The schedule outlined below assumes that the student will complete the Ph.D. in five years, including summer activities

1. The first year of the Cognitive Program is similar for all students and consists of a core Cognitive Psychology course each semester (see 5.b for a list of core courses), statistics, research, and possibly a selected course each semester.

2. The Program Director, with the advice of the faculty and based on conversation with the student, assigns each student an advisor for the first year, chosen as much as possible to match the student's interests.

(a) The advisor supervises the student's research and helps the student plan his or her sequence of courses.
(b) A student can change advisors with the consent of the Director.

3. By April 1 of each year, the student, prepares a brief report summarizing progress to date and plans for the future. The report should include,

(a) An updated "Cognitive Psychology Ph.D. Requirements Progress Report."
(b) A brief narrative on the student's research over the past 12 months.
(c) A brief personal statement of perceived successes and failures with the past year, as well as goals for the coming year.
This report, along with supporting materials (e.g., grades, faculty judgments), will provide the basis for an annual evaluation of progress and recommendation regarding continued funding.

4. Because research is best learned by doing it, each student is expected to engage in research throughout his or her graduate career. Initially, the research may be on a project developed by or with the extensive help of the advisor. With experience, however, the student should become increasingly independent in pursuing research ideas and designs. The series of research requirements is designed with this goal in mind. Students are encouraged to engage in additional research as time and interests permit.

(a) The First-Year research project. The student enrolls in Psychology 341 for the fall and spring under the supervision of an advisor. A written progress report will be prepared for submission to the faculty prior to the end of the spring semester (see 3b). A presentation on the work will be made to the Cognitive Research Seminar during the spring or the following fall semester. It is not necessary that the first-year research culminate in a completed piece of work. It is expected, however, that reasonable progress will be made in developing, planning, and executing a project. It is acceptable, but not required, that this project result in a proposal for the M.A. thesis, or even on occasion in the thesis itself.
(b) The Second-Year research project. For many students, this project will be a continuation of work begun earlier. For students entering without a relevant Master's degree, this project will culminate in a Master's thesis approved by a committee of three faculty members in accordance with department rules. Such a student enrolls in Psychology 393 during the fall semester. It is expected that the M.A. preliminary thesis meeting (which is informal) will be completed by the end of the fall semester and the M.A. thesis successfully defended by the end of the spring semester or early in the succeeding fall. For other students, the second year project may be the precursor to dissertation research or part of the dissertation research itself; each such case will be considered individually.
(c) Third and subsequent year research. This work is directed toward completion of the Ph.D. dissertation. The dissertation proposal should be defended before the end of the fall semester of the fourth year and the dissertation itself within 12 months.

5. The M.A. degree:

(a) Students entering without a relevant Master's degree are expected to earn one. The question of whether a student entering with a Master's needs to earn another one here will be considered on an individual basis.
(b) Students are required to take a core Cognitive Psychology course in each semester of their first two years in the program (of course, students are encouraged to take additional core courses in subsequent years).  Grades of P or higher in these four core courses satisfy the M.A. examination requirement.  In the unlikely event that only three core courses are offered in the student’s first two years, the M.A. examination requirement is satisfied with grades of P or higher in those three courses.  However, the student is still required to take a fourth core course in the third year.  The core Cognitive Psychology courses are:
730 – Cognitive Neuroscience
731 – Memory
732 – Psycholinguistics
733 – Attention and Perception
734 – Cogntive Aging
740 – Cognitive Psychology Seminar: This course encompasses multiple topics and may be taken multiple times provided the seminar covers different topics.
(c) See 4(b) regarding the M.A. thesis.
(d) See "M.A. and Ph.D. REQUIREMENTS IN PSYCHOLOGY," distributed by the Department, for course and other M.A. requirements.

6. Ph.D. course requirements beyond the first year:

(a) The student must take a minimum of seven courses or seminars on the cognitive list, although a larger number will be advisable for many individuals. The core courses taken to satisfy the requirements of the M.A. Degree (see 5.b) count toward this minimum of seven. This list of Cognitive Psychology Courses includes the core courses (also listed in 5.b) plus additional relevant courses. Courses not on the list may be substituted with the approval of the student's advisor and the Program Director provided the courses are not also serving another requirement
(b) Out-of-the-area courses and/or courses for a minor are required as specified in "M.A. and Ph.D. REQUIREMENTS IN PSYCHOLOGY."

