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Introduction to Cognitive Science

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Introduction to Cognitive Science

By: Thad A. Polk, The Great Courses
Narrated by: Thad A. Polk
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About this listen

For millennia, philosophers and scientists have been trying to unlock the secrets of the mind with only limited success—until now. Today, with modern technologies including the best in neuroscience, medical imaging, and recent advances in artificial intelligence, we are making more progress than ever before.

In Introduction to Cognitive Science, Professor Thad A. Polk takes you on a fascinating tour of the latest discoveries in the relatively new field of cognitive science. The goal is nothing less than understanding every interaction working in the human brain to produce all forms of cognition. Computer scientists, engineers, linguists, physicians, psychologists, and more are all pursuing the mysteries of the most complex structure in the known universe, the elegant human brain.

But how do we learn about the mechanisms underlying human cognition? Unlike scientists studying other parts of the body, hands-on examination of the brain yields limited results. We can certainly learn about the brain’s structure, but where is the “thinking”? How can we best use our mind to learn about the mind?

In 24 exciting lectures, Professor Polk shares dozens of the most challenging questions in cognitive science today: How do humans process language? How do we make decisions, and why do we so often regret them later? What are emotions, and why do we feel them? How does the brain affect our visual perception of the world? In this course, Professor Polk gives the latest, exciting answers for these questions, and many more.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2024 The Great Courses (P)2024 The Teaching Company, LLC
Linguistics Logic & Language Neuroscience & Neuropsychology Philosophy Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Social Sciences Thought-Provoking
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The material is interesting, but this is 100% some video lectures that have been turned into an audiobook. They spend huge amounts of time going through graphs in fine detail, that unless you have the PDF open you are kind of just waiting for them to finish. "Can you see", "No, I can't see anything, this is an audiobook".

They also take huge amounts of time to make a simple point. I.e. why when making a decision, there's a trade off between speed and accuracy? Answer: Because you have less data points - 5 to 10 minute discussion of a graph to say that...

If you want a book that has a heavy overlap on the material, but was actually made as an audiobook, I'd recommend "Memory and the Human Lifespan"

Don't buy if you are going to purely listen

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