Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience

The Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Research Interest Group is comprised of students and faculty who have interests in understanding the relationship between the human brain and cognitive and affective processes, including sensation, perception, attention, memory, language, social cognition, emotion, emotion regulation, and health. In addition to the formal coursework that is part of this RIG, students engage in research using several different techniques available for studying the human brain, including behavioral, neuroendocrine, and psychophysiological methods, patient-based studies, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), event-related potentials (ERP), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Faculty

Kirsten Adam
Bryan Denny
Christopher Fagundes
Simon Fischer-Baum
Luz Garcini
Stephanie Leal
Randi Martin

Primary contact: Christopher Fagundes

Master's Course Requirements

Please visit the Forms page to access the required paperwork to establish candidacy.

Note: Students choose either the Cognitive Track or the Affective/Health Track

Core Courses (all required)
1. PSYC 502 – Advanced Psychological Statistics I
2. PSYC 503 – Advanced Psychological Statistics II
3. PSYC 520 – Foundations of Cognitive Psychology

Weekly Research Seminar (Students must pick one of the following two and attend that seminar throughout their enrollment in the relevant track)
1. PSYC 529 – Weekly Cognitive Research Seminar – every semester
2. PSYC 532 – Weekly Health Research Seminar – every semester

Neuroscience Core Courses (2 required)
1. PSYC 575/NEUR 501 – Advanced Cognitive Neuroscience: Attention and Perception
2. PSYC 576/NEUR 502 – Advanced Cognitive Neuroscience: Higher Cognitive Functions
3. PSYC 586 – Social and Affective Neuroscience

Cognitive Track Core Courses (1 required)
1. PSYC 521 - Psychology of Perception
2. PSYC 524 – Memory
3. PSYC 525 – Psycholinguistics
4. PSYC 527 – Reasoning, Decision Making, Problem Solving

Affective/Health Track Core Courses (1 required)
1. PSYC 546 – Psychoneuroimmunology
2. PSYC 547 – Foundations of Health Psychology
3. PSYC 550 – Foundations of Social Psychology

Course Requirements for Provisional Admission to Master's Candidacy

The following are required before you can defend your Master's thesis.
1. All three Core Courses
2. Weekly research seminar
3. One course from Neuroscience Core Courses

Doctoral Course Requirements

Please visit the Forms page to access the required paperwork to establish candidacy.

Note: Students choose either the Cognitive Track or the Affective/Health Track

Core Courses (all required)
1. PSYC 502 – Advanced Psychological Statistics I
2. PSYC 503 – Advanced Psychological Statistics II
3. PSYC 520 – Foundations of Cognitive Psychology
4. PSYC 587 – Functional Human Neuroanatomy
5. PSYC 660 – Professional Issues

Weekly Research Seminar (Students must pick one of the following two and attend that seminar throughout their enrollment in the relevant track)
1. PSYC 529 – Weekly Cognitive Research Seminar – every semester
2. PSYC 532 – Weekly Health Research Seminar – every semester

Neuroscience Core Courses (2 required)
1. PSYC 575/NEUR 501 – Advanced Cognitive Neuroscience: Attention and Perception
2. PSYC 576/NEUR 502 – Advanced Cognitive Neuroscience: Higher Cognitive Functions
3. PSYC 586 – Social and Affective Neuroscience

Cognitive Track Core Courses (2 required)
1. PSYC 521 - Psychology of Perception
2. PSYC 524 – Memory
3. PSYC 525 – Psycholinguistics
4. PSYC 527 – Reasoning, Decision Making, Problem Solving

Affective/Health Track Core Courses (all required)
1. PSYC 546 – Psychoneuroimmunology
2. PSYC 547 – Foundations of Health Psychology
3. PSYC 550 – Foundations of Social Psychology

Electives (2 required)
1. PSYC 511 – History and Systems of Psychology
2. PSYC 522 – Information Processing and Attention
3. PSYC 524 – Memory
4. PSYC 525 – Psycholinguistics
5. PSYC 527 – Reasoning, Decision Making, Problem Solving
6. PSYC 543 – Computational Modeling of Cognitive Processes
7. PSYC 546 – Psychoneuroimmunology
8. PSYC 549 – Psychopathology
9. PSYC 550 – Foundations of Social Psychology
10. PSYC 552 – Emotion Regulation
11. PSYC 574 – Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience
12. PSYC 575/NEUR 501 – Advanced Cognitive Neuroscience: Attention and Perception
13. PSYC 576/NEUR 502 – Advanced Cognitive Neuroscience: Higher Cognitive Functions
14. PSYC 578 – Cognitive Neuropsychology: Theories and Methods
15. PSYC 580 – Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
17. PSYC 586 - Social and Affective Neuroscience
18. PSYC 590 – Advanced Topics in Neuroscience (may be taken once)
19. PSYC 620 – Advanced Topics in Cognitive Psychology (may be taken once)
20. PSYC 621 – Topics in Memory (may be taken once)
21. PSYC 622 – Topics in Psycholinguistics (may be taken once)
22. NEUR 505 – Optical Imaging
23. BIOE 592 – Sensory Neuroengineering

Admissions