Syllabus academic year 2007/2008
COGNITIONTEK210

Higher education credits: 4,5. Grading scale: TH. Level: G1 (First level). Language of instruction: The course will be given in Swedish. Compulsory for: C2, D3. Optional for: E3, Pi4. Course coordinator: Agneta Gulz, Agneta.Gulz@lucs.lu.se, Filosofiska inst. Assessment: Written exam, compulsory assignments, oral presentations of assignments. Home page: http://www.lucs.lu.se/.

Aim
The course aim to give fundamental insight about the human being as a knowledge and information being as well as getting insight into cognition science as a disipline.

Knowledge and understanding
For a passing grade the student must

Skills and abilities
For a passing grade the student must

Judgement and approach
For a passing grade the student must

Contents
The course introduces fundamental concepts from cognitive science, such as perception, learning and memory, concept formation, communication, etc. It presents different levels of description that are used in studies on information processes in human beings: the neurocognitive (with e.g. neural network models), the psychological, the social cognitive and the communication theoretical levels of description. The last-mentioned addresses common human dialogue as well as the role of technology for human communication and human-computer communication.
The second part of the course amounts to applying, and simultaneously further developing, some of the obtained knowledge about cognition. In this, second, part issues about the design of artefacts in human environments in particular technical systems and products are studied. A short introduction is given to the domain of human-machine interaction in relation to cognitive science, as well as an introduction to a cognitive perspective on design. The relation between automatical and conscious processes, and the role of these kinds of processes in human-technology contexts, are central themes. A number of design principles and their cognitive background are presented and discussed. Furthermore, the theme of individual cognitive variation e.g. visual versus verbal styles of thinking and the consequences of individual cognitive variation on the design of technology is treated.

Literature
Norman, D A: The Design of Everyday Things,
Doubleday/Currency, New York, 1990.
Schneider, W: Att köra över människors inneboende autopilot från: Människan Datateknik Arbetsliv, red. Lennerlöf, L., s. 99-114, Publica, Gummessons Tryckeri AB, Falköping, 1993. ISBN: 91-38-92226-6. A few articles.