The Cognitive Sciences: An Interdisciplinary Approach, Second Edition offers an engaging, thorough introduction to the cognitive sciences. Authors Carolyn Sobel and Paul Li examine the historical and contemporary issues and research findings of the core cognitive science disciplines: cognitive psychology, neuroscience, artificial intelligence, linguistics, evolutionary psychology, and philosophy. For each of these core disciplines, the historical development and classic research studies are presented in one chapter and current research development and issues follow in a second chapter, offering students a broad understanding of the development of each concentration in the cognitive sciences. The text presents a student-friendly approach to understanding how each discipline has contributed to the growth of cognitive science and the implications for future research.
Carolyn Sobel is Professor Emerita of Linguistics, Hofstra University, New York where she is a past Area Coordinator (equivalent of a Department Chair) in both the Social Sciences and Creative Studies areas at the University's New College. Dr. Sobel received her BA from Swarthmore College, and her PhD in linguistics from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Given her interest in language and the brain, she ultimately found it a short step from linguistics to cognitive science, a subject she introduced to New College. She has taught courses that range from linguistics to the structure of English words and sentences and from cognitive science to poetry. Paul Li is Lecturer in Cognitive Science at the University of California, Berkeley. Paul earned his BA in cognitive neuroscience at UC Berkeley and completed his graduate studies in neuroscience at Columbia University, New York. He has written several excerpts for Scientific American Mind and is currently conducting research in neurodegenerative diseases at the Gladstone Institute in San Francisco. He has been invited to teach at several universities, including Seoul National University and Stanford University.
Chapter 1. Early Approaches to the Study of Human Cognition Chapter 2. The Approach of Cognitive Science Chapter 3. Exploring the Brain Chapter 4. Modern Technology and Research Chapter 5. Setting the Stage for Artificial Intelligence Chapter 6. The Machine Performs Chapter 7. What Linguistics Is About Chapter 8. The Role of Linguistics in Cognitive Science Chapter 9. Evolutionary Psychology Chapter 10. Philosophical Issues in Cognitive Science Chapter 11. Who Are We?