COGNITIVE SCIENCE PROGRAM

Graduate Course Descriptions

Analytics

Anthropology

CSD

Computer Science

Linguistics

Learning Science

Music Cognition

NUIN

Philosophy

Psychology

Analytics

MSiA 490 – Social Network Analysis

This course explores the use of social network analysis to understand the growing connectivity and complexity in the world around us on different scales-ranging from small groups to the World Wide Web. It examines how we create social, economic, and technological networks, and how these networks enable and constrain our attitudes and behavior. The course will discuss how social network concepts, theories, and visual-analytic methods are being used to map, measure, understand, and design a wide range of phenomena such as social networking sites (e.g. Facebook, Myspace), recommender systems (e.g., Amazon, Netflix, Pandora), trust and reputation systems (e.g., eBay, Epinions, Slashdot), search engines (e.g., Flickr, Wikipedia, Yelp), social bookmarking (e.g., Delicious, Digg, Reddit), and virtual worlds (e.g., Second Life, EverQuest 2, World of Warcraft). The course has no formal prerequisites but will be most beneficial to students who have had an introductory statistics course covering descriptives for central tendencies, correlation, sampling, and significance testing. If you are already familiar with bipartite networks, multigraphs, small worlds, preferential attachment, power laws, exponential random graph models, homphily, and diffusion, you may still find much to learn!

Anthropology

ANTHRO 360 – Language and Culture

Relationship between language and culture; language as the vehicle of culture and as the manifestation of thought.

ANTHRO 360 – Language and Culture

Relationship between language and culture; language as the vehicle of culture and as the manifestation of thought.

ANTHRO 361 – Talk as Social Action

Analysis of talk in interaction based on examination of audio and video recorded data and associated transcripts. Conversation, action, turn, sequence, relevance, social structure, qualitative methodologies. Prerequisite: 215 or consent of instructor.

ANTHRO 377 – Psychological Anthropology

Contemporary approaches to cross-cultural behavior: ecocultural aspects of behavior development through maturation and socialization in human and nonhuman primates. Prerequisite: introductory survey course in psychology or anthropology or consent of instructor.

ANTHRO 461 – Methods of Linguistic Anthropology

Methods and techniques of linguistic anthropology, such as componential semantic analysis, linguistic ethnography (ethnoscience), systematic lexicography and the use of informants and interpreters.

ANTHRO 484 – Topics in Linguistic Anthropology

No description available.

ANTHRO 490 – Advanced Topics Ling: Semiotic Anthropology

No description available.

ANTHRO 490 – Language, Race & Ethnicity

This upper-level undergraduate/ graduate seminar examines relationships between language, race and ethnicity in the contemporary United States. It pairs major theoretical concepts from linguistic anthropology, sociolinguistics, and critical race and ethnic studies to examine ethnographic case studies about identity, subjectivity, racism, and institutions. The course will focus on language use among Asian Americans but also examine language practices by Latinos and Blacks by comparison. Topics include: language in media; bilingualism in schools and workplaces; the English Only movement; social media activism; names and naming; colonialism and postcolonialism; and transracial formations. Students will also be asked to apply course concepts to analyze relevant contemporary issues, including presidential malapropisms; controversies about place names and sports team names/ mascots; the 2018 elections; racial crossing and passing; and Yellow English today.

POLI SCI 490 – Topics in Political Science, Bayesian Analysis

The course will examine the theoretical and practical advantages of Bayesian approaches
relative to maximum likelihood and frequentist alternatives. Students will learn analytical and
modeling techniques with these methods in R.

CSD

CSD 302 – Anatomy and Physiology of the Peripheral Hearing Mechanism

Gross and fine structure; function of the peripheral auditory system. Prerequisites: junior standing or above, 202, 307, or consent of instructor

CSD 306 – Psychoacoustics

Principles underlying perception of pitch, loudness, auditory space, auditory patterns, and speech. Psychophysical procedures for studying psychoacoustics and the impact of hearing impairment are considered.

