Cognitive

The scientific understanding of the human mind is one of the greatest intellectual challenges of our time.  The exquisite complexity and sophistication of human intelligence has made it one of the most enticing and enduring scientific mysteries.   Faculty in the cognitive area investigate a wide range of topics including language, meaning and mental representation, perception, learning, memory, decision making and reasoning. We use methods including behavioral experimentation, computational and mathematical modeling, naturalistic observation and cross-cultural fieldwork, and neuro-imaging methods, and collaborate with neurophysiologists, neuopsychologists, developmental psychologists, linguists, and anthropologists.  Insights and methods from cognitive psychology are widely applied in law, medicine, engineering and design, business, politics, and education.