Graduate Program

Cognitive Psychology

At the heart of the Cognitive program is our shared interest in spatial cognition -- that is, how we think about, navigate, and perceive the world around us.  This overlapping focus has facilitated exciting joint projects between us; we pride ourselves on a spirit of collaboration that has led to synergistic research programs not only within our Cognitive area, but also with members of the other psychology sub-areas and with researchers from other departments.   (Students, as well as faculty, are encouraged to seek bridges between labs.)  With spatial cognition, broadly defined, as the hub of our program, our respective labs tackle core aspects of information-processing, such as scene representation, language, attention, emotion, and categorization.  We approach these topics by using a range of techniques (e.g., behavioral experiments, ERP, eye tracking, and computational modeling) and by testing diverse populations (e.g., infants, children, and clinical populations).
 
Our developmental research is enhanced by strong ties to the Early Learning Center, and our relationship with the University of Delaware’s interdisciplinary Cognitive Science Program (administered by the Linguistics Department) is particularly active.  As such, Cognitive faculty and students enjoy frequent opportunities to interact with and learn from members of the Linguistics, Philosophy, and Education departments.

For more information about our individual interests, click on our names.  If you have questions about the Cognitive Psychology graduate program that are not answered on this site, you can contact the Director:

Helene Intraub

Email: intraub@udel.edu

Office:
229 Wolf Hall
(302) 831-8012

Other program areas:
Behavioral Neuroscience   Clinical   Social Psychology

About the graduate program

 

Cognitive Psychology Graduate Handbook

 

Nature and Goals of the Graduate Program

Requirements

Time Frame

Feedback on Progress

Qualifying Exam for Admittance to Candidacy

Funding

Sampling of Ph.D. Recipients in Cognitive Psychology

 

Nature and Goals of the Graduate Program

Welcome to the Graduate Program in Cognitive Psychology. This apprenticeship program is designed to rapidly engage new students in research. Students begin conducting research their first semester. The number of required courses/seminars is minimal allowing the student in consultation with his/her advisor to select whatever additional courses would be most valuable to that student’s research interests. For breadth in the field, our students attend a weekly Cognitive Brown Bag at which faculty and graduate students present their research and discuss current topics in the field. Throughout the year students can choose among a number of colloquia offered by the Psychology Department and the College-wide Cognitive Science Program. In addition, during their first two years, students’ readings are drawn from a variety of areas (courses, brown bag, independent reading) that will help then to prepare for the Qualifying exam. Below is a description of the course load and the time course of various landmarks in your progress through the program. A more detailed description of the Qualifying Exam follows. Please talk with your advisor when planning your schedule. Do not hesitate to ask any questions, or to make suggestions.

Please note that detailed information about general UD Ph.D. requirements and milestones are available on line http://www.udcatalog.udel.edu/general/grad/gradregs.html#philosophy.

 

Requirements

Full-time graduate students are required to take at least 9 credits each semester/ distributed among research and courses/seminars; the Graduate School requires this amount for a student to receive funding. Register for research credit as Psyc 868: Research until the course requirements for admission to candidacy have been met (usually the first four semesters), the next semester register for research as Psyc 964: Precandidacy. After admittance to candidacy, students register for research as Psyc969: Dissertation Research. When you register for research you will need to select your advisor's name as well as specify the number of research credits for that semester when you register. 

Required Courses/Seminars (8):

a) Statistics (Psyc 860: Statistics)

b) At least five (5) courses (taught by full-time faculty in the Cognitive Area; these include topics in attention, perception, memory, language, cognition and emotion, and cognitive development) –

c) At least two additional graduate seminars/courses that are electives. These can be in any area of Psychology (including Cognitive or additional Statistics courses), or any area related to the student's field of study in other graduate Departments at the University (e.g., Linguistics, Computer Science, Neuroscience/Biology, Education). Elective course decisions are made in consultation with one's advisor and must have advisor approval. Students are discouraged from taking more than 2 course/seminars in a semester so that they can maintain a steady focus on their research throughout their graduate career.

 

Time Frame

 

First Year:

Students begin working in a lab with the goal of developing a first year research project with their advisor. The minimum of 9 credits per semester includes Statistics (first semester), 1-2 required courses/seminars, and research credit. Students are actively engaged in research during the entire year, culminating in a presentation of their first-year project the Cognitive Brown Bag at the end of the first year. Based on required course readings and general readings for research, the student should begin thinking about the topic for their qualifying exam (described in a later section).

Information about Graduate School credit requirements can be obtained online: http://www.udcatalog.udel.edu/general/grad/gradregs.html#philosophy (scroll down to Course and Residency Requirements).

 

Second Year:

By the end of Year 2, the student should have completed at least 4 courses offered by Cognitive Faculty. By the beginning of Year 2, in consultation with his/her advisor, the student will decide on the topic of their paper for the qualifying exam. To be in good standing, a student must pass both the take-home (the written paper) and the oral defense of the paper by the specified deadline in Year 3 (see dates below)

 

Third-Fourth or Fifth Year:

After passing the qualifying exam (paper and oral), students write their dissertation proposal, and form a dissertation committee with the approval of their advisor. The committee membership must be in accordance with the rules of the UD Graduate Office:

See http://www.udcatalog.udel.edu/general/grad/gradregs.html#philosophy and scroll down to Doctoral Committees. 

The student writes a dissertation proposal that must be approved by the committee (the committee reads the proposal and then convene, at which point the student presents the proposal for discussion).