CSD 310 – Biological Foundations of Speech and Music

Anatomy and physiology of the central auditory pathway, experience-related neural plasticity, right/left brain specialization, audiovisual integration, auditory learning and perception, and neural encoding of speech and music. Prerequisite: junior standing or consent of instructor.

CSD 376 – Diagnostic and Remedial Approaches for Children with Learning

Introduction to the field of learning disabilities and its theoretical perspectives, assessment, and instruction principles and to the process of clinical teaching. Emphasis on instruction, accommodation, service delivery, progress monitoring, and transition.

CSD 410 – Biological Foundations of Speech and Music

Anatomy and physiology of the central auditory pathway, experience-related neural plasticity, right/left brain specialization, audiovisual integration, auditory learning and perception, and neural encoding of speech and music. Prerequisite: junior standing or consent of instructor.

CSD 444 – Development and Disorders of Mathematics

Theories and research on mathematical development and disorders. Identification, assessment, and remediation of disorders of mathematics and related areas.

CSD 457 – Language Science (Requires instructor permission)

This course introduces theories and supporting experimental evidence about how humans recognize and understand written and spoken words and sentences. When we see or hear words or sentences we automatically decode phonological or orthographic material and map it onto meaning representations; whereas, in word and sentence production, meaning or conceptual representations are mapped onto phonological form. Psycholinguistic, neurolinguistic, and cognitive neuropsychological research focused on understanding the neurocognitive mechanisms supporting lexical-semantic and syntactic processes will be discussed. The relevance of lexical-semantic and syntactic theories, models and data to understanding both developmental and acquired language disorders is emphasized. The course includes a weekly lab/discussion session.

CSD 550 – Research Procedures in CSD

No description available.

Computer Science

COMP_SCI 376 – Game Design and Development

Fundamental concepts of software for computer games and other simulation-based media.  Topics will include game design (selecting rules, resources, and player objectives), 2D and 3D game programming, representation of space, physics and collision detection, 3D animation engines, and performance engineering issues for real-time rendering. 

COMP_SCI 377 – Game Development Studio

In this course, students will design and develop games using the Unity game engine, with focus on team-based projects and agile development practices. Lectures will cover game design theory, game architecture and implementation, and the business of game development. Students will participate in class discussion and evaluation of projects in progress, to develop their skills in iterative design and implementation.

COMP_SCI 396 – Multi-modal Analytics

COMP_SCI 496 – Multi-modal Analytics

EECS 325 – Artificial Intelligence Programming

Introduction to LISP and programming knowledge-based systems and interfaces. Strong emphasis on writing maintainable, extensible systems. Topics include semantic networks, frames, pattern matching, deductive inference rules, case-based reasoning, and discrimination trees. Project-driven. Substantial programming assignments. Prerequisite: 110, 111, or programming experience.

EECS 337 – Introduction to Semantic Information Processing

Semantics-oriented introduction to natural language processing, broadly construed. Representation of meaning and knowledge inference in story understanding, script/frame theory, plans and plan recognition, counterplanning, and thematic structures. Prerequisite: 348 or consent of instructor.

EECS 344 – Design of Computer Problem Solvers

Principles and practice of organizing and building artificial intelligence reasoning systems. Pattern-directed rule systems, truth-maintenance systems, and constraint languages. Prerequisites: 348 and 325-1 or equivalent LISP experience.

EECS 348 – Introduction to Artificial Intelligence

Core techniques and applications of AI. Representing, retrieving, and applying knowledge for problem solving. Hypothesis exploration. Theorem proving. Vision and neural networks.

EECS 349 – Machine Learning

Study of algorithms that improve through experience. Topics typically include Bayesian learning, decision trees, genetic algorithms, neural networks, Markov models, and reinforcement learning. Assignments include programming projects and written work. Prerequisite: 348.

EECS 352 – Machine Perception of Music & Audio

Machine extraction of musical structure in audio and MIDI and score files, covering areas such as source separation and perceptual mapping of audio to machine-quantifiable measures. Prerequisite: 211, 231, GEN ENG 205-2, or prior programming experience in MATLAB.

EECS 359 – Digital Signal Processing

Discrete-time signals and systems. Discrete-time Fourier transform, z-transform, discrete Fourier transform, digital filters. Prerequisite: 222.

