Home | Research Facilities | Requirements | Courses | Faculty | Labs

Director: Lynn Nadel
nadel@u.arizona.edu

The Cognition and Neural Systems Program in the Department of Psychology at the University of Arizona offers extensive opportunities for those interested in pursuing the study of cognitive, computational and neurophysiological principles underlying human and animal behavior (e.g., perception, emotion, learning and memory, language, movement and spatial orientation).

The curriculum includes collaboration with faculty members on cutting-edge scientific research and participation in seminars and lecture courses that provide a thorough background in current and classic research and theory.

This program, formed by a merger between the Cognitive Psychology Program and the Cognition and Neural Systems Program, reflects the steadily increasing overlap in research interests of these fields.  Faculty expertise and research interests span levels of analysis ranging from molecular, cellular and systems neuroscience to the highest cognitive processes in humans. State-of-the-art equipment and facilities are available for both human and animal experimentation and computational modeling.

 Focus.  An interactive, multidisciplinary approach is encouraged, including behavioral analysis, mathematical and computer modeling, neurophysiological, neurochemical, and neuroimaging techniques.  Areas of specialization include the study of information encoding and retrieval at the level of neuronal populations, visual cognition, learning and memory,  decision making, language, language development and alterations in cognitive functions and their neural substrates that occur in early development, aging, brain damage, and psychopathology.

 Purpose.  To train students to conduct research in these and other areas of cognitive, computational and systems neuroscience, to master modern methods in the field, and to think critically about fundamental issues relating mind and brain. Students are strongly encouraged to get experience working in more than one laboratory.

Colloquia and Seminars

The University of Arizona attracts numerous speakers and visiting scholars each year. The Psychology Colloquium Series is extensive, each year featuring approximately 16 leading researchers from a broad range of disciplines within psychology. A Cognitive Science Brown Bag Series meets weekly, and in the Fall the Master Seminar frequently is given by the same guest speakers as the Brown Bag. Seminars and colloquia offered by other programssuch as Linguistics, Philosophy and Neuroscience also bring in notable speakers.

Researchers who have visited and spoken recently include: Tom Albright, Michael Arbib, Dana Ballard, Lawrence Barsalou, Sue Becker, Paul Bloom, Kathryn Bock, Melissa Bowerman, Todd Braver, Jerome Busemeyer, Alfonso Caramazza, Adele Diamond, James Enns, Jerry Fodor, DedreGentner, Lila Gleitman, Ray Jackendoff, Terry Jernigan, John Jonides, Philip Kellman, Philip Kitcher, Michael Kubovy, Nikos Logothetis, Ellen Markman, William Marslen-Wilson, Jay McClelland, Douglas Medin, Read Montague, Morris Moscovitch, Betsy Murray, Elissa Newport, Steven Pinker, David Plaut, David Poeppel, Mary Potter, Daniel Povinelli, Jesse Prinz, V.S. Ramachandran, Robert Remez, Arthur Shimamura, Myrna Schwartz, Ed Smith, Frank Tong, Barbara Tversky, Lorraine Tyler, Janet Werker, Karen Wynn, and Elizabeth Warrington.

Current schedule of Colloquia.