Neandertal Cognition Offered Online Now at the Center for Cognitive Archaeology @ UCCS

How did Neandertals experience their world? How did their cognition and culture differ from ours? Were they pragmatic? Callous or cold-hearted? Did they love, were they charitable? Were they tough? Dogmatic? Xenophobic?

Join Professor Frederick L. Coolidge for our online course in Neandertal Cognition. Together, we will explore the mind of some of our recent ancestors to compare and contrast similarities and differences between our behavior and the behavior of these archaic humans. After a century of suffering the negative biases of early scholars, Neandertals are emerging from the shadows of prehistory to take their rightful place as explorers and innovators who fought to survive in a heretofore uninhabitable clime. Our course reviews the archaeological evidence via empirical models of cognition in an effort to understand the cognitive and behavioral strategies employed by Homo neanderthalensis during their nearly half million years of existence. Classes begin January 21 and end May 16. 

Visit us at the Center for Cognitive Archaeology for more information on classes. For registration information, please visit: https://www.uccs.edu/lases/full_program_listings/cca

History of Cognitive Archaeology Since 1969 Offered Online Now at the Center for Cognitive Archaeology @ UCCS

How did archaeologists come to apply cognitive models from psychology and philosophy of mind to the material record? Why were they drawn to begin investigating the evolution of the human mind? How has cognitive archaeology changed the way we think about the evolution of human intelligence and the structure and function of the mind? 

Join Professor Thomas Wynn for the once-a-year offering of our course, The History of Cognitive Archaeology Since 1969. The course consists of a selection of primary sources that have been instrumental in establishing cognitive archaeology as a viable and influential approach in the study of human evolution. Readings are biased toward Anglophone archaeology and toward important issues in human cognitive evolution. Classes begin January 21 and end May 16. 

Visit us at the Center of Cognitive Archaeology for more information on classes. For registration information, please visit: https://www.uccs.edu/lases/full_program_listings/cca

Cognitive Evolution Offered Online Now at the Center for Cognitive Archaeology @ UCCS

When, where, and how did the modern human mind evolve?

Join Professor Thomas Wynn and Professor Frederick L. Coolidge for our online course in Cognitive Evolution. This course employs the theories and methods of several academic domains (cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, archaeology, linguistics, philosophy of mind, etc.) to interpret the tangible evidence for the evolution of mind—non-human primate anatomy and behavior, human neuroanatomy, hominin paleontology, and archaeology. Here, you will explore the origins and adaptive purposes of concept formation, spatial cognition, social cognition, language, symbolic structures, technology, and working memory on your way to a deeper understanding of the evolutionary changes in form and function of the mind. Courses begin January 21 and end May 16.

Visit us at the Center for Cognitive Archaeology for more information on classes. For information on registration, please visit: https://www.uccs.edu/lases/full_program_listings/cca

The Evolution of Ritual and Religion Offered online Now at the Center for Cognitive Archaeology @ UCCS

How did humankind’s belief in an afterlife evolve? What is a ritual? What rituals are uniquely human? How did ritual evolve? What adaptive purposes do rituals serve?

Join Professor Matt Rossano for our online course The Evolution of Ritual and Religion. The course will explore the role ritual and religion have played in making us human. Together, we will take a highly inter-disciplinary approach using archeology, anthropology, primatology, and cognitive science to define what ritual and religion are. From the earliest traces of supernaturalization to the rise of morality and monotheism, this course explores the evolution of the form and functions of human spirituality. Classes begin January 21 and end May 16.

Visit the Center for Cognitive Archaeology for more information on classes. For enrollment information, please visit: https://www.uccs.edu/lases/full_program_listings/cca

neurocognition of art now offered online at the center for cognitive archaeology @ uccs

Interested in learning when, where, and how modern human aesthetics evolved?

Join Professor Manuel Martín-Loeches of the Complutense University of Madrid for our online course in the Neurocognition of Art. This course explores the biopsychological basis of human artistic behavior by investigating its neurocognitive and biological underpinnings. We expand our understanding of this otherwise bizarre activity in natural terms, thereby contextualizing art within the framework of Natural Selection. This approach provides a suitable foundation for exploring the possible evolutionary origins of art, its development, as well as its major milestones along human evolution. Although the course is mainly focused in visual art, much of its content can be applied to other forms of artistic behavior. Classes begin January 21 and end May 16.

For more information, visit us at the Center for Cognitive Archaeology. For registration and enrollment information, visit: https://www.uccs.edu/lases/full_program_listings/cca

Spring 2020 classes offered online now at the center for cognitive archaeology @ uccs

The Center for Cognitive Archaeology at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs is now offering five courses for the Spring 2020 semester. Spring 2020 semester starts January 21 through May 16. Graduate and undergraduate level training is offered in each class. For more information about the Center for Cognitive Archaeology and enrolling in courses, please visit us at: https://www.uccs.edu/lases/full_program_listings/cca