EECS 395 – Knowledge Representation

Topics suggested by students or faculty and approved by the department.

EECS 396 – Data Science Seminar

In this seminar, we will survey the fundamentals of data science by reading state of the art research papers in this area. This class will cover the basics of how to manipulate, integrate, and analyze data at scale. To receive credit, students must give in-class presentations and complete a final project.

EECS 435 – Neural Networks

No description available.

EECS 472 – Introduction to Agent-Based Modeling

Exploration and analysis of multiagent models, which simulate “emergent” scientific phenomena in a wide variety of content domains.

EECS 474 – Probabilistic Graphical Models

Probabilistic graphical models are a powerful technique for handling uncertainty in machine learning. The course will cover how probability distributions can be represented in graphical models, how inference and learning are performed in the models, and how the models are utilized for machine learning in practice.

EECS 495 – Innovative Technologies in Autism

Current statistics estimate that Autism Spectrum Disorder affects 1 in 150 people. Despite the impact that this disorder has on our society, autism is still relatively misunderstood, and both research and practice are in their infancy. In particular, although it is known that many people with autism feel a special affinity for and comfort with new media technology, little has been done to develop technologies to diagnose, treat, support, or unite those with autism. In this new course, therefore, students will gain an introduction to both the theory and practice of autism research, and of developing technologies for autism. That is, students will spend time becoming familiar with the relevant theory behind the diagnosis, treatment, description and personal experience of those with Autism Spectrum Disorder, as well as with relevant readings in human-computer interaction, human-centered computing, affective computing, and computer-mediated communication. Throughout, students will complete increasingly sophisticated and novel design exercises, culminating in team final projects.

EECS 497 – Algorithms and Society

This is a seminar course that will examine how algorithms are shaping society (and vice versa).We will cover issues related to income inequality, the 2016 U.S. presidential election, racial and ethnic bias, rural areas, and others topics. The primary weekly activities will be reading "hot-off-the-presses" literature, discussion, and presentation. The primary deliverable will be designing a research project for publication at a prominent scientific publication venue (i.e. this is a research/course "twofer").This course will appeal equally to students from McCormick and from the School of Communication, and both types of students will be challenged in their domain of expertise.

Linguistics

LING 311 – Child Language

Introduction to first-language acquisition. How infants and children learn the grammar (structure of sounds, words, and sentences) of their native language. Innate and environmental factors in linguistic development. Emphasis on experimental and corpus-based methods of inquiry.

LING 315 – Experimental Approaches to Word Form and Lexical Processing

Experimental techniques and theoretical models for analyzing perception and production of spoken and written word forms. Access to the mental lexicon in perception and production. Prerequisite: 250 or consent of instructor.

LING 316 – Experimental Syntax

Experimental methodologies and theories of sentence comprehension. Studies of syntactic structures in sentence comprehension. Prerequisite: 260 or consent of instructor.

LING 317 – Experimental Pragmatics

Experimental methodologies for analyzing the role of context in utterance production and comprehension. Prerequisite: 270 or consent of instructor.

LING 320 – Sociolinguistics

Linguistic diversity in multidialectal and multilingual societies. Correlations between linguistic variables and social categories. Language planning and policy; diglossia.

LING 321 – Bilingualism

Cognitive, linguistic, neuroscientific, and computational aspects of the acquisition, representation, and processing of two or more languages in an individual’s mind/brain. Prerequisite: 250, 260, or 270.

LING 323 – Language & Gender

No description available.

LING 327 – Language & Sexuality

The use of language to construct, negotiate, and conceal sexual identity, focusing on the language of and about gay men and lesbians. Topics include heteronormativity, identity labels, gender versus sexuality, and cross-cultural sexual diversity. Prerequisite: a course in linguistics or consent of instructor.

LING 330 – Research Methods in Linguistics: Inductive Statistics

Methods of linguistic data collection, management, and analysis with an emphasis on the use of computational, experimental, and statistical methods.

LING 334 – Introduction to Computational Linguistics

Hands-on introduction to computational methods in empirical linguistic analysis and natural language processing.

