Cognitive Psychology Program

Area Head Micheal Dent, PhD, in the lab with students.

Area Head Micheal Dent, PhD, (center) in the lab with students

The Cognitive Psychology Doctoral Program offers an exceptional, research-intensive training environment for students interested in understanding how the mind works. Program faculty are nationally and internationally known for innovative research on speech and language perception and development, word recognition and lexical access, animal cognition, auditory perception, music cognition, categorization, learning, and motor control.

The Learning Environment

Well-equipped laboratories, a large participant base, a collegial and supportive atmosphere and the opportunity to train with more than one faculty member afford our graduate students with outstanding and flexible research opportunities. Faculty laboratories provide opportunities to work with EEG, Eye tracking, fMRI, EMG, motion capture, and animal psychophysics.

Students progress in the PhD program through a combination of mentored research activities (with their primary advisor as well as other faculty members), individualized course work, opportunities for acquiring new methodological and quantitative skills, research colloquia and teaching opportunities.

The Admissions Process

As our program is mentorship-based, students are admitted to work with an individual faculty member. Faculty members accepting students vary from year to year. Before applying, prospective students should view the list of faculty members accepting students and/or contact potential mentors. 

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