The Cognition Project cover art

The Cognition Project

The Cognition Project

By: Tom Griffiths
Listen for free

About this listen

How can we study the mind, something we can never see or touch? This podcast tells the story of how psychologists, neuroscientists, computer scientists, linguists, and philosophers worked together to create a new science of the mind. Each episode is an interview with one of the people who played a role in this process, providing an oral history of cognitive science. Created and hosted by Tom Griffiths, professor of psychology and computer science at Princeton University.



Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom Griffiths
Science
Episodes
  • From Wugs to Chatbots: Jean Berko Gleason
    Feb 27 2026

    The Cognition Project is an oral history of cognitive science. Created and hosted by Tom Griffiths, the head of Princeton’s AI Lab and a professor of psychology and computer science.


    This episode is the story of Jean Berko Gleason, who was a student at Harvard just as new ideas about studying language and the mind were emerging. Her work revealed that even young children seem to internalize the rules of language, an idea that we are going to revisit when artificial neural networks come into the story. Those artificial neural networks power today’s AI chatbots, but Berko Gleason remains skeptical.



    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 2 mins
  • Generating Grammars: Noam Chomsky
    Feb 19 2026

    The Cognition Project is an oral history of cognitive science. Created and hosted by Tom Griffiths, the head of Princeton’s AI Lab and a professor of psychology and computer science.


    This the story of Noam Chomsky, whose work on language was arguably one of the key components of the “cognitive revolution” that led to the creation of cognitive science. The interview took place in 2013. More recently, Chomsky has been in the news for his interactions with Jeffrey Epstein. If you would prefer to skip this interview you can hear a different perspective on the same period from the influential psycholinguist Lila Gleitman in the next episode.



    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Show More Show Less
    35 mins
  • Listening to Babies: Lila Gleitman
    Feb 19 2026

    The Cognition Project is an oral history of cognitive science. Created and hosted by Tom Griffiths, the head of Princeton’s AI Lab and a professor of psychology and computer science.


    In this episode, we get the chance to hear the story of Lila Gleitman – one of the researchers who did foundational work in understanding how young children come to acquire language.


    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Show More Show Less
    55 mins
No reviews yet