LING 340 – Historical Linguistics

Introduction to the study of how and why language changes. Topics include the comparative method, the regularity of sound change, syntactic change, distant genetic relationships, and language evolution.

LING 341 – Language Typology

A comparison of varying and universal features of the world’s languages. Prerequisite: 250, 260, or 270.

LING 342 – Structure of Various Languages

Phonological, morphological, or syntactic structure of a particular language. May be repeated for credit with change in language.

LING 342 – Structure of Japanese

No description available.

LING 350 – Fundamentals of Laboratory Phonology

Articulatory and acoustic phonetics. Syllable structure, phonotactics, prosody, and intonation. Fundamentals of experimental design and data analysis. Prerequisite: 250 or consent of instructor.

LING 360 – Fundamentals of Syntax

Fundamental principles of theoretical syntax. Phrase structure, argument structure, movement operations. Emphasis on argumentation, hypothesis formation and testing, and analytic methods. Prerequisite: 260 or consent of instructor.

LING 361 – Morphology

Issues in theoretical morphology. The internal structure of words. Linguistic and psycholinguistic findings about the representation and processing of word structures. Prerequisite: 250, 260, or 270.

LING 370 – Fundamentals of Meaning

Theoretical approaches to the study of linguistic meaning. Topics include word meaning, argument and event structure, sentence meaning, truth conditions, and inference types (e.g., entailment, implicature, presupposition). Prerequisite: 270 or consent of instructor.

LING 371 – Reference

Linguistic and philosophical approaches to the study of reference, focusing on the role of context in utterance production and interpretation. Topics include definiteness, genericity, deixis, and anaphora. Prerequisite: a course in linguistics or philosophy of language, or consent of instructor.

LING 372 – Pragmatics

Introduction to extrasemantic meaning, focusing on the role of context in utterance production and interpretation. Topics include the semantics-pragmatics boundary, implicature, presupposition, speech acts, reference, and information structure. Prerequisite: 250, 260, or 270.

LING 450-1 – Laboratory Phonology I

Theoretical and experimental approaches to prosody in diverse languages, examining how pitch and temporal patterning in speech convey structure and meaning above the level of the word. Hands-on analysis with symbolic representations of prosody and acoustic measures.

LING 450-2 – Laboratory Phonology II

This course covers topics in acoustic phonetics including the acoustic theory of speech production, acoustic correlates of speech sounds, and acoustic-phonetic features of connected speech. We also address topics in speech perception including phonetic categorization, speech perception and linguistic experience, and the role of speech perception in phonology.

LING 452 – Seminar in Sound Structure

Advanced topics in phonetic and phonological theory.

LING 460-1 – Syntactic Analysis I

Formal analysis of natural language syntax, emphasizing fundamental principles of generative grammar and their empirical and conceptual basis. Students explore universal and language-specific properties of grammar, language acquisition and language processing, while learning essentials of syntactic argumentation. Topics include analysis of major syntactic phenomena, issues of grammar acquisition, learnability problems and issues of realtime sentence processing.

LING 460-2 – Syntactic Analysis II

This course is a continuation of Syntactic Analysis I.

LING 462 – Seminar in Syntax

Advanced topics in syntactic theory.

LING 470-1 – Semantic Analysis I

Formal analysis of linguistic meaning, with an emphasis on different frameworks for modeling compositional interpretation. Students develop and evaluate hypotheses about the nature and construction of linguistic meaning while learning the essentials of semantic argumentation. Topics include the syntax semantics interface, quantification, and argument structure.

LING 470-2 – Semantic Analysis II

This course is a continuation of Semantic Analysis I.

LING 472 – Seminar in Semantics

Advanced topics in semantic theory.

LING 473 – Seminar in Pragmatics

Advanced topics in pragmatic theory. Prerequisite: successful completion of LING 372, graduate standing, or permission of instructor.

Music Cognition

MUS ED 425 – Quantitative Research in Music

No description available.

MUS ED 437 – Psychology of Music Teaching and Learning

No description available.

MUS THRY 335/435 – Topics in Music Cognition

Topics vary; announced before registration. May be repeated.

