PhD in Cognitive Science

Cognitive science is broadly concerned with integrating contemporary approaches to the study of mind/brain, and with the systems and processes underlying the acquisition and use of knowledge. The coherence of the program lies in its intellectual focus on cognition. This program spans cellular, behavioral, and psychological levels of scientific analysis in the study of cognition in a single unified graduate program. It integrates the diverse content, methods, and perspectives of a number of different disciplines (e.g., anthropology, biology, artificial intelligence, linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy, and psychology), which are concerned with or in some sense inform our understanding of cognition.

The PhD program trains cognitive scientists to conduct research integrating methodologies and content knowledge from a variety of approaches. In order to ensure an interdisciplinary approach, each student has two co-advisors from the cognitive science graduate faculty, each representing a different discipline from within the cognitive sciences.