Cognitive Science
Graduate Interdisciplinary Graduate Program

Students with an interest in cognitive science may pursue study and research in the area by enrolling in the Ph.D. program of one of the cooperating disciplines (e.g., Computer Science, Linguistics, Philosophy, Psychology, Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences), and choosing Cognitive Science as their minor area. 

The Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Cognitive Science comprises more than 50 faculty members from over a dozen departments.  The list of participating faculty members can be found at the "Faculty" button above.

Arizona programs offer particular strength in several areas of cognitive science, including:  learning and memory, natural language processing, judgment and decision-making, visual cognition, and speech perception.

Cognitive Science Minor Requirements

The minor in Cognitive Science consists of 9 units. The two courses (6 credits) listed under the "Breadth Requirement" heading below are required. The other course can be any of the courses listed under the "Graduate Courses Available for the Ph.D. Minor."

The Program Director can approve course substitutions.

Declaring the Minor

After selecting a tentative slate of courses, students must complete a Doctoral Plan of Study, declaring Cognitive Science as their Ph.D. minor.  This requires completion and submission of the form submitted via the GradPath forms system in UAccess.  (New users should begin with the "FAQs for Students" found on the GradPath webpage.)

The form will be routed to the student's major department head, major advisor, the Director of Cognitive Science, and an advisor representing Cognitive Science.  The approved Doctoral Plan of Study must be filed with the Graduate College before a student is officially a Cognitive Science minor.  The Graduate College recommends filing the Plan of Study in the student's third semester, but Cognitive Science recommends that it be filed as early in the student's graduate career as possible.  Note that it is easy to change the slate of courses when final paperwork for the Ph.D. is filed.  Therefore, although students can declare Cognitive Science as their minor at any time during their graduate studies, there is no reason not to file with the Graduate College early in a student's graduate career.  Students who file with the Graduate College have access to a variety of benefits, including the ability to apply for Cognitive Science fellowships and travel funds (see Student Support, below).

Student Support

Students in the cooperating programs are supported by means of combinations of teaching and research assistantships, special fellowships, tuition and fee waivers.  Travel funds for Cognitive Science students who are presenting their work at a conference are available on an ongoing basis.  To request travel funds, email Dr. Jonathan Tullis at tullis@arizona.edu.  As declared Cognitive Science minors, students are also eligible for awards given by the UA Graduate Interdisciplinary Programs (gidp.arizona.edu/,)such as the Herbert E Carter Travel Award and the Raphael and Jolene Gruener Research Travel Award.

Breadth Requirement:

(1) Introduction to Cognitive Science (COGS 517, 3 credits) is required for all Cognitive Science minors who declare the minor unless the student arranges a substitution with the Director of Cognitive Science.  COGS 517 is offered every other year, in the spring semester.  Students are encouraged to take it in their first or second year of graduate study to promote a community of interdisciplinary students who can benefit from interacting with each other.

(2) Cognitive Science Colloquium (COGS 595, 1 credit per semester, for three semesters).  Students who are admitted for graduate studies at the University of Arizona are required to take 3 semesters of Colloquium credits.  Students earn these credits by regularly attending the Cognitive Science Colloquium (Friday, 12:00 - 1:00 p.m.) during the semesters they are enrolled, by joining in at least one student meeting with a speaker after the colloquium, and by writing a commentary on one of the colloquia.

Courses Available for the Ph.D. Minor in Cognitive Science

Cognitive Science Courses

Cognitive Science at the University of Arizona has excellent representation in core areas of the field. The table below lists the courses that can count toward a minor in Cognitive Science. The courses are listed by home department. The columns after the course name list the number of credits, the semester during which the course is typically offered.

COURSE

 

