Scientists receive grant to work on cognitive research

The National Science Foundation gave IU cognitive scientists a five-year $3.1 million grant to create the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship program.
The program will focus on approaches to studying cognition, which is the process by which people know and learn.

The process includes awareness, perception, reasoning and judgment.
Most scientists tend to study cognition by breaking things down into smaller parts, said Randall Beer, cognitive science professor and principal investigator of the program.

They also take the perspective that the brain is solely responsible for forming knowledge, Beer said.

IGERT, on the other hand, will focus on how the interactions between the brain, its body and the environment affect cognition, Beer said.

IGERT students have to recognize that bodies, environments, minds and other factors affect how people learn and understand the world around them.

IGERT approaches the study of cognition in three ways: the situated approach, the embodied approach and the dynamical approach.

The situated approach takes the structure of environment into account.

For example, it would be similar to putting together a complicated recipe, Beer said. It would be difficult to remember the order in which the cook is supposed to combine ingredients because the recipe is not just in their head. The recipe is in the environment, Beer said.

The embodied approach considers how one’s body aids in cognition. It would be difficult to reach into a purse and find coins without moving your hand, Beer said. If you move your body and manipulate it, it’s easier to find the coins.

The dynamic approach has to do with the fact that learning happens in the world, and the world is constantly changing, Beer said. It helps when we need to apply what we know to different situations.

The money awarded to initiate the IGERT program will go toward fellowships for graduate students. It will support roughly seven students in the first year and 11 students for each of the next four years. Also, an undergraduate summer program will be started to increase students’ interest in graduate school, Beer said.

The program, which will begin in January 2010, includes 20 faculty members from various fields, including psychological and brain sciences, history and philosophy of science, the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Informatics and Computing.

After the program’s first year is completed, IU faculty will nationally recruit graduate students for the program.

Jennifer Trueblood, a first-year fellow, said studying cognition through the situated, embodied and dynamical approaches is a newer philosophy. IGERT will provide her with the opportunity to network with researchers from both domestic and foreign institutions who will provide her with feedback on how to best direct and perform her research.

IGERT’s involvement with multiple areas of study will “show that this kind of integrative work is productive, against the traditional academic tendencies to separate and specialize,” said Tom Wisdom, one of the first-year IGERT fellows.