3215 Social Sciences II; (714) 824-7569
John I. Yellott, Department Chair
The Department of Cognitive Sciences is committed to the investigation of the abstract, complex structures that underlie human cognition: language, thought, memory, learning, and perception. The main areas of research strength within the Department are visual and auditory perception, experimental psychology, and mathematical psychology.
Students should be aware that psychology courses are offered in several different departments and programs. Students interested in general psychology including the areas of development, clinical, perception, learning, memory, and cognitive processes are advised to consult the course listings here in the Department of Cognitive Sciences section. These courses are designed to provide students with a strong foundation in general psychology. Students interested in other areas of psychology are advised to consult the course listings in the School of Social Ecology section.
In anticipation that the number of students who are qualified to elect Psychology as a major will exceed the number of positions available, students applying for admission for fall 1997 should be sure to file their application before November 30, 1996.
Continuing-Student Applicants: Students who were not admitted to the Psychology major upon their admission to the University may apply for entry into the major during the first five weeks of any quarter after their freshman year. Applications must be filed in the School of Social Sciences Undergraduate Counseling Office. To be considered for admission into the Psychology major, students must have completed the following: (a) the lower-division writing requirement and (b) the requirements of two additional campus breadth categories. Students applying to the major should have an overall grade point average of at least 2.7. NOTE: Acceptance into the major is not guaranteed. In the event that more applications are received than can be accommodated, applicants may be subject to screening beyond these minimum criteria.
Excellence in Psychological Research: Psychology majors doing independent research under Psychology 199 may be eligible for participation in the Excellence in Psychological Research program. Participants have the opportunity to present their research papers published in a peer-reviewed student journal. Guidelines for the program are available from the Department of Cognitive Sciences office.
University Requirements: See pages 57-61.
School Requirements: See page 325.
Departmental Requirements for the Major in Psychology
School requirements must be met and must include 18 courses (70 units) as specified below:
A. Psychology 9A-B-C.
B. Two introductory courses (eight units) in the social sciences chosen from Anthropology 2A or 2B, Economics 1, Linguistics 3, Political Science 6A, 6B, or 6C, Sociology 1.
C. A one-quarter course and laboratory in experimental psychology or research methods selected from 112A and 112LA, or 112D and 112LD.
D. Four upper-division psychology core courses are required (16 units). These courses are designated with the ending number "0" and include the following: Psychology 120A (Abnormal Psychology), 120D (Developmental Psychology), 120H (History of Psychology), 120P (Personality Theories), 130A (Perception and Sensory Processes), 140C (Cognitive Science), and 140L (Principles of Learning Theory). NOTE: Psychology 110E (Introduction to Experimental Psychology) cannot be used to satisfy core course requirements.
E. Seven additional courses (four or more units each) with emphasis in psychology, distributed as follows:
(1) No more than one of the seven may be lower-division. Psychology 7A may not be used to fulfill this requirement.
(2) Three of the upper-division courses used to satisfy requirements D and E must be taken from one of the following modules: Psychology 110119 (Research Methodologies), 120129 (General Psychology), 130139 (Perception and Sensory Processes), 140149 and 150159 (Learning and Cognition and Semiotics and Language combined), and 170179 (Interdisciplinary Studies).
(3) Certain courses offered in the School of Biological Sciences and the School of Social Ecology may be used in partial satisfaction of this requirement. Such courses must be chosen from the approved list of psychology-related courses in these disciplines.
NOTE: Psychology majors are strongly encouraged to take Biological Sciences 1A-B-C in satisfaction of the natural sciences portion of the breadth requirement (Category II). Furthermore, it is strongly recommended that students who intend to pursue postbaccalaureate work in psychology take the sequence Psychology 112A-B-C or Psychology 110E, 112D, 112LD. Most psychology graduate programs require statistics (which, at UCI, may be satisfied by taking Social Sciences 10A-B-C, Psychololgy 10A-B-C, or Social Sciences 100A-B-C), but some require calculus (which, at UCI, may be satisfied by taking Mathematics 2A-B-C).
Honors Program in Psychology
The two-year honors program in Psychology is open to selected juniors who are majoring in Psychology. It provides basic training in research methods and culminates with the opportunity for basic research in some area of psychology under faculty supervision. The program has a limited number of openings and seeks to attract outstanding students who plan to undertake postgraduate education in some field of the psychological sciences. Admission to the program is based on a formal application that is normally submitted in the spring quarter of the sophomore year. Applicants should have an overall grade point average of at least 3.2 and a grade point average of at least 3.5 in psychology courses, although this requirement may be waived in unusual cases.
During the junior year, students who participate in the program are expected to enroll in Honors Experimental Psychology (H111A-B-C), and in the fall quarter of the Honors Seminar in Psychology (H101A). As seniors, following successful completion of these junior-year requirements, Psychology honors students are enrolled in the Honors Seminar in Psychology (H101B-C) in the winter and spring quarters. Participants in the honors program are expected to complete course work beyond the breadth requirement in one or more of the following areas: biological sciences, mathematics, computer science, physical science, linguistics, philosophy. The honors seminar may be used to satisfy two of the courses required by Part E of the Psychology major requirements. To graduate with Honors in Psychology, a student must successfully complete the requirements for the B.A. degree in Psychology with an overall grade point average of 3.2 and a grade point average of at least 3.5 in Psychology courses. In addition, Honors students must successfully complete a senior honors thesis as part of the senior-year course work.
