Cognitive Science Major

Majors should begin planning a program of study as early as possible. Please note that for Columbia, your advisors are listed at this link. They will be able to provide more information on the resources and advice available to you in your program planning. As soon as possible in your undergraduate career, but certainly prior to the start of your final semester, you must submit a Major Requirement Checklist, which shows all major courses you have taken and plan to take. To complete this requirement, please make a copy of the Major Requirements Checklist template, fill out the checklist, and share the completed document with a Cognitive Science advisor. 

Below you’ll find lists of all Cognitive Science courses that can be used to meet the different requirements. To see which courses are being offered this year in the psychology department, take a look at the Year-at-a-Glance table or the Fall and Spring Week-at-a-Glance schedules.

*Current majors may opt in to the new areas of focus or continue to follow the previous ones

Students must complete 13 courses in Cognitive Science. To count toward the major, a course must be taken for 3 or more points.

These 13 courses must include:

  1. Introduction to Cognitive Science
  2. One cognitive-focused course in each area: 
    1. Psychology        
    2. Neuroscience
    3. Philosophy
    4. Linguistics
  3. Two courses in Mathematical & Computational methods
  4. Four Specialization courses in one of the following areas:
    1. Cognition, Computation and AI
    2. Language, Logic, and Mind
    3. Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience
    4. Decision Science and Behavioral Economics*
    5. Perception, Arts, and Human-Centered Design
  5. Capstone courses
    1. Senior project & senior seminar courses for one academic year (2 semesters)
    2. OR two additional advanced courses in area of specialization


*Intermediate microeconomics required for Behavioral Economics Focus

Foundation Courses

Students should begin their studies with the following 7 foundational courses:

*COGS UN1001 Introduction to Cognitive Science.*

We strongly recommend taking COGS UN1001 Introduction to Cognitive Science as early as possible in your academic career, ideally before you select your area of specialization.

Copied from course description

“The goal of cognitive science, and of this course, is to understand how the mind works. Trying to understand our own minds is perhaps the most ambitious and exciting (and difficult) project in all of science, and this project requires tools drawn from fields including experimental psychology, computer science and artificial intelligence, linguistics, vision science, philosophy, anthropology, behavioral economics, and several varieties of neuroscience (among others). This course will introduce you to the major tools and theories from these areas, as they relate to the study of the mind. In sum, this course will expose you to cognitive science, the assumptions on which it rests, and many of the most important and fascinating results obtained so far.’

Please note that PSYC UN2430 Cognitive Neuroscience may be used to fulfill either the Neuroscience requirement or the Psychology requirement, but not both.

Please note that PSYC UN2430 Cognitive Neuroscience may be used to fulfill either the Neuroscience requirement or the Psychology requirement, but not both.

Please note that only the "Perception" section of PHIL UN3912 counts.

Four Courses Meeting the Area of Specialization & Electives Requirements

Students must choose an area of specialization and four electives to build expertise in that area.

Below are specializations offered, and approved courses to take for electives. 

Cognition, Computation, & AI

Language, Logic, & Mind

Behavioral & Cognitive Neuroscience

Decision Making & Behavioral Economics

Perception, Arts, & Human-centered Design

Students may fulfill the Senior Capstone requirement in two ways: with a year-long senior project, or by taking two additional advanced courses.

  • The senior project is a year-long project in a student’s area of specialization under the supervision of a chosen advisor. The project could be an experiment or a paper. Please note that a student who wishes to do a senior project is responsible for finding an advisor for the project, though the program director may be able to suggest faculty members whom the student might contact.
    • Students who do senior projects must register for both *COGS UN3903 Senior Project* (3 points) and *COGS UN3901 Senior Project Seminar* (1 point) in the fall and *COGS UN3904 Senior Project* (3 points) and *COGS UN3902 Senior Project Seminar* (1 point) in the spring (8 points total).
    • The Senior Project Seminar is an opportunity for students to present their projects to each other.
  • While a year-long project is recommended, students may also satisfy the senior capstone requirement by taking two advanced courses, at least one of which must include a significant paper or project. The courses must be chosen in consultation with the program director and must be related to the student’s area of specialization. Both courses should be at the 3000-level or above.

Important Information to Consider

A grade of C-, or higher, must be earned and revealed on your transcript in any Columbia or Barnard course - including the first that is used to satisfy the major or concentration requirements.

Courses taken on a Pass/D/Fail basis may not be used to satisfy the major or concentration requirements unless the grade of P is uncovered by the Registrar’s deadline. Students may petition to have their P/D/F grades uncovered after the registrar’s deadline for Introduction to Cognitive Science and for the courses used to fulfill the mathematical and computational requirements. To petition to uncover P/D/F grades for any other courses students must first receive permission from their major advisor.

Courses taken for a P grade may not be used to satisfy the major requirements, except for the P grades earned in semesters when CC and GS allowed school-wide exceptions to this policy.

Research courses (e.g. UN 3950) must be taken for 3 or 4 points in order to count toward the major. No more than 4 points of supervised individual research such as (UN 3950) may be taken in any one term.

A maximum of 2 research/thesis/fieldwork courses may be applied toward the major: this limitation includes PSYC UN3950, UN3920, and UN3930, as well as BC3466, BC3473, BC3592 and BC3599.

You will not receive credit for courses that overlap substantially with other courses you have taken in our department. Please refer to the table of Overlapping Courses for a partial list of Barnard courses known to overlap with our courses.


 

If you'd like to apply a course from another institution toward your Cognitive Science major, you'll need to submit the course syllabus to your school's Program Director for review and approval. Keep in mind that your school (Columbia College or General Studies) must first approve the course to count toward your overall degree requirements before we can consider it for the Cognitive Science major specifically. Additionally, you may count a maximum of three transfer courses toward the major.

Columbia College and General Studies students should use the Columbia Cognitive Science Transfer and Study Abroad Credit Approval Form to request approval.

You can get approval for transfer/study abroad courses to count for major requirement fulfillment by filling out the following form (https://forms.gle/6qtscM95ZE4Uv9Bk7). 

The area of specialization, electives, and capstone must form a coherent course of study. Courses and areas of focus different from the ones above are permitted but need approval from an advisor. 

Please note that no course may be double counted within the major: if a student uses a course to fulfill an area requirement then that course may not be counted as an elective.

Each student must take courses from at least 2 different departments for their specialization.