Specialized Honours BA Program

Introduction

Our interdisciplinary program in Cognitive Science offers you a challenging opportunity to study the mind and its processes from multiple perspectives. In this program you can combine courses from Computer Science, Linguistics, Philosophy, Psychology, and Information Technology to gain an expansive knowledge of the cognitive processes we might find in humans, animals, and machines.

Cognitive Science majors will examine the nature of thought, emotion, perception, and language using the methodologies of the different disciplines in order to acquire a richly integrated understanding of the mind. You will have the chance to study the different ways in which infants and non-human animals may be able to think and reason without language, how computers can be programmed to demonstrate intelligence, and the nature of the relationship between social interaction and cognition.

Our faculty members are conducting research in such diverse areas as infant social cognition, virtual reality, neuropsychology of reasoning, and moral psychology. Your study will be enriched by your contact with energetic faculty, research groups, labs, and research centers that are engaged in groundbreaking work in the field of cognitive science.

Why Major in Cognitive Science?

As a Cognitive Science major, you will learn to bring a variety of different perspectives together. You will become familiar with some of the oldest questions in Philosophy and the most recent findings in the Sciences. Questions that you will encounter include:

What is the relationship between philosophy, psychology, computer science, and linguistics?
What is the relationship between the mind and the brain?
How does the technology used to study the brain work, and what assumptions must we make to use it?
How can we best explain human abilities like language, reasoning, problem-solving, and memory?
What is the connection between language and thinking?
How can we best understand various cognitive disorders?
How does human cognition differ from the cognition of other animals, such as the great apes?
To what extent is cognition innate, and to what extent is it acquired through experience?

Career Options for Cognitive Science Majors

Whatever profession you choose, you will be able to perform better if you understand how the mind works:

If you want to go into Psychology, Psychiatry or Counseling, Cognitive Science supplies a broad understanding of the theories of psychology as well as skills in computer modeling techniques to supplement psychology's experimental approach.
If you plan to teach, Cognitive Science can help you understand how people learn so you can work on developing better teaching methods.
If you plan to go into law, you'll be more effective in court if you have some insight into how juries make decisions.
If you want to become a Business Manager or Human Resources Consultant, Cognitive Science will provide a scientific basis for understanding how people use language and perform intellectual tasks.

Since Cognitive Science integrates the knowledge and methods of a number of disciplines, the skills acquired can be applied to most of the fields and professions related to the four disciplines, including: telecommunications, information and language processing, artificial intelligence, cognition software development, medical analysis, speech pathology, data retrieval, human-computer interaction, therapy, and education.

A Sample of Career Paths of Cognitive Science Graduates

Previous Cognitive Science graduates have found careers in research laboratories, community and mental health organizations, hospitals, clinics, non-profit organizations, governments, universities, colleges, newspapers, and magazine publishing. Others have gone on to earn graduate degrees in Philosophy, Psychology, Linguistics, Computer Science, Neuroscience, and Law.

Please also check out our Alumni page for information on what some of our recent graduates are doing.