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Principles of Cognitive Science (G5118E)

15 credits, Level 4

Spring teaching

How do our minds work?

In this module, you answer this question from the perspective of classical cognitive science, which treats the mind as a processor of information.

Over the last 50 years, cognitive scientists have gained deep insights into how we think and what makes us intelligent.

We will investigate how the mind receives, transforms, stores, retrieves and transmits information in order to understand how we comprehend the world, reason, solve problems, remember, develop skills and learn.

In addition to studying the variety, power and limitations of our cognitive capabilities, you analyse and explain the nature of exceptional cognitive abilities, such as creativity and expertise, but we will also see that even seemingly simple everyday tasks involves a surprising richness and complexity of cognition.

A key part of the module will be a case study on a task of your own choosing, which you investigate using the core concepts and models presented in the seminars.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 150 hours of work. This breaks down into about 22 hours of contact time and about 128 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2024/25. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.