Cognitive Studies is an interdisciplinary area of research concerned with understanding the nature and development of intelligent capacities such as perception, language, reasoning, planning, problem-solving, and related skills. Students from any major may receive a certificate in cognitive studies. The program is administered under the direction of Professor Dorothea Olkowski, dolkowsk@uccs.edu.
Cognitive Studies examines different approaches to questions concerning the nature of mind, the representation of knowledge, the acquisition, comprehension, and production of language, the development of learning and intelligence, the use of information to draw inferences and make decisions, and the assessment of “goodness of fit” between purportedly similar systems (e.g., the computer and the mind).
Exploration of some or all of these questions has been and is being undertaken in such disciplines as cognitive psychology, linguistics, philosophy, intelligence, neuroscience, social cognition and others. The concentration in Cognitive Studies represents a formal means of bringing together students and faculty in different disciplines who share common interests. We seek to enrich the view provided by any one discipline through an exploration or the methodologies of others.
The goal of the Cognitive Studies Certificate is to provide a structured way for undergraduates to study and carry out research in cognitive studies with guidance from faculty members affiliated with the Philosophy, Psychology and other departments. Any student in any major may pursue a certificate or minor in cognitive studies.
