At UCLA, the one takeaway from cognitive science that really stuck with me is how we model computers after our brains and how similar these processes really are.
How Cognitive Science Interdisciplinary Fields Relate
During my major, I enrolled in various classes across fields like cognitive science, neuroscience, psychology, and computer science. These areas are crucial for this field because, if we consider the human mind as a computer, the following statements about these disciplines would make sense:
Psychology would be like the user experience and the user interface of a computer. It focuses on behaviors, emotions, and observable interactions. It asks: How does the user navigate this interface? What are their habits, memory lapses, and problem-solving strategies?
Cognitive Science is like the software/code. It is the study of abstract information processing, reasoning, and logic. It asks which algorithms, data structures, and mental representations enable the system to learn, remember, and speak.
Neuroscience is like the hardware. It is the physical, biological machinery. It asks: how do the circuits, wires, and chips (neurons and synapses) physically generate the electrical signals and chemicals that make the code run?
Linked Map of Contexts