CREDITS WHEN TAUGHT
COGS 500-Computing for the Research Lab 3 Spring
COGS 505-Neuroimaging Theory, Methods, and Applications 3 Spring
COGS 510-Computing for Neuroimagers 3 Fall
COGS 512-Experience in Neuroimaging Study Design and Analysis 3 Spring
COGS 517-Introduction to Cognitive Science 3 Spring
COGS 595-Colloquium 1 Fall & Spring
COGS 599-Independent Study 1-3 Fall & Spring
COGS 696E-Master Seminar in Cognitive Science 3 Fall
COGS 699-Independent Study 1-3 Fall & Spring
ANTH 583-Sociolinguistics  3 Fall
CSC 573-Theory of Computation  3  Spring
CSC 577-Introduction to Computer Vision   3 Spring
CSC 645-Advanced Topics in Algorithm Analysis   3 Fall & Spring
ECE 508-Agent-based Simulation   3  Fall
ECOL 524-Chance, Purpose & Progress in Evolution & Religion   1 Spring
ECOL 573-Topics in Behavioral Ecology   3 Spring
ECOL 4587R-Animal Behavior   3 Fall
ECOL 596G-Complex Systems:  Networks & Self-organization in Biology 2 Fall
ECOL 600A-Fundamentals of Evolution   3 Fall & Spring
EDPSYCH 615B-Self-Regulated Learning  3 Fall
ISTA 510-Bayesian Modeling and Inference   3  Spring
ISTA 521-Introduction to Machine Learning  3 Fall
ISTA 550-Artificial Intelligence 3  Spring
LING 501-Formal Foundations of Linguistics 3 Fall
LING 503-Foundations of Syntactic Theory Fall
LING 504-Advanced Syntactic Theory 3  Spring
LING 505-Theories of Grammar 3 Spring
LING 506-Major Works in Syntactic Theory  3  Spring
LING 510-Foundations of Phonological Theory I 3 Fall
LING 514-Foundations of Phonological Theory II  3 Spring
LING 515-Phonological Phonetics  3  Fall
LING 522-Lexical Semantics   3 Spring
LING 432/532-Psychology of Language  3 Fall & Spring
LING 533-Theories of Language Development 3 Fall
LING 535-Morphology  3  Fall
LING 538-Computational Linguistics  3  Fall
LING 539-Statistical Natural Language Processing  3 Fall & Spring
LING 540-The Bilingual Mind 3 Spring
LING 543-Advanced Language Development   3  Fall & Spring
LING 548-Auditory and Visual Word Recognition and Lexical Processing 3 Spring
LING 549A-Biolinguistics 3 Fall
LING 564-Formal Semantics 3  Fall
LING 578-Speech Technology  3  Spring
LING 581-Advanced Computational Linguistics  3 Spring
LING 596D-Topics in Linguistics and Philosophy 3  Spring
LING 632-Psychological and Linguistic Approaches to Language 3  Spring
LING 696D-Topics in Language Acquisition and Psycholinguistics  3  Spring
LING 696F-Topics in Psycholinguistics and Language Processing 3 Fall & Spring
LING 696G-Topics in Computational Linguistics  3  Fall & Spring
MGMT 600-Behavioral Science theory and Method in Management  3 Fall
MGMT 696D-Judgment and Decision Making   3  Spring
NRSC 512-Reverse-Engineering the Fly 3 Fall
NURS 647-Human Factors in Health Information Technology 3 Fall
PHIL 501A-Symbolic Logic   3 Fall
PHIL 539-Decision Theory 3 Fall & Spring
PHIL 541-Theory of Knowledge   3 Fall & Spring
PHIL 542-Knowledge and Cognition  3 Fall
PHIL 550-Philosophy of Mind   3 Fall & Spring
PHIL 551-Philosophy and Psychology  3 Fall & Spring
PHIL 555-Philosophy and Artificial Intelligence  3 Fall & Spring
PHIL 563-Philosophy of Language  3  Fall & Spring
PHIL 565-Pragmatics  3  Spring
PHIL 596K-Philosophy of Mind  3 Fall & Spring
PHIL 596L-Philosophy of Language  3  Fall & Spring
PHIL 596V-Philosophy and Cognitive Science   3  Fall & Spring
PSY 501A-Principles of Psychophysiology  3 Fall & Spring
PSY 501B-Psychophysiology Lab  1 Fall & Spring
PSY 502-Principles of Neuroanatomy   4 Spring
PSY 503C-Introduction to Computational Neuroscience 3 Fall
PSY 504A-Human Brain-Behavior Relationships  3 Fall
PSY 506A-Neural Encoding: Memory and Comprehension of Mammals  3 Fall
PSY 506B-Foundations of Cognitive Psychology  3 Fall & Spring
PSY 524-Gerontology:  A Multidisciplinary Perspective  3  Fall
PSY 526-Advanced Human Memory   3  Fall
PSY 528-Cognitive Neuroscience   3 Fall & Spring
PSY 530-Neural Basis of Language 3 Fall
PSY 536-Visual Cognition   3  Fall & Spring
PSY 542-Topics in Psycholinguistics   3  Fall & Spring
PSY 543-Advanced Language Development 3 Fall & Spring
PSY 544A-Computational Cognitive Neuroscience 4 Spring
PSY 596F-Cognitive Psychology   3  Fall & Spring
SLHS 520-Cognitive Neuroscience of Hearing 3 Fall
SLHS 541-Language Acquisition 3 Spring
SLHS 543-Adult Language Disorders: TBI and Dementia 3 Spring
SLHS 544-Adult Language Disorders: Aphasia and Right Hemisphere Disorders   3 Fall
SLHS 555-Developmental Language Disorders 3 Fall
SLHS 568-Speech Perception 3  Spring