Division of Cognitive Neuroscience

M.Sc Cognitive Neuroscience

Ability to pay attention to the external world, ability to remember things, ability to make effective decisions, ability to plan the future and solve one’s problems in life is as crucial as the biological needs of a person. Cognition refers to these higher mental processes that decide an individual’s success in life. It describes the acquisition, storage, transformation and use of knowledge. Any human behaviour including the cognitions is influenced by two broad categories of factors: biological and socio-cultural. Researchers in the field of cognition are working on understanding the basis of these processes, what influences them and how they can be improved. Though the work on cognitive science existed since long, the branch in its current name is growing as an academic course only since past few years. It is an interdisciplinary field drawing its components from the disciplines of psychology, philosophy, computer science, linguistics, anthropology and neuroscience. Philosophy studies the general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind and language.

Artificial intelligence is a branch of computer science that seeks to explore human cognitive processes by creating computer models that exhibit intelligent behaviours. Linguistics is the scientific study of language form, meaning and context. Anthropology is the science that deals with origins, physical and cultural development, biological characteristics and social customs and beliefs of mankind. Field of neuroscience is concerned with how the nervous system of humans and other animals are organized and how they function psychology is the study of human and animal behaviour. MSc program in cognitive neurosciences is a two-year full-time program that exposes the student to various areas of the field.

The students will be trained in basics about cognition and cognitive processes, the biological basis of cognitive processes, the research methods employed in the field of cognitive science including neuroimaging techniques like fMRI, mathematical models of cognitive science, the effects of society on one’s cognition, the philosophical issues pertaining to cognition, mind and the consciousness, neurodegenerative diseases like dementia and other causes of a failure in cognitive processes, consciousness, developing tests to measure cognitive processes (psychometrics), and neuropsychological rehabilitation.