Psychology (Cognitive and Brain Science), M.S.

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This program is available to current students in the Cognitive and Brain Sciences graduate program as an enroute Masters degree. Students entering the Cognitive and Brain Sciences Program begin their research training in the lab of a primary faculty advisor who is expected to supervise the student’s research throughout their time in the program.

Students are given a foundation in current theory and methods and have the opportunity to specialize in a substantive research area such as brain organization in developmental disabilities, comparative and developmental vision, cognitive neuroscience, memory, perception, vestibular control and movement, human factors in aviation, attention, face recognition, consciousness and neuropsychology. The MS thesis will be based on the research work. This will be presented in the form of a verbal proposal and defense, and a written thesis that will all be completed before graduating from the course.

In addition to research, students complete a series of foundation courses in statistics, perception, cognition, memory, comparative psychology, and physiological psychology. These courses prepare the students for the comprehensive exam.

Contact Information

Sarah M Haigh
Associate Professor,
Interim Graduate Director

Cognitive & Brain Sciences Program,
University of Nevada, Reno,

Department of Psychology
And Institute for Neuroscience

Reno, NV 89557
Tel: +1 (775) 682-9885

https://sarahmhaigh.github.io

https://www.unr.edu/psychology/graduate/cognitive-and-brain-sciences-ms-phd

Program Learning Outcomes

Cognitive and Brain Sciences is a basic component of any academic program in psychology. The Cognitive and Brain Sciences program is committed to quality training of students at the graduate and undergraduate levels and the production of high-quality research. It is our goal to offer courses and training in the specific areas represented by our faculty research. We strive to train our students to become researchers and/or teachers in experimental psychology. Since our faculty members are expected to maintain active research laboratories, we provide a fertile environment for graduate and undergraduate students to participate and learn about the research process. It is our purpose to provide masters and doctoral graduate students with extensive background in several basic areas of research, to train them so that they can plan and execute original research in the field and expose them, ‘in depth’ to a concentrated area of research.

Students will be able to:

conduct rigorous scientific research in their chosen field by designing studies to address a scientific question, collect high quality data, conduct appropriate analyses, and draw accurate conclusions from their data.
communicate their research effectively to both expert and lay audiences through written and verbal presentations.
discuss the latest research and methods in their area to evaluate their use and effectiveness in aiding scientific discovery.

Admission Requirements

Acceptance to the Master’s program requies current enrollment in the Ph.D. program. Students must complete the appropriate form to add a Master’s to their current Ph.D. program Program En Route Request .

Candidates for the M.S. must complete graduate school and specialization area requirements. Students must be admitted to one specialization area. The department website provides current degree requirements. Request form is due November 3rd for a spring start and December 15th to start in the fall.

I. Required Coursework (Total 34 Units)

A minimum of 34 units in total (18 @ 700-level).

The graduate program in Cognitive and Brain Sciences is research oriented, and all graduate students are expected to be involved in research. Students are encouraged to participate in research with faculty, with other students, and independently.

The following courses are required and constitute the Cognitive and Brain Sciences Core Courses.

a. Foundation Courses (15 units)

All students are required to complete five 700-level seminars in the different substantive areas of Cognitive and Brain Sciences represented by the program faculty. These courses are designed to provide background and breadth in different topical areas of the field and to prepare students for the comprehensive exam. To ensure breadth and adequate preparation for the exam each course taken to meet this requirement should be taken from a different faculty member.

PSY 709 - Comparative Sensory Neuroscience (3 units)
PSY 720 - Seminar in Sensation and Perception (3 units)
PSY 721 - Advanced Psychophysiology (3 units)
PSY 729 - Human Memory (3 units)
PSY 761 - Contemporary Issues in Psychology (3 units)
PSY 762 - Contemporary Issues in Psychology (3 units)
PSY 763 - Special Topics in Experimental Psychology (3 units)
Note: Students may substitute one seminar course from outside the program as part of their 5-course foundation requirement. The substituted course must be approved by both the student’s advisor and the program director. An individual faculty member can provide only one section of the M.S. comprehensive exam. Thus, if a foundation course is substituted then the outside instructor must be willing to contribute and grade one section of the M.S. comprehensive exam based on their subject area.

b. Methods (10 units)

All students are required to take PSY 706 - Intermediate Statistics as part of their program of study. Select additional lab-oriented methods courses from the list below or select another course to meet this requirement in consultation with your advisor.

