The Ph.D. in Cognitive Science gives the student the opportunity to focus on a content area within cognitive science, such as language, vision, or learning, which is profitably studied from the perspectives of multiple disciplines. Although students in the program become relatively familiar with one of the disciplines, through the required minor, the emphasis is on proficiency in the important methodologies and tools — the relevant mathematics and logic, philosophical investigation, computer modeling, behavioral research in psychology and neuroscience — and how these are applied to the study of particular problems within the student's content specialization area. Students who wish to combine a solid foundation in a particular discipline with the inter-disciplinary perspective of cognitive science may wish to consider the Joint Ph.D. in Cognitive Science and another discipline.

Degree Requirements

Coursework

A minimum of 90 credit hours, including the following.

• The six Cognitive Science core courses:Q520 (Mathematics and Logic in Cognitive Science), Q530 (Programming Methods in Cognitive Science), Q540 (Philosophical Foundations of the Cognitive and Information Sciences), Q550 (Models in Cognitive Science), Q551 (The Brain and Cognition), and Q560 (Behavioral Methods in Cognitive Science). On the basis of their undergraduate background, students may be exempted from one or more of the core courses other than COGS –Q540, which all students must take. Exemptions from any core courses require approval by the Director of Graduate Studies of the program.
• At least 16 additional credit hours from offerings listed or cross-listed in Cognitive Science. A maximum of 6 of these 16 credit hours may come from pure research courses (Q799, Q899, or the equivalent in another department).
• At least four semesters registered for the Colloquium Series course Q733. In one of these semesters, the only for which credit is received, each student will be expected to give a lecture on his or her independent research as a part of the Colloquium Series.

Research Project Requirement

All Cognitive Science stand-alone PhD students are required to complete the Research Project requirement. The project should constitute significant original research done while the student is enrolled in the PhD program.

Beginning fall 2007, all new Ph.D. students must decide on a supervisor and topic for their projects by the end of their first year and submit the Research Project Progress Report Form to the Cognitive Science Program office. The project must be completed by the end of their second year; at this time they should submit the Completion of the Research Project Form.

Continuing students who entered the program in 2005 or 2006 should submit only the Completion of the Research Project Form, either by the end of their second year in the program or before applying for candidacy whichever comes first.

Content Specialization

Each student will select a Content Specialization, an area of study that can be approached from the perspectives of the different disciplines within cognitive science. The list of available Content Specializations currently includes Language and Speech, Modeling, Dynamical Systems, Logic, and Human-Computer Interaction, but with the approval of the student’s advisory/research committee, any relevant area of cognitive science may fulfill the Content Specialization requirement. Students must complete at least five courses in their specialization, and these courses must be taken in at least two different departments. The Content Specialization should normally be selected by the end of the student's second year in the program, and the courses selected must be approved by the student's advisory/research committee.

Minor

Students must complete a minor in another department or program. Courses counting toward the minor may also count toward the student's Content Specialization. The minor should normally be completed by the beginning of the student's fourth year.

Qualifying Examination

Each student is expected to pass a Qualifying Examination, normally by the first semester of the student's third year in the program. If the student fails the exam, it may be retaken once, by the end of the student's third year.

The examination is expected to have a written and an oral component and to demonstrate (1) in-depth knowledge of the student's Content Specialization, (2) knowledge of some other area of Cognitive Science, (3) academic writing competence, and (4) the ability to defend a position in an oral setting.

In consultation with his or her Advisory Committee, the student will agree on the format of the examination. Within these constraints, two broad categories of Qualifying Examinations are possible.

1. Conventional Written Examination

The student and his or her committee agree on a set of topic areas and readings. The topics must include at least one area outside of the student's Content Specialization and must be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies. The student then has three months to prepare for the exam, normally during the summer following the second year in the program.

Each committee member writes one or two questions. The student has two days, four hours per day, to answer the questions, using any resources he or she wishes to bring to the examination room. Within a week, the committee evaluates the student's answers. The student does not normally receive feedback from the committee but may discuss the answers informally with members of the committee in preparation for the oral portion of the exam. The student meets with the committee within two weeks after submitting the answers to orally defend his or her answers and respond to follow-up questions. If the committee agrees that the student's written and oral answers are satisfactory, the student has successfully passed the qualification exam. Otherwise, the committee may fail the student outright or may require the student (1) to elaborate further in written answers to one or more questions or (2) to answer in writing one or more additional questions. If the student satisfies the committee with these additional assignments, he or she has successfully passed the qualification exam; otherwise, the exam is considered failed and must be completely retaken.

2. Papers

In consultation with his or her Advisory Committee, the student selects topics for three qualifying papers. Two of these topics are expected to be within the student's Content Specialization, and these should address at least two of the different methodological approaches to that content area.
The third paper can deal with a topic in any other area of cognitive science but must be outside the student's Content Specialization. The topics must be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies. Each paper should answer a question. An example of a recent Qualifying Examination paper question is: How might simulation-based models help to clarify or dispel the view of communication as information transmission?

The student is given the period of three months during the summer following the second year in the program to write the papers. During this time, he or she may consult any works on the paper topics but may not discuss the topics with others. Questions to the committee should only concern procedural matters. After the papers are submitted to the committee, they are evaluated by the committee members, normally within a period of a week, and returned to the student with comments. Next the student meets with the committee to defend his or her answers orally; the oral portion of the exam should take place within three weeks of the submission of the papers. Based on the written answers and the oral defense, the student may be passed immediately, failed outright, or required to rewrite one or more of the papers and possibly also to meet with the committee again for a second oral defense. If the student satisfies the committee with these additional assignments, he or she has successfully passed the qualification exam; otherwise the exam is considered failed and must be completely retaken.