Areas of Study and Research - Cognition and Neuroscience

Research in the C&N area is diverse spanning memory, perception, action, animal learning, decision making, drug-behavior interactions, and aging. Our primary goal is to prepare outstanding scholars and researchers.

This page provides information about opportunities unique to the C&N area. To learn about other issues, such as financial aid, general program of study, or graduate-student life, please visit the section for prospective graduate students.

Research Opportunities

We employ a mentor model in which each graduate student is affiliated with a specific lab run by a specific faculty member. The following table provides a list of active labs.

Faculty	Lab	Research	Primary Methodology
Nelson Cowan	Working Memory Lab	memory, attention, cognitive development	behavioral
Steve Hackley	Clinical & Cognitive Neuroscience Lab	neural basis of attention, awareness, & action	electrophysiology (ERP, EMG) & neuroimaging (fMRI),
Dennis Miller	Behavioral Pharmacology Lab	neural mechanisms of drug-induced behavior	in vivo & in vitro animal models
Moshe Naveh-Benjamin	Memory & Cognitive Aging Lab	memory, cognitive aging	behavioral
Jeff Rouder	Perception & Cognition Lab	perception, pattern recognition	statistical & mathematical modeling
Todd Schachtman	Animal Learning & Neuroscience Lab	animal learning & animal information processing	behavioral/pharmacological animal models
Matt Will	Perception & Cognition Lab	neural substrates of drug addiction & obesity	behavioral/pharmacological animal models

Research in the area will be greatly enhanced by the recent formation of the Brain Imaging Center and the upcoming acquisition of a 3-T magnetic resonance scanner.

Other faculty members in the Department with strong cognitive or neuroscience research interests include:

The C&N area maintains active research relationships with several other departments on campus including:

Plan of Study

The C&N area awards both Masters and Ph.D. degrees. Typically, students earn their Master's in their second or third year and Ph.D. approximately two years later.

In addition to departmental coursework, the C&N area offers two regular courses. One is a course that is taught on a rotating basis, each professor teaches it approximately once every five years. In the past few years, the following have been offered: Perception, Mind, Drugs, and Behavior, Working Memory, Neuroimaging methodology, cognitive aging. The C&N area participates in the TOPPS program in which graduate students teach their own course in their third or fourth year.

C&N Colloquium and The Showme Conference

The C&N area hosts a weekly colloquium series featuring talks from faculty and students both inside and outside the C&N area. C&N also holds a joint yearly meeting, The Showme Mental State Conference, with the Brain and Cognitive Science group at Washington University. Graduate students have the opportunity to present their work in both fora.

Areas of Study and Research Home

Graduate Program Home

Research Home

University of Missouri-Columbia	skip navigaton \| change text size: A \| A \| A	Search:
Department of Psychological Sciences 210 McAlester Hall Columbia, MO 65211-2500 phone: 573-882-6860 fax: 573-882-7710 email: SkylesB@missouri.edu Graduate Program: 573-882-0838 or gradpsych@missouri.edu