PSY 706 - Intermediate Statistics I with R Lab (4 units) AND
PSY 627 - Computer Applications in Social and Behavioral Science (3 units) OR
PSY 707 - Intermediate Statistics II (3 units)
OR
PSY 710 - Experimental Design (3 units) OR
PSY 780 - Advanced Human Psychophysiology Lab (3 units) OR
The following special topics courses may be used to satisfy the methods requirement only when taught as lab-based methods courses.
PSY 761 - Contemporary Issues in Psychology (3 units) OR
PSY 762 - Contemporary Issues in Psychology (3 units) OR
PSY 763 - Special Topics in Experimental Psychology (3 units)

c. Thesis (9 units)

PSY 797 - Thesis (1 to 6 units)
PSY 795 - Comprehensive Examination (1 to 3 units)

NOTE:

Students entering the University of Nevada with an master’s in psychology or with acceptable graduate work from another accredited institution may have appropriate transfer courses substitute for specific courses in the core. Decisions on transfer course equivalencies are made by the Cognitive and Brain Sciences Program faculty.

Students may also be required to complete a 3-unit course in teaching skills offered through the Excellence in Teaching Program. These units cannot be used toward the requirements for the M.S. degree in the program.

II. Comprehensive Exam

The Comprehensive Examination shall be taken at the end of the Spring semester during the second year of study. Students failing to complete this requirement will undergo a review by the CBS faculty. This examination is designed to assess the student’s foundational knowledge the Cognitive and Brain Sciences. The exam will include 5 topical areas administered by the program faculty and would normally correspond to the areas represented by the 5 Foundation courses the student has elected to take. Each assigned question (1-3 per topical area) should be answered in ~3-5 pages of double-spaced text with appropriate referencing. Each question on the exam is scored on a 5-point scale. The student must average a minimum of 2.75 to pass and satisfy the requirement for earning a master’s degree.

III. Master’s Thesis

The Master’s thesis is overseen by an advisory-examining committee made up of at least three members of the University graduate faculty. The research underlying the master’s thesis is to be supervised by a faculty member in the Cognitive and Brain Sciences and is to be evaluated by a second faculty reader in the CBS Program.

Upon completion of the Thesis Research, the background and significance, methods and analyses, results and discussion of the project shall be written in the form of a Master’s Thesis. Alternatively, upon unanimous approval of the advisory examining committee a 1st-authored manuscript describing the Thesis Research that has been submitted or accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal may substituted for the Thesis document.

IV. Master’s Thesis Defense and Examination

The Master’s defense starts with a public one-hour talk on the applicant’s research given to faculty and graduate students in the program and the committee. This talk highlights the importance and significance of the work for an informed but general audience. Following this presentation, the committee meets with the student for the oral exam during which time the student is questioned about the theoretical and empirical approaches and implications of their thesis research. The satisfaction of this requirement to earn the master’s degree depends on the unanimous approval of the advisory-examining committee.

Recommended timeline for satisfying the Master’s Degree in two years

Year 1 - Fall

Choose primary advisor and begin first-year project
TA-GRAD 701S (if on a teaching assistantship)
Foundation 1 (3 credits)
Foundation 2 (3 credits)
*Optional: Elective or Thesis research (3 credits)

*If full-time status is needed for financial aid purposes.

Year 1 - Spring

Foundation 3 (3 credits)
Methods 1 (3-4 credits)
Thesis Research (3 credits)
Give first-year research talk

Year 2 - Fall

Form Thesis Committee and begin/continue thesis research
Foundation 4 (3 credits)
Methods 2 (3-4 credits)
Thesis research (3 credits)

Year 2 - Spring

Methods 3 (3-4 credits)
Foundation 5 (3 credits)
Masters Comp (3 credits)
Comp Exam and thesis defense toward end of semester

Notes

Cognitive and Brain Sciences: The Graduate Program in Cognitive and Brain Sciences (formerly known as Experimental Psychology) offers programs of study leading to the M.S. degree that is offered enroute to the Ph.D. Students are given a strong foundation in current theory and methods and have the opportunity to specialize within a number of substantive areas of research that include:

Comparative Psychology,
Development across the life span,
Psychophysiology,
Cognitive Neuroscience,
Memory, and
Sensation and Perception.