Cognitive science is a relatively modern discipline, originating in the 1950s, that explores the essence of, processes involved in, and emergent abilities of the human mind. Scholars in the field examine the mental processes associated with knowledge acquisition, such as the formation of thoughts, memories, decisions, and problem-solving abilities. Higher-level abilities of the brain are also explored, including language, imagination, perception, and planning. This field is founded upon interdisciplinarity, encompassing a variety of areas of knowledge, which include, but are certainly not limited to, philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, anthropology, and artificial intelligence.
I began my college studies as a psychology major, unaware of the university’s Cognitive Science program or what it entailed. I first considered expanding my breadth of study to include cognitive science in my statistics in psychology course, where my instructor conducted a short presentation on the program as a whole, its compatibility with the Psychology program, its interdisciplinarity, and its applicability to many career paths. I have always been fascinated by the mind and how it works, and the interdisciplinary approach to investigating these phenomena excited me. The required courses in philosophy and linguistics were the most compelling, as I had always enjoyed studying elements of these disciplines on my own, but had not anticipated that I would get a chance to study them in college.
In the following semester, I took Introduction to Cognitive Science, which I immediately loved. Examining our mental processes and capabilities from a perspective much more wide-ranging in scope than the psychological vantage point I had become accustomed to was truly captivating. Being able to study more in-depth ancient (e.g.- Plato and Aristotle) and modern (e.g.-Daniel Dennett) philosophical thought, linguistic influences to learning, language development, and thought (e.g.- Noam Chomsky and the Language Acquisition Device), recursion and its real-world applications, and mental representations (e.g.- cognitive mapping, visual representations of familiar streets to aid in navigation) greatly appealed to me. Within the first two weeks of classes, I had met with the course instructor and discussed my fascination with human cognition, excitement for the program, and career plans. Before I knew it, I was a double major!
Throughout my journey as a cognitive science major, I have taken fascinating courses that explore the functioning of the mind across various contexts, including Biopsychology, Cognition, Brains, Minds, and Consciousness, Behavioral Pharmacology, Brain Injury and Psychopathology, Semiotics and the Study of Meaning, and Logic, Language, and Thought. Overall, this major allows students to satisfy requirements by choosing from a fairly large pool of courses. In this manner, students can tailor a fair portion of the requirements to their personal strengths and interests. While all majors have their fair share of challenges (for me, in the required computer science courses), the faculty in the department are more than willing to help, tutoring options are available, and, in my experience, the cognitive science student body is exceptionally supportive, willing to work together on challenging assignments and form study groups to prepare for exams.