MSc/PG Diploma Cognitive Neuroscience

Duration

MSc
Full-time 12 months
Part-time 24 months

PG Diploma
Full-time 8 months
Part-time 20 months

This course will appeal to those who wish to pursue academic, research, clinical, educational and health careers, where knowledge of the workings of the human cognitive system is required or desirable.
This course provides a firm grounding in interdisciplinary cognitive neuroscience, classical psychology and neuropsychology. Students are also introduced to some clinical problems that stem from pathology to the human cognitive system.
The course is structured around research expertise in the Department of Psychology, with an emphasis on cognitive and affective neuroscience and state-of-the-art neuroimaging methodologies.
Graduates of the course will be equipped to make significant contributions in fields which require a good understanding of the underpinnings of human cognition and motivated behaviour, and of the varied research methods applied in the field.

This course is recognised by the ESRC for postgraduate research training.

Programme Content :

The programme introduces students to a variety of topics of relevance to human behaviour, such as cognitive function, affective regulation, and complex and perceptual decision-making. Instruction, and opportunities for hands-on experience are provided in methods of studying brain functioning in humans, including electroencephalography and functional magnetic resonance imaging. Clinical syndromes associated with aberrant cognitive processes and their underlying neural and genetic mechanisms are also studied.

The programme is modular in structure. It consists of a 'core' of compulsory modules relevant to the cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychology as well as in generic subjects such as research design and theoretical issues for psychologists. Students gain extensive hands-on experience; many of the assignments are practical in nature. Once the core modules are completed, you choose a number of 'top-up' modules. These may be methodological or content-driven; some are practical and involve sampling the research activities within the School. Additional research methods modules are available to those who wish to develop this part of their portfolio. A wide variety of assessments are undertaken as the programme unfolds, so that by the six-month point (or at 18 months for part-timers), you are able to apply yourself exclusively to the completion of a piece of original, relevant, publishable research in some aspect of the human cognitive system.