The Cognitive Science Program at the University of Arizona includes a state funded research program established in 1986 and a Ph.D. Minor in Cognitive Science approved in 1990.
Cognitive Science is the interdisciplinary study of the mind, encompassing the study of intelligent behavior as well as the brain mechanisms and computations underlying that behavior. The field is at the intersection of several other disciplines, including philosophy (knowledge representation, logic), psychology (basic human cognition, perception, and performance), computer science (computational theory, artificial intelligence, and robotics), linguistics (theories of language structure), and cognitive neuroscience (brain mechanisms for intelligent behavior). Typical research areas of cognitive science include judgment and decision making, language comprehension and production, language acquisition, visual recognition of objects and events, goal directed movement in complex environments, and consciousness.
Consciousness
The University of Arizona has been a pioneering force in the development of consciousness studies in the early 90s. Still today, its world-renowned
Center for Consciousness Studies is a unique research center focusing on interdisciplinary study of consciousness and
neighboring phenomena such as perception, emotion, and self-consciousness.
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Decision Making
Decision Behavior research at the University of Arizona involves students and faculty from across the campus, with interests ranging from the psychology and
philosophy of judgment and choice to theoretical and applied research on individual and group decision making in business, medicine, law, accounting and marketing.
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Learning
Learning research at the University of Arizona is reflected across a variety of areas including memory, perception, and language. Our approach to learning and plasticity encompasses behavioral, neural, and molecular investigations with subject populations all the way from infants to the elderly, both human and animal. A broad range of theoretical perspectives provides a contemporary approach to the study of learning. Specialties include statistical learning, spatial learning, perceptual learning, and the neurological basis of learning and memory. Cognitive Science faculty with interests in learning include:
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Vision
The University of Arizona has a strong and growing emphasis on Vision and Visual Cognition. Leading researchers in the departments of Computer Science, Neurology,
Philosophy, and Psychology use a variety of methods to investigate visual cognition and perceptual learning, including behavioral, computational, epistemological, and
neurobiological approaches. Cognitive Science faculty with interests in vision include:
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Foundations
The background work of our faculty covers many fields, from Computer Science to Philosophy and Robotics.
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Language
The University of Arizona is home to one of the largest groups of researchers on human language in the world. Faculty are spread across several colleges
and departments, and have interests spanning linguistic analysis, language behavior, and the cognitive and neurological substrates for normal and impaired language.
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Memory
Research on memory at the University of Arizona includes study of the genetic, cellular and molecular bases of memory as well as analysis of systems-level cognitive
processes engaged in human memory. Animal models and human memory are studied with respect to both development and aging, and in normal and memory-impaired populations.
Students participate in research using electrophysiological, neuromaging, and a variety of other experimental techniques. Cognitive Science faculty with interests in memory
include:
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