Cognitive Science: An Introduction

by Mark H. Feinstein, Christopher H. Chase, Neil A. Stillings, et al.

Book Overview

"This is the first introductory text in cognitive science that provides comprehensive coverage of the field. . .[it] provides a solid foundation for the beginning student." -- Arthur C. Graesser, Contemporary PsychologyCognitive Science is a single-source undergraduate text that broadly surveys the theories and empirical results of cognitive science within a consistent computational perspective. In addition to covering the individual contributions...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0262192578
• ISBN13: 9780262192576
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: MIT Press (MA)
• Length: 533 Pages
• Weight: 2.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

That's SOME introduction!

I needed a good introductory text on Cognitive Science for my thesis so I chose Stillings, et al., among others. I have to say that I'm in no position (professionally) to really rate this book, but it is very detailed. I did get some good basic information but then I turned to page two, and well, it just got scary! It's chock full o' info, (more than an introduction in my humble opinion) not for the faint of heart or mind where the cognitive sciences are concerned. Great book, just not for a curious beginner like myself.

A great introduction for a low price

This old book is a great introduction to all of the fields that make up cognitive science at a relatively low price, although it could use an updated edition. It takes a computational perspective as it surveys the various areas, and that is good for someone coming from a scientific field. It covers psychology, philosophy, linguistics, and artificial intelligence, relating them all to the field of cognitive science. In spite of the complexity of each of these individual areas, there really are no hard prerequisites for reading it. However, I would recommend you have at least an upper-level undergraduate knowledge of two of the fields covered in order to better see the total interconnection of all the fields. The book probably goes into the most depth in the areas of natural language processing and vision because these are the most computationally complex. This book is not the last word on any of the fields it covers, but it will get you started. I highly recommend it in spite of its age. The following is the book's table of contents: Chapter 1 What Is Cognitive Science? 1.1 The Cognitive View 1.2 Some Fundamental Concepts 1.3 Information Processes Can Be Analyzed At Several Levels 1.4 Computers In Cognitive Science 1.5 Applied Cognitive Science 1.6 The Interdisciplinary Nature of Cognitive Science Chapter 2 Cognitive Psychology: The Architecture of the Mind 2.1 The Nature of Cognitive Psychology 2.2 The Notion of Cognitive Architecture 2.3 A Global View of The Cognitive Architecture 2.4 Propositional Representation 2.5 Schematic Representation 2.6 Cognitive Processes, Working Memory, and Attention 2.7 Mental Images 2.8 Automatic and Controlled Processes 2.9 The Acquisition of Skill 2.10 The Connectionist Approach to Cognitive Architecture Chapter 3 Cognitive Psychology: Further Explorations 3.1 Concepts and Categories 3.2 Memory 3.3 Reasoning 3.4 Problem Solving Chapter 4 Artificial Intelligence: Knowledge Representation 4.1 The Nature of Artificial Intelligence 4.2 Knowledge Representation Chapter 5 Artificial Intelligence: Search, Control, and Learning 5.1 Search and Control 5.2 Learning Chapter 6 Linguistics: The Representation of Language 6.1 The Study of Linguistic Knowledge 6.2 Phonology 6.3 Syntax 6.4 Universals Chapter 7 Neuroscience: Brain and Cognition 7.1 Introduction to the Study of the Nervous System 7.2 Organization of the Central Nervous System 7.3 Neural Representation 7.4 Neuropsychology 7.5 Computational Neuroscience Chapter 8 Philosophy: Foundations of Cognitive Science 8.1 Philosophy in Cognitive Science 8.2 The Enterprise of Cognitive Science 8.3 Ontological Issues 8.4 Epistemological Issues 8.5 T

An introduction, but not a gentle one...

What do you expect from a cognitive science book, which neatly separates all the major fields (Cognitive Psychology, Artificial Intelligence, Linguistics, Neuroscience, Philosophy, Language Acquisition, Semantics, Natural Language Processing, Vision), into chapters? First of all, it is not a mile-wide inch-deep book. Quite the contrary, it has remarkable detail, and it's definitely not an easy book for the beginner. However the fragments are not well-connected to each other, and there are no threads of thought one can follow through the text. Probably the most important problem of cognitive science is the gap between the disciplines, and the lack of a common terminology. The authors have adopted an information-processing view, and overstepped this problem rather than solving it. The result is a biased book, which is really nice if you like the information theoretic approach (like I do), but as a course-book, I suggest it as the supplementary reading.

fascinating

Cognitive Science: An Introduction - 2nd Edition is a fascinating undergraduate text that accurately shows all of the subsets of the cognitive sciences. Cognitive Science: An Introduction - 2nd Edition introduces the advanced undergraduate student to cognitive science subsets such as cognitive psychology, cognitive anthropology, cognitive computational intelligence, cognitive linguistics, cognitive nurro-science, and the philosophy of the cognitive sciences. The diagrams in Cognitive Science: An Introduction - 2nd Edition are very vivid to demonstrate exactly what a philosophers/scientists sees in the subject matter of the cognitive sciences. The undergraduate text provides a very a empirical perspective of the cognitive sciences that differs directly from the classical transcendental perspective of cognition that the philosopher Immanuel Cant demonstrated in the Critique Of Pure Reason. The cognitive sciences can be very difficult to understand, but Cognitive Science: An Introduction - 2nd Edition is one of the best resources to explore the new empirical study of the science of the process of thought.Please feel free to send questions or comments to mmount@essex1.com