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Welcome to the University of Toronto! If you’re on this page, you might be interested in joining the Cognitive Science student community. Look no further – we’re here to help. Cognitive Science is one of those programs that is a little bit confusing to navigate – we have five streams, after all. Hopefully, this page can help and clear some of that confusion up and help you understand how you want to build your degree to include it in there.

As of March 2022, the current requirements to apply for entry into the Cognitive Science program are as follows. 

  • completion of COG250Y1

  • 1.5 FCEs in CSC/LIN/PHL/PSY

All courses must have a minimum grade average, which changes based on available spaces and number of applicants.

Computational Cognition (Science). This stream is one of the most popular ones in Cognitive Science, especially as it allows for a large amount of Computer Science courses with a healthy focus on artificial intelligence and information processing behind our cognitive processes.

Cognition and the brain (Science). The other science stream, Cognition and the Brain, is a comfortable choice for those interested in Psychology, Neuroscience, or Human Biology as another possible program. There is a heavy focus on brain activity and behaviour as reflected in our cognition. 

Perception and Attention (Arts). You may be considering choosing Perception and Attention as your stream if you’re more interested in the visual, performance, and consciousness aspects of Cognitive Science. Here, students explore literature relevant to mindfulness, knowledge acquisition, and metaphysics.

Thinking and Reasoning (Arts). Most Cognitive Science students tend to pair the Thinking and Reasoning stream with a Philosophy program for good reason – there is a heavier focus on the logical underpinnings of cognition, language, and the mind-body problem.

Language and Cognition (Arts). This stream allows prospective students to delve into the linguistic “pillar” of cognitive science, especially considering topics such as language acquisition, psycholinguistics, and syntactic patterns that contribute heavily to how we understand the world around us.