Coordinator: Prof. Valentina Cardella
Language: Italian
Positions: 8 (6 with scholarship and 2 without scholarship)
The PhD program has been running continuously since its 18th cycle and offers a broad spectrum of training starting from the “cognitive turn.” Cognitive science is a field of study that does not refer to specific sectors but deals with complex, intrinsically interdisciplinary problems that investigate the nature and functioning of the mind in any natural or artificial system through a variety of approaches.
In recent years, the classical foundations of cognitive science (philosophy, psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, and computer science) have been systematically extended to the social sciences, life sciences, and new media and performance technologies, with particular reference to the contribution of the latest AI technologies.
In the field of life sciences, the project aims to explore the evolutionary and naturalistic aspects of all theoretical approaches to neuroscience, focusing on disciplines such as bioethics, neuroaesthetics, cognitive ethology, biopolitics, and social and affective neuroscience.
In the field of social science applications, developments in cognitive and social psychology are explored in relation to issues raised by interpersonal interaction and group dynamics. By studying social relationships and community behavior, cognitive science can provide a comprehensive picture of the dynamics of social processes. For example, it can explain how an individual conforms to social norms, how differences in social identity influence interpersonal relationships or prejudices (gender, racial, ideological), and how emotions can be transformed into social behaviors. In general, the current epistemological framework of cognitive science allows us not only to effectively investigate the individual and social levels, but also to propose models that explain the relationship between these two levels. These topics can be addressed experimentally in the doctoral program, thanks to the use of technologies such as virtual reality and virtual spaces, which can be recreated in the laboratory.
In terms of the development of AI technologies, the doctoral program explores Artificial Cognition, i.e., the set of studies that aim to model human cognition using artificial intelligence techniques, such as artificial neural networks, machine learning and reasoning algorithms. A central aspect of Artificial Cognition applications is language comprehension and processing (Natural Language Processing - NLP), which constitutes the most conspicuous intersection between philosophy, linguistics, neuroscience, and the most advanced techniques of automatic text analysis and processing aimed at various fields of application. The development of AI and NLP allows us to explore the complexity of the cognitive processes involved in understanding natural language and its integration with an individual's thinking, memory, reasoning, and feelings. In this direction, they can also contribute to new educational solutions, offering interoperable tools capable of improving the efficiency of cognitive processes such as interlinguistic translation, foreign language learning, refining the communicative effectiveness of texts, discourse analysis, and student learning assessment.
The PhD program is divided into two curricula (philosophical-naturalistic and technological-social).
The curriculum “Philosophies of Language and Mind, Psychology, and Evolutionary Sciences” brings together research interests in cognitive sciences relevant to interdisciplinary interactions between the fields of philosophy, psychology, pedagogy, and scientific naturalism, in particular neuroscience, ethology, and evolutionary biology. The method adopted is theoretical-experimental and requires the use of laboratories, including those of Cognitive Neuroscience at the Messina and Noto campuses. The “Social, Territorial, Media, and Performing Arts Theories and Technologies” curriculum brings together research interests in cognitive sciences relevant to interdisciplinary interactions between media, social, territorial, and artistic technologies that adopt unified methodologies to investigate the performative dimension of cognitive processes and their social practices. The method is theoretical-experimental in nature and uses computer, cartographic, and multimedia (video-photo-web) laboratories. Doctoral students are required to organize seminars and teaching support activities within the disciplines covered by the relevant study plan.
The two curricula outline a typical framework of ERC SH4 “The Human Mind and its complexity: cognition, psychology, linguistics, philosophy, and education.”