Admission requirements
Bachelor degree (completed)
Description
Understanding cognitive processes involves breaking them down into more fundamental computational subparts. In this course we will take an interdisciplinary look at studies investigating the behavior of non-human animals as well as computational cognitive modelling, that can teach us about cognition. To what extent can we find parallels for complex human behavior in non-human species? What can we learn about human cognition and behavior from the comparative approach? To what extent can complex human behaviors be operationalized and implemented in machines? And how can we use technology to study animal behavior? Issues such as the emergence of culture, social imitation, language, art, song, domestication and consciousness will be addressed using data on various species including birds, primates and dolphins.
We will read and discuss literature on animal and computational cognition and gain hands-on practice with the design and presentation of a scientific poster, which will be displayed at a poster festival in the last weeks of the course. We will also discover how animal cognition research is conducted in practice during two class field trips.Brief introductory description of the course. Please include course subject and teaching materials used.
Course objectives
Concise description of the course objectives formulated in terms of knowledge, insight and skills students will have acquired at the end of the course. The relationship between these objectives and achievement levels for the programme should be evident.After successful completion of this course, the learner will be able to:
Explain why the comparative approach is important for learning about human and non-human cognition and evolution
Recall various methods for studying cognitive skills in non-human animals
Interpret findings from experiments and field work in animal cognition
Compare cognitive skills of various different species and in different cognitive domains
Judge interpretations of animal behavior in the light of the tension between human-centeredness and anthropomorphism
Recognize and explain how technology and computational modelling can be used in the study of human and non-human cognition
Timetable
Check MyTimetable (manual) and use your ULCN account to login. Please note that (last-minute) changes in the schedule are communicated in the course's Brightspace.
Mode of instruction
Lecture, Research, Excursion
Assessment method
essay, assignments (50%)
poster presentation (50%)
Reading list
The reading consists of papers which need to be read before each class. Links to the reading are provided through Blackboard.
Registration
You have to enrol for classes and exams (including retakes) in uSis.
Elective, external and exchange students (other than Media Technology students) need to contact the programme's coordinator due to limited capacity.
Contact
Contact the lecturer(s) for course specific questions and the programme's coordinator Barbara Visscher-van Grinsven for questions regarding the programme, admission and/or registration.