The division of
Cognitive Psychology promotes basic and applied research on human
cognition and prepares students for careers in research and teaching.
At UIC, Cognitive
Faculty research programs are linked through the theme of exploring
complex cognitive processing, which includes the study of learning,
memory, language, text and discourse processes, problem solving,
conceptual change, and metacognition. Over the past 10 years, research
efforts have
resulted in approximately 150 peer-reviewed publications in first rate
journals like Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and
Cognition, Memory & Cognition, Cognitive Science and Psychological
Science, and twice that number of presentations at the meetings of
national and international societies, including American Educational
Research Association, the Association for Psychological Science, the
Cognitive Science Society, the International Conference of the Learning
Sciences, the Psychonomic Society, the Cognitive Neuroscience Society,
and the Society for Text and
Discourse. The excellence of the faculty is recognized through honors
such as membership in the National Academy of Sciences and the National
Academy of Education, a Humboldt Fellowship (Germany) and an Erskine
Fellowship (New Zealand). The division has a long-standing record of
funding from foundations and federal agencies including the National
Science Foundation and the Institute for Education Sciences.
Our
students are trained through a mentorship model, thereby allowing them
to gain first-hand research experience under the supervision of one or
more faculty members. Students are expected to be actively involved in
either faculty-sponsored or independent-supervised research
continuously throughout their training. As part of the required
curriculum, all students take courses in basic areas of cognitive
psychology, including: attention & memory, language, problem
solving & reasoning, and skill & knowledge acquisition. In
addition, seminars are offered in specialty areas, such as: cognitive
perspectives on individual differences, educational assessment,
creativity, metacognition, bilingualism, reading and forgetting.
Students receive
training in traditional experimental methods as well as in specialized
methods such as analyzing verbal protocols and action sequences,
tracking eye movements, ERP, individual differences approaches,
and computer simulation. Expertise in teaching is strongly promoted
through the department’s teaching practicum. Our graduate students have
received prestigious awards, such as the Erlbaum Award in Cognitive
Science, the APA Young Researcher Award, the Ruth L, Kirschstein
Predoctoral Award, Psi Chi graduate research awards and APA
Dissertation Awards.
If you are interested in
the Cognitive Division Graduate program, please feel free to e-mail any
of the faculty for additional information.