MUS THRY 336/436 – Topics in Music Cognition

Topics vary; announced before registration. May be repeated.

MUS THRY 451 – Music Cognition

No description available.

NUIN

NUIN 401 – Fundamentals of Neuroscience

This three quarter long course sequence introduces students to a wide array of topics in neuroscience, spanning molecules to behavior. Fall quarter focuses on neurogenetics/cell biology and neural development/signaling pathways; winter focuses on cellular neurophysiology and sensory transduction and processing; and spring covers topics in motor systems and cognitive neuroscience.

NUIN 411 – Great Experiments in Systems & Cognitive Neuroscience

This course fulfills the Great Experiments Course requirement for second year graduate students in the Northwestern University Interdepartmental Neuroscience program concentrating in Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience. The general aim of the course is to fill the gap between the basic overview of Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience provided by the first-year core course (NUIN 401) and the highly focused, often recent material covered in special topics courses taken as electives. Students will read a series of classic papers in systems and cognitive Neuroscience.

NUIN 440 – Advance Neuroanatomy

Designed to provide a fundamental understanding of neuroanatomy, this course considers the nervous system from both structural and functional perspectives, resulting in an integrated view of the brain. In addition to lectures and demonstrations, half the time is devoted to laboratory exercises in which students view histological sections and participate in the dissection of a human brain. This course extends over only 7 weeks of the quarter.

NUIN 470 – Cellular & Molecular Basis of Information Storage

This is a literature-based course designed to give students a framework to understand the current state of our knowledge about the cellular to system basis for information processing and storage. Weekly classes will be facilitated by faculty experts in specific areas of neural plasticity and information storage. Students will read papers assigned by the lecturer before each class and submit two relevant questions to for each paper (to then be discussed in class). Thus, seminal papers on each topic will be considered in class, whilst an overview of the important questions will be provided by the faculty facilitator. In each lecture consideration will be given how the information reviewed can be translated to problems related to issues of mental health.

NUIN 473 – Aging & Dementia

This course is designed to familiarize the student with aging and age-related dementias such as Alzheimer’s disease, Frontal lobe dementias and Parkinson’s Disease. Lectures will be given on incidence, diagnostics, and mechanisms studied in cell and animal models and in humans. Sessions will be two hours long – the first hour will be in a lecture format; the second will involve student-led discussions of papers relevant to the lecture topic. Student presentations of current literature and class participation will determine a portion of the grade; the balance will depend on a written and oral presentation to the class of a research proposal relevant to topics covered during the course.

NUIN 478 – Neuropharmacology of Brain Disorders

No description available.

NUIN 480 – Neural Control of Movement

This class is an exploration of the brain’s control of movement, ranging from eyes to limbs to the rhythmic movements of respiration. Each of these diverse topics will be overseen by a faculty member whose research is focused in that area. The instructor will introduce a given theme in the Monday class session. Although these sessions are designed to be didactic, they should ideally include a good bit of discussion as well. In preparation for each Friday session, students will be expected to read three to four assigned papers, a combination of classic and contemporary studies. The readings will be made available on Canvas and students will be expected to post several discussion questions for each paper to the class by Thursday. Although the instructor will guide the discussion on Friday, it should be driven primarily by the class. A student will be chosen randomly to introduce each paper. The class will assume a good background in the anatomy and physiology of the motor systems. Grading will be based on overall class participation and a short (3000-4000 words) paper due at the end of the quarter. Ideally it should combine insights from more than one session and contain several figures to illustrate key points.

Philosophy

PHIL 325 – Philosophy of Mind

Selected topics in the philosophy of mind: mind-body problem, problem of other minds, self-knowledge, personal identity, philosophical psychology. May be repeated for credit with change of topic.

PHIL 353 – Philosophy of Language

The nature and uses of language as presenting philosophical problems, e.g., theory of reference, the modes of meaning, definition, metaphor, problems of syntax, and semantics. May be repeated for credit with change of topic.

PHIL 363 – Philosophy of Psychology

No description available.

PHIL 390 – Wittegenstein

May be repeated for credit with change of topic.

PHIL 410 – Meaning and Mental Representation

No description available.