Following approval of the dissertation proposal by the committee, the student is admitted to candidacy and conducts their dissertation research (paperwork for admittance to candidacy must be filed with the Office of Graduate Studies to change the student's official status). When the research is complete, students write their dissertation, and after advisor approval they submit the written dissertation to their dissertation committee. An oral dissertation defense is then scheduled at 3 least weeks following submission of the dissertation to committee, to provide enough time for the committee to study the document.

Note. Once the 8-course requirement is complete, students can opt to take additional courses/seminars that are particularly relevant to their research goals -- this must be discussed with their advisor. At this point emphasis should be fully on research and related reading/writing.

 

Feedback on Progress

 

Students receive written comments on their progress in a letter from the Cognitive Area Faculty: first year students received a letter after each semester, after the first year, a letter is received yearly, after completion of the spring semester. The letter will point out the highlights in the student’s performance, point out areas that can be strengthened, and lay out goals for the upcoming year. In preparation, students must submit the Department's forms, the “Annual Planning Document” and “Annual Progress Report”. These will be sent to the student by the Cognitive Area Faculty Representative on the Graduate Committee prior to each review.

In order to remain in good standing, students must complete the scheduled requirements as stated above, must maintain a B- or better in all courses, and be fully engaged in research. Students are not awarded a Masters degree except in the case of a Terminal Masters, which can be obtained if the student does not continue in the program, but has successfully completed Statistics, 4 required courses/seminars, and required research involvement. In this event, the student may elect to write up their second year research project in University format as a Master's Thesis.

 

Qualifying Exam for Admittance to Candidacy (Third Year)

 

The qualifying exam is taken after the student has completed 2 full years in the graduate program. The first part is a review paper (similar to a Psych Review or Psych Bulletin article) on a topic that is central to the student’s area of interest. This can be on a single major topic (e.g., “Categorization in Infant Cognition”, or a combination of topics across different areas or disciplines (e.g., a Cognitive Science topic that cuts across areas in Linguistics and Psychology). The second part is an Oral defense of the paper in which the student and the Cognitive faculty discuss issues and ideas that are raised by the paper.

Purpose: The review paper complements coursework and laboratory research by providing an additional means of developing one’s scholarship and enhancing one’s expertise in their chosen area of study. The combination of writing and oral presentation mirrors both upcoming milestones in the student’s graduate career (dissertation proposal and oral presentation) the kinds of activities scientists must excel at throughout their careers (presentation of research & question/answer periods at meetings, writing). Timeliness is a critical component of this requirement. Please pay close attention to the due dates in the next section.

Timeline: Students should begin discussing their paper topic with their advisor during their first year of graduate school. The first year project can serve as a springboard for topic choice, but the topic is not at all constrained by the first year project. The student’s topic should be one that will likely lead into their doctoral dissertation proposal. The student will provide at least one early draft to their advisor for feedback before submitting the paper. The timing of the draft(s) will be determined by the student and their advisor well in advance.

• September 7th (Third Year): Due date for submitting the paper to the Cognitive Faculty

• October 7th: Deadline for faculty to provide feedback to the student. Feedback will be similar to that obtained by authors who submit review papers to journals. Grading is pass/fail.

• Given a PASS on the paper, the student will schedule an Oral defense with the faculty to be held by October 14 (or in case of scheduling conflicts, no later than October 21).

Successful completion of the written and oral exam is necessary before submitting one's dissertation proposal for approval. The qualifying exam is a necessary step toward admittance to candidacy.

In the event of an unsatisfactory review paper, the student can elect to revise the paper based on faculty feedback and submit the revision a month later (due: November 7th). Feedback would be returned by Dec 7. Given a PASS, the student would then schedule an oral during Finals week. If the revision does not meet minimum criteria for passing, the cognitive area faculty will convene to critically evaluate the student’s record to date.  In most cases, if all other requirements have been met, the student can opt to write up their first year project as a Master's Thesis, so that when they leave the program they will do so having earned a Masters Degree in Psychology.

Timeliness is a critical part of the qualifier. Students must submit the qualifier by the due date. Failure to do so is seen as opting out of the program. If all other requirements have been met, the student can choose to write up their first year project for a terminal masters as described in the last paragraph. This option may also may be taken by students who are in good standing in the program but decide not to complete the doctoral program.

 

Funding

This is a full-time PhD program. Students in good standing, with timely progress in the program receive support for at least 5 years. This support may come in the form of a Department TA position, Department RA, University fellowship, or an RA on an advisor's extramural grant. Students are strongly advised to consider applying for external funding (e.g., NSF Predoctoral Fellowship; or an NRSA Predoctoral Fellowship from NIH) and to discuss the application with their advisors well in advance of the due date. In addition, students in the Department with the strongest records of performance and publication (across areas) may be put forward by the department as candidates for a competitive fellowship (the department is usually limited to submitting no more than 2 candidates). With this commitment of support and the recognition that this is a full-time PhD program, comes the Department’s expectation that students will work full time on graduate research. It is also the expectation of the Department that should any consideration arise of an additional position (paid or otherwise) beyond the routine 20 hour assistantship, this will begin with a discussion between the graduate student and advisor. Timely progress through the program is critical for one's future professional career. If you have any questions about the contract you receive please discuss this with your advisor.

 

Sampling of Ph.D. Recipients in Cognitive Psychology

Jason Reiss (2007) First position after obtained PhD; Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Delaware

Carmela Gottesman (1998) First position after obtaining PhD: Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Oklahoma.

Marie St. George (1996) First position after obtaining PhD: Post-doc, UCSD Center for Research in Language

Baskaran Subramaniam (1993) First position after obtaining PhD: Post-doc, Kennedy Kreiger Brain Imaging Center, Johns Hopkins University.