7. Ph.D. comprehensive exams:

(a) The student and advisor, with the approval of the program director, will select an examination committee of three faculty (two, plus the advisor).
(b) The exam consists of two parts, critical reviews of three published journal articles and a review paper.
(c) Critical Reviews. The student, with the aid of his or her advisor and advisory committee, will define an area of research and study interest. The committee will select four recently published papers within this area, and the student will be required to write critical reviews of three of these papers. This portion of the exam should be written sometime after completion of the master's thesis and ideally will take place immediately following the end of the spring semester of the third year. The reviews are to be modeled after those sought by editors when having manuscripts evaluated for publication. The reviews should comment on, but not be limited to, the literature cited; the quality of the theoretical development; the nature and quality of the empirical research, including methods of data analysis; the appropriateness of the author's conclusions; and the general importance of the work to the field. The student will have five days to complete the three reviews.
(d) Review Paper. The review paper will be written following the article critiques, ideally, in the summer following the student's third year. The student, with the aid of his or her advisor and advisory committee, will select a topic within his or her specialty area and prepare a review paper suitable for submission to the Psychological Bulletin, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review or a similar journal. The paper should provide a critical, thoughtful, and comprehensive review of the literature with regard to a specific, well-defined topic of current interest. More than a simple literature review, the paper should make a positive contribution in some manner that will render it of interest to researchers in the area. After the student’s topic is approved by the advisory committee, the student will have three months to complete the paper.  During this time, the student will work independently of the advisor and committee. It is hoped that following the completion of the paper and feedback from the committee, the student will actually submit the paper to a suitable journal, but that is not part of the exam process.

8. Ph.D. dissertation: see 4(c).

9. In order to gain teaching skills and experience the student is encouraged, but not required to, engage in at least two semesters of supervised teaching.

10. All Departmental requirements must be met.

11. Minor areas of study outside or inside the Psychology Department are urged, but not required.

Criteria for Progress

A student must remain in good standing according to Graduate School and Psychology Department rules (see "M.A. and Ph.D. REQUIREMENTS IN PSYCHOLOGY," distributed by the Department) and must meet the following criteria for the Cognitive Program. Failure to do so may result in loss of financial support and possibly of office space and participation in the program. The time frame specified in this curriculum assumes that the student will complete the Ph.D. in five years, including summer activities. The criteria are written for students entering without a relevant Master's degree. Modifications for students already holding such a degree will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

(1) Be judged by the program faculty each spring to have performed satisfactorily that year.
(2) Pass the core Cognitive Psychology courses with grades of P or higher (see point 5.b). Meeting this requirement will also satisfy the M.A. examination requirement.
(3) Complete a first-year research project.
(4) Defend the M.A. thesis by the end of the fall semester of the third year.
(5) Take the Ph.D. written examination by the end of the spring semester of the third year and during the subsequent summer.
(6) Defend a dissertation proposal by the end of the fall semester of the fourth year.
(7) Complete the professional competency requirement by the end of the fifth year.
(8) Complete the dissertation by the end of the fifth year.

Cognitive Psychology Courses

708 – Biological Foundations of Psychology
730 – Cognitive Neuroscience
731 – Memory
732 – Psycholinguistics
733 – Attention and Perception
734 – Cogntive Aging
740 – Cognitive Psychology Seminar
745 – Advanced Topics in Memory
760 – Advanced Cognitive Development
821 – Introduction to Neuropsychology
822 – Advanced Neuropsychological Assessment
852 – Mathematical Psychology
Others as approved by the student's advisor and the Program Director.

In certain cases, a 400- or 500-level course may be relevant and may be taken as a cognitive course (but not a core course) with the approval of the student's advisor and the Program Director.  Some relevant courses are:
400 – Conditioning and Learning
425 – Advanced Perceptual Processes
430 – Human Memory
432 – Psychology of Language
433 – Behavioral Decision Theory
435 – Thinking and Cognition
461 – Cognitive Development
462 – Development of Language
508 – Behavior and the Brain: Intro to Neuropsychology