Mind and Media

Catalog description

An introduction to the study of mind and media, including the study of multimodal communication. This course investigates patterns of human cognition that are ancient to human beings and upon which media have converged for powerful, immersive effect. The cognitive processes studied include perception, sensation, imagination, joint attention, narrative conception, simulation, dreaming, identity construction, imaginative play, and implicit learning. Students engage in hands-on media analysis to study how basic human mental operations are used in media to achieve a variety of effects. Graduate students will have, beyond the undergraduate program, additional group meetings with the professor, more advanced expectations for the writing assignments and oral presentations, and consultation with the professor about how this course fits into their graduate programs. Offered as COGS 311 and COGS 411 . Counts as a Disciplinary Communication course.