Psychology

PSYCH 312 – Neurobiology and Behavior

No description available.

PSYCH 314 – Special Topics

Topic to be announced. Prerequisites vary. May be repeated for credit with different topic.

PSYCH 321 – Neuroscience and Behavior Laboratory

Classical exercises in the physiological psychology laboratory, including brain-wave recording and electrophysiology. Prerequisites: 205, 312-2.

PSYCH 324 – Perception

Human perception, particularly vision but also hearing, taste, smell, and touch. Biological foundations, development, and disorders of perception. The senses in everyday life. Prerequisite: 110.

PSYCH 333 – The Psychology of Thinking

Research methods and recent experimental findings for types of human thinking. Students conduct original research. Prerequisite: 228.

PSYCH 334 – Language and Thought

Exposure to original research and theoretical perspectives on language and its relation to thought and behavior. Critical analysis of theories and methods. Topics may vary. Prerequisites: 205; 228 or COG SCI 211.

PSYCH 335 – Heuristic Decision Processes

Human decision making from both descriptive and prescriptive perspectives. Theories and models of decision making applied to a variety of contexts. Prerequisites: 205, 228.

PSYCH 361 – Brain Damage and the Mind

Survey of human cognition as studied via investigations of brain damage and brain-imaging techniques. Prerequisite: 110, 212, or COG SCI 210.

PSYCH 362 – Cognitive Development

Development of cognition and perception, including development of memory, concepts, language, and expertise. May focus on one or more age groups. Prerequisites: 205; 218 or 228.

PSYCH 401-1 – Psychology Proseminar: Biological and Cognitive Basis of Behavior

Understanding how brain-imaging techniques apply to the understanding of cognition.

PSYCH 405 – Psychometric Theory

Introduction to principles of measurement, reliability, validity, and scale construction.

PSYCH 424 – Behavioral and Neural Bases of Visual Perception

Reviews current understanding of the encoding of visual information on the basis of behavioral, neurophysiological, and neuropsychological evidence. Prerequisite: permission of instructor.

PSYCH 446 – Human Memory and Cognition

Theories of encoding and retrieval processes, semantic memory, automatic and strategic processes, and memory structure of text.

PSYCH 450 – Fundamental Statistics

Probability, decision rules, and tests of significance, including chi square, t, and F.

PSYCH 451 – Statistics in Experimental Design

Design and analysis of experiments. Emphasis on analysis of variance techniques.

PSYCH 453 – Linear Models

Linear models approach to design and analysis of experiments and quasi-experiments. Basic concepts in correlation and regression: partial and semipartial correlation, matrix notation, least squares methods, and dummy variables.

PSYCH 454 – Psychological Measurement

Measurement theories and their implications for the quantification of psychological constructs.

PSYCH 460 – Special Topics in Cognition

Current research and theory in cognitive psychology. May be repeated for credit with change of topic.

PSYCH 461 – Reasoning and Representation

Current theories of reasoning in cognitive science; mental steps in solving problems requiring inductive or deductive inferences. Covers relevant background in logic and artificial intelligence and empirical results on reasoning. Prerequisite: one course in either cognitive psychology, logic, or artificial intelligence.

PSYCH 462 – Cognitive Development

Cognitive development in infancy, childhood, and adolescence. Focus on theoretical explanations for cognitive change and development in core domains, including language, space, number, time, and social relations.

PSYCH 466 – Analogy and Similarity

Psychology of comparison, including theories of similarity, analogy and metaphor in psychology and artificial intelligence; processes of transfer, comparison in decision making; analogy in mental models and folk theories; and development of analogy and similarity.

PSYCH 467 – Culture and Cognition

No description available.

PSYCH 470 – Social, Cultural and Affective Neuroscience

No description available.

PSYCH 470 – Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory

No description available.

PSYCH 470 – The Creative Brain

No description available.

PSYCH 470 – Mind and Brain (co-listed as CogSci 401)

No description available.

PSYCH 486 – Stereotyping and Prejudice

Analysis of the psychological causes and consequences of stereotyping and prejudices with a focus on recent developments in the field of social psychology.