Cognitive Science

Test 2 / 2002

Modified: 3/5/2002

Instructions: Due before 11:00 a.m., Thursday, March 14.

Use the CS main page, pages you find on your own, and e-mail sent to you as the source for your answers. You may submit your answers as hard copy or as e-mail (either as straight e-mail or as a Word attachment). Choose the method with which you are more comfortable.

Answers should be legible (i.e., not hand written), complete, thoughtful, and articulate. You may consult with me via e-mail as you develop your answers (probably a good strategy). Shoot for at least one page per question and do not simply copy and paste answers. Use quotes to indicate sources you found elsewhere and provide URLs or references where appropriate. Failure to properly cite sources may lead to a grade of zero for that item!

1. Using the articles from the Chronicle of Higher Education that I provided for you, discuss issues surrounding the end of life. Specifically, what is brain death? How is it defined? What external issues (i.e., economic, social, and medical) affect brain death?

2. Describe the structure of spoken language. Be sure to include: phonology, syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. How does linguistics relate to language?

3. Describe how EITHER crt (cathode ray tube) or lcd (liquid crystal display) technology work in a visual display for a computer (you will have to look this one up).

4. The light reflected off an object is detected by the eye and interpreted by the brain. In detail, trace the path through the eye and brain as that object is seen an interpreted. In other words, start at the cornea and end up in the appropriate area of the brain. Where appropriate, provide explanation (for example, "the image on the retina is inverted but we perceive the image as upright.")

5. Using physiology as guide, imagine that you are creating a robot able to find and retrieve interesting samples on the surface of Mars. Specify the design for such a robot and list some its capabilities. To help you imagine, here is the NASA rover site: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/MPF/mpf/rover-ops.html use it as a reference, BUT your design should be your own, not a copy of the NASA design.

Back to CS Home Page