Modularity, Domain-specificity, and the Organization of Knowledge
MIT OpenCourseWare offers this graduate seminar on how the mind and brain might be organized into specialized modules. The course examines evidence from behavioral studies of infants, children, adults, neurological patients, and animals, alongside neural measures like functional brain imaging and ERPs, focusing on four test domains: objects, number, places, and people. Readings and discussion address whether these domains are handled by domain-specific systems or general-purpose processing, whether such systems are innate or shaped by experience, what counts as evidence for encapsulated cognition, and how the brain integrates information across domains when needed. Materials include the syllabus, reading lists, and session-by-session topics as published by MIT's Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. No tuition is charged to access the materials, in keeping with MIT OpenCourseWare's open publication model, though no certificate is offered.