Cognitive Science

The central tenet of cognitive science is that the human mind is essentially an information processing system. In order to understand human perception, thinking, decision making, and action cognitive scientists try to understand the various ways that minds process information to produce intelligent behaviour. In order to build models of human cognition, they carefully describe human behaviour using methods from experimental psychology, but they also use tools from computer science to formally describe the underlying information processing. As cognitive science and artificial intelligence share the common goal to understand the information processing that underlies intelligence, these two disciplines form the core of the cognitive science curriculum at TU Darmstadt. They are supplemented by introductory courses to neuroscience, linguistics, and philosophy. The Cognitive Science Programme is organised by the Department of Human Sciences in close cooperation with several other departments, especially Computer Science, to cover the full interdisciplinary spectrum of cognitive science. The Bachelor of Science and Master of Science programmes have been developed by an interdisciplinary team including members of the Centre for Cognitive Science, and the coursework has been coordinated with the German Society for Cognitive Science. The faculty are distributed across several departments, with core contributions from psychology and computer science. A strong emphasis is put on computational aspects in understanding the human mind and intelligent systems in general. Core Cognitive Science courses: Advanced Module I: Perception and Action (9 CP) Advanced Module II: Higher Cognition (9 CP) Advanced Module III: Applied Cognitive Science (9 CP) Cognitive Science Master Project (18 CP) Elective subject area: Cognitive Science (21 CP) Elective subject area: Computer Science (18 CP) Interdisciplinary elective area: (6 CP) Master's thesis (30 CP)