About

Mission Statement

Our core mission is to explore the nature of minds and other intelligent systems, and to prepare students to apply that understanding to enhance human capabilities and well-being around the globe.

We lead scientific advances through integrative theory, formal modeling, computation, and experimentation, with the goal of understanding intelligent systems, from the mechanisms of cognition to social interactions to the design of AI systems.

We value a collaborative and supportive intellectual community where students, faculty, and staff learn from one another’s perspectives and continuously reexamine assumptions about minds, intelligence, and society.

Through the application of cutting-edge discoveries in natural and artificial intelligence, through the training of the next generation of scientists and practitioners, and through preparing individuals who will apply their knowledge in fields ranging from industry, data science, education, medicine, and public service, our program accepts the responsibility to translate scientific understanding into practical solutions for problems that impact human lives.

Cognition + Information

Established in 1989, the Program in Cognitive Science at Indiana University brings together faculty and students from many departments to study cognition and information. We offer two undergraduate degrees and a graduate program.

Our curriculum fosters skills in computation, neuroscience, research design, philosophical analysis, and statistics. We delve into core topics in artificial intelligence, cognitive architecture, communication, consciousness, creativity, culture, expertise, information theory, language, learning, memory, perception, philosophy of mind, reasoning, representation, and social cognition.

Campus affiliations

Representing all of these pursuits are 150+ faculty members. They are drawn from Psychology, Philosophy, Computer Science, and Linguistics, as well as from Biology, Anthropology, Education, Library and Information Science, Optometry, Speech and Hearing Sciences, Mathematics, and more.

Our faculty affiliations are supplemented by a large number of special groups, labs, and research centers connected with the Cognitive Science program.

Skill acquisition + Active learning

Our undergraduate degree stresses skill acquisition, as opposed to a grab-bag of survey courses. Our goal is to foster the abilities that make students into scientists.

The curriculum stresses hands-on, active learning. You are encouraged use concrete examples to participate in your own education and work. Our undergraduate students are given opportunities to work in labs and become involved with research as soon as they enter the degree program.

Our faculty are dedicated to teaching. A number of our faculty have received awards for their teaching, while others have pioneered innovative teaching programs. Most importantly, student satisfaction with past courses has been very high.

Engaging programs

Bringing researchers together for a depth of inquiry is one of our priorities. To do this, we sponsor a number of open forums. During the academic year, researchers from around the world present their ideas in our biweekly colloquium series. Less formal groups include the weekly Cognitive Lunch. We also sponsor national and international conferences.

Saying that studying the brain is limited to the study of physical entities would be like saying that literary criticism must focus on paper and bookbinding, ink and its chemistry, page sizes and margin widths, typefaces and paragraph lengths, and so forth.
Douglas Hofstadter, Distinguished Professor, “I Am a Strange Loop”

Interested in learning about our degree programs?

Learn about our undergraduate degrees

Learn about our graduate program

Integrative

Innovative

Cognitive Science Program