How do the brain and mind work? What is the relation between the mental and the physical? Are the mind and brain kinds of computers? What are language, thought, choice, learning, emotion and motivation? How do they work, in humans, other organisms and perhaps machines?

The University of Michigan’s new Program in Cognitive Science, which officially launched on January 8, 2014, examines these questions and many more through a line of academic inquiry that integrates multiple perspectives represented in the Departments of Linguistics, Philosophy, and Psychology in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.

The gateway (introductory) course for the new major in Cognitive Science began in the Winter 2014 semester. More than 150 students are currently enrolled in CogSci 200, and will use this class as a foundation to explore the science(s) of mind, brain, and behavior. Majors will select 1 of 4 tracks: Language and Cognition, Computation and Cognition, Philosophy and Cognition, and Decision and Cognition, where each track offers learning opportunities from at least three departments. Students complete their learning experience with a senior capstone course.

For more information on the Program in Cognitive Science or the new major, please contact us at cogsciprog@umich.edu or call 734.615.3175.