Psychology Minor Requirements
Requirements for the minor in Psychology are met by taking seven psychology courses (28 units) as specified below:
A. Psychology 7A.
B. Three upper-division psychology courses chosen from the following core courses in Psychology: 120A (Abnormal Psychology), 120D (Developmental Psychology), 120H (History of Psychology), 120P (Personality Theories), 130A (Perception and Sensory Processes), 140C (Cognitive Science), 140L (Principles of Learning Theory).
C. Three additional psychology courses (four or more units each) no more than one of which is a lower-division course.
D. In addition, the School mathematics and computer science requirement (School requirement A) must be satisfied.
Participating Faculty
William Batchelder: Mathematical models of learning and memory, mathe-matical psychology, and measurement
Bruce Berg: Psychoacoustics of complex sounds, auditory attention
Myron Braunstein: Visual perception and computer applications
Michael Butler: How people learn and how they can learn better
Carol M. Cicerone: Visual perception and the physiological bases of visual perception, with emphasis on human color vision and retinal mechanisms of sensitivity regulation
Barbara Dosher: Memory, information processing, perception
Michael D'Zmura: Visual perception, color vision, attention and image understanding
Jean-Claude Falmagne: Mathematical behavioral sciences
Donald Hoffman: Human and machine vision, recovery of three-dimensional structure from image motion, visual recognition of objects by their shape
Tarow Indow: Mathematical models in visual space, color space, and human memory
Geoffrey J. Iverson: Cognitive science and mathematical models
Mary-Louise Kean: Linguistic theory and biological foundations of higher mental processes
David LaBerge: Attention, mathematical models of response time, brain imaging
R. Duncan Luce: Mathematical behavioral science; measurement theory, utility theory, response times
Virginia Mann: Speech perception and its development, the development of reading ability, development of dyslexia
Louis Narens: Measurement, logic, and metacognition
George Sperling: Vision, perception, information processing
W.C. Watt: Cognitive semiotics
Charles E. Wright: Motor control, motor learning
John I. Yellott, Jr.: Mathematical psychology and visual perception
The Department of Cognitive Sciences offers a program of study leading to the Ph.D. in Psychology. The faculty are interested in human cognition, perception, cognitive psychology, and psycholinguistics. They lay special stress on precise scientific approaches to issues in human cognition, and view formal models as instrumental in understanding the nature of the human mind.
Research interests include: mathematical psychology, perception (visual and auditory), cognitive development, problem solving, artificial intelligence, learning, memory, psycholinguistics, semiotics, and theoretical linguistics. The graduate program does not emphasize traditional training in psychology; rather, it stresses the integration of research in the areas mentioned above, and in related areas, into a discipline whose central focus is the study of human knowledge and human information processing, regardless of the medium in which it is expressed.
In addition to meeting the general requirements for admission, applicants should have acquired a background in mathematics equivalent to at least one year of calculus. Advanced courses in some of the following fields are considered highly desirable: computer science, mathematics and the physical sciences, biology, logic, and linguistics. Each admission application will be considered on its own merits.
Each student is expected to take two three-course graduate sequences. The first is a three-quarter methods sequence covering the areas of probability, statistics, and experimental design (Psychology 203A, 203B, 203C). The other is a proseminar sequence covering areas such as learning, memory, perception, and linguistics (Psychology 202A-B-C). Suitable substitutes may be made with written approval of the Department's Director of Graduate Studies. Additional advanced course work in other fields relevant to the student's interests will supplement the required courses. Knowledge of one foreign language appropriate to the student's research concerns is required. Students are expected to enroll in the Cognitive Sciences Research Seminar (Psychology 201A-B-C) during all quarters in residence prior to advancement to candidacy.
In addition, students must take at least six more courses prior to advancement to candidacy. These courses must be taken from at least three of the following five modules: Foundations (Psychology 200209); Human Cognition (Psychology 210229); Methodologies and Models (Psychology 230249); Human Performance (Psychology 250269); and Sensation and Perception (Psychology 270289).
Each student is expected to carry out theoretical/empirical research during the first two years. By the end of the second year, each student should have completed a research project of a scope and nature that is potentially publishable in a relevant journal. The student's advisor is responsible for assisting in the planning and other facets of the project. Students are expected to write a paper based on their research and to present a talk to the "Cognitive Sciences Seminar" or another appropriate forum by the end of the spring quarter of their second full year in the graduate program.
Reviews
At the end of each academic year the faculty of the Department will meet to discuss the progress of each of its students and to provide feedback on the progress and perceived deficiencies of each student.
The advancement-to-candidacy examination will consist of an oral examination and, at the faculty's option, a written examination as well. Normally this step will be completed by the end of the third or beginning of the fourth year of the program. The examination will be based on the student's dissertation proposal.
Prior to submission of the final version of the dissertation the student will be expected to defend the dissertation in a public colloquium.
