This course is an introduction to philosophy through science fiction. We will explore philosophical issues such as the nature of reality, free will, personal identity, the nature of mind and the possibility of artificial intelligence, and the ethical implications of AI, mind reading, and other issues. Readings in philosophy will be paired with science fiction films and short stories. Students will be expected to write a series of short papers.

This course will explore the main theoretical ideas and methods of the scientific study of animal behavior. It is the second of a two-course sequence, although students who did not take the first semester are welcome to enroll (they will be expected to do some extra reading in preparation). We will continue to explore the functional and evolutionary bases of animal behavior, including altruism, social behavior, reproductive behavior, mating systems, parental care, the influence of neural systems on behavior, and animal cognition.

In recent years, as a result of interactions between cognitive psychology and education, we now have many ideas about classroom learning, and approaches to teaching, testing and assessment. We also have strong evidence that implementing these ideas could really improve learning for all children and youth, including those who are under- resourced. In this seminar we will work to understand the findings by reading and discussing a selection of theoretical works from cognitive science and psychology.

This course focuses on the relationship between minds and bodies, and the nature of mental phenomena such as thoughts, desires, and qualia (qualitative states such as the experience of seeing red or tasting a peach). If we assume that minds are physical or material entities - an assumption prevalent today - then we must ask how typically mental features such as thoughts, sensations, emotions and consciousness can emerge out of the seemingly unthinking, unfeeling grey matter of the brain.

This course will examine language learning from a cognitive perspective and consider the relative contributions of genetics and environment to the process of language acquisition. In the course we will examine how children learn words, how they learn to put words together to form sentences and how they learn to use language appropriately in social situations. We will look at children learning two or more languages simultaneously and at children who, in very rare cases, have been altogether deprived of language.

This course will introduce students to the production of animated short films with the tools and techniques of three-dimensional (3D) computer graphics. Readings and lectures will cover the theoretical foundations of the field, and the homework assignments will provide hands-on, project-based experience with production. The topics covered will include modeling (the building of 3D objects), shading (assignment of surface reflectance properties), animation (moving the objects over time), and lighting (placing and setting the properties of virtual light sources).

Life and death are central to our everyday experience -- our thoughts, our emotions, our conversations, our creations and our inquiries. It is therefore not surprising that there are many lenses through which one can study life and death. The goal of this class is to study various phenomena, each through a distinct lens, in which life and death are central.

The field of Statistics aims to interpret large data sets that contain random variation. Baseball is a game that contains a high degree of randomness, and because professional baseball has been played since the 19th century, a large amount of data has been collected about players' performance. In this class we examine key concepts in Statistics using baseball as a motivating example, and students will learn how to use the R programming language to analyze data. Assignments will consist of weekly problem sets, two class presentations, and a short final project.

The problem of explaining how the brain enables human conscious experience remains a great mystery of human knowledge. This course is an introduction to cognitive neuroscience in which we will attempt to examine the neural underpinnings of the mind's complex processes, paying particular attention to vision, attention, and memory. Cognitive neuroscience incorporates elements of physiological psychology, neuroscience, cognitive psychology and neuropsychology.

This course offers students a broad introduction to the scientific study of mental processes and behavior. We will explore a sampling of the ways Psychologists study these from different theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches. For example, we will examine the interplay between the biological, psychological, and social aspects of human behavior. Content areas covered will include the brain, sensation and perception, memory, development, language, social psychology, and psychological disorders, among others.