Choose Your Focus: Neuroscience or Cognitive Science
NSCS students will choose one of two foci in the NSCS curriculum: Neuroscience or Cognitive Science.
The NSCS curriculum consists of a) Supporting Course Work consisting of common and focus-specific courses, b) Core Course Work consisting of common and focus-specific courses and c) Elective Course Work that is grouped into 7 emphases consisting of specialized thematically related upper division courses.
A. NSCS Supporting Course Work
To take either focus, students need to take common supporting course work (18 units) as well as focus-specific supporting course work (9-12 units).
The common supporting course work includes:
. a science foundation in biology, chemistry and physics (MCB 1181R & 182L; CHEM 151; PHYS 110);
· a foundation in psychology/philosophy (PHIL 241 or PHIL 347)
· a foundation in mathematics including calculus, statistics and basic programming (MATH 263 or PSY 230);
· and the gateway course NSCS 200: Fundamentals of Neuroscience and Cognitive Science
The focus-specific supporting course work includes
Neuroscience
· CHEM 152 – Chemical Thinking II
· CHEM 241A & 243A - Organic Chemistry I & Lab
· PHYS 103 & 182 - Introductory Physics I & Lab
Cognitive Science
Three (3) courses from at least two (2) of the following categories:
· Cognitive Psychology
o LING 440 - The Bilingual Mind
o PSY 333 - Judgement and Decision-Making
o PSY 340 - Intro to Cognitive Development
o PSY 426 - Advanced Human Memory
o PSY 429 – Advanced Perception
· Linguistics
o LING 201 - Introduction to Linguistics
o LING 341- Language Development
o LING 432 - Psychology of Language
o LING 449A - Biolinguistics
· Philosophy
o PHIL 202 - Introduction to Symbolic Logic
o PHIL 346 - Minds, Brains and Computers
o PHIL 442 - Knowledge and Cognition
o PHIL 450 - Philosophy of Mind
B. NSCS Core Course Work
The NSCS core course work consists of a set of common core courses (14-15 units) and a set of focus-specific core courses. The curriculum emphasizes active learning, problem-solving skills, and encourages hands-on and intellectually challenging research experiences
The common core courses consist of:
· a gateway course
o NSCS 200 – Fundamentals of Neuroscience-Cognitive Science
· 2 core cognitive science courses
o CGSC 320 – Issues & Themes in Cognitive Science
o CGCS 321 – Methods in Cognitive Science
· 2 core neuroscience courses
o Cellular Neurophysiology NROS 307; Methods in Neuroscience, NROS 308);
· and a Neuroinformatics and Scientific Coding course (NROS 311).
The focus-specific core courses consist of:
Neuroscience
· NROS 310 - Molecular and Cellular Biology of Neurons
· NROS 418 - Fundamental Principles in Systems Neuroscience
Cognitive Science
· CGSC 344 - Modeling the Mind, Computational Models of Cognition
· Two courses from the Cognition emphasis:
o ECOL 346 – Bioinformatics
o ISTA 457 – Neural Networks o LING 432 – Psychology of Language
o LING 440 – The Bilingual Mind
o CGSC 344 – Modeling the Mind: Comp Models of Cognition
o NROS 412 – Molecular Mechanisms of Learning and Memory
o NROS 415 – Electrophysiology Lab
o PHIL 346 – Minds, Brains & Computers
o PHIL 439 – Decision Theory
o PSY 300 – Cognitive Neuroscience
o PSY 313 – Drugs and the Brain or PSY 413 – Drugs, Brain, and Behavior
o PSY 321 – Brain Rehabilitation
o PSY 326 – Human Memory
o PSY 340 – Introduction to Cognitive Development
o PSY 405 – Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
o PSY 412 – Animal Learning
o PSY 422 – Introduction to Brain Connectivity
o PSY 433 – Decisions and the Brain
o PSY 478 – Sleep and Sleep Disorders
o PSYS 407 – Language and Thought: A Cog. Psych/Neuro Perspective
C. NSCS Electives & Emphases
Beyond supporting and core course work, NSCS students complete a set of elective courses, which have been grouped into 7 emphases – groups of specialized thematically related upper division courses that are designed to help students explore in greater depth a subfield of neuroscience and cognitive science. Students must complete a minimum of 15 units by choosing 3 courses in their emphasis and up to 6 units of upper-division research, internship, preceptorship, or thesis credit.