousness. Contact: erika.x.norden[at]gmail.com