MSc Cognitive and Decision Sciences

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Start date:	September 2012, September 2013

Start date:

September 2012, September 2013

Content

Information about the programme

This program studies the cognitive processes and representations underlying human thought, knowledge and decision-making. It integrates a wide range of disciplines and methodologies, with the core assumption that human cognition and choice are computational processes, implemented in neural hardware. Key topics include: the nature of computational explanation; the general principles of cognition; the scope of rational choice explanation; probabilistic models of the mind; learning and memory; applications to economics and business. The program involves intensive training in experimental design and methodology, building computational models, and carrying out a substantial piece of original research. Why CoDeS? The program draws on an outstanding faculty, ranging across many disciplines, including internationally renowned researchers in psychology, computational modelling, neuroscience and economics. London is one of the global “hot-spots” for research in cognition, decision-making, and neuroscience; and it is an intellectual “hub”, with a high density of research seminars and scientific meetings that attract leading international researchers. London is also one of the world’s foremost commercial and political centres, with consequent opportunities for high-level applied research; and it is a vibrant, culturally diverse and international city, with world-class music, theatre and galleries. Who should apply? This program will appeal to outstanding students interested in pursuing a research career in the cognitive and decision sciences, as well as to students wishing to develop an understanding of core theoretical principles of human thought to tackle applied problems, e.g., in business or public policy. The program will involve challenging formal, conceptual, and empirical work, and hence outstanding talent and motivation, including the ability to think clearly and creativity, and rapidly acquire and integrate new knowledge, is more important than specific disciplinary background. Relevant undergraduate backgrounds include psychology, economics, neuroscience, philosophy, computer science, mathematics, statistics, physics and engineering.

This program studies the cognitive processes and representations underlying human thought, knowledge and decision-making. It integrates a wide range of disciplines and methodologies, with the core assumption that human cognition and choice are computational processes, implemented in neural hardware. Key topics include: the nature of computational explanation; the general principles of cognition; the scope of rational choice explanation; probabilistic models of the mind; learning and memory; applications to economics and business. The program involves intensive training in experimental design and methodology, building computational models, and carrying out a substantial piece of original research.

Why CoDeS?
The program draws on an outstanding faculty, ranging across many disciplines, including internationally renowned researchers in psychology, computational modelling, neuroscience and economics. London is one of the global “hot-spots” for research in cognition, decision-making, and neuroscience; and it is an intellectual “hub”, with a high density of research seminars and scientific meetings that attract leading international researchers. London is also one of the world’s foremost commercial and political centres, with consequent opportunities for high-level applied research; and it is a vibrant, culturally diverse and international city, with world-class music, theatre and galleries.

Who should apply?
This program will appeal to outstanding students interested in pursuing a research career in the cognitive and decision sciences, as well as to students wishing to develop an understanding of core theoretical principles of human thought to tackle applied problems, e.g., in business or public policy. The program will involve challenging formal, conceptual, and empirical work, and hence outstanding talent and motivation, including the ability to think clearly and creativity, and rapidly acquire and integrate new knowledge, is more important than specific disciplinary background. Relevant undergraduate backgrounds include psychology, economics, neuroscience, philosophy, computer science, mathematics, statistics, physics and engineering.

Structure

Course structure

The course is made up of eight taught modules and a research project. There are six core modules, which will provide students with a firm basis in both the theory and practice of cognition science and decision-making, and two specialist modules, selected by students from a wide list of options. The options and research project will allow students to pursue their own specific interests, and complete a significant piece of research work.

Obligatory Modules

The programme has the following obligatory components:

CORE MODULES:

Code	Module Name	Credit Value	Examination
PSYCGD02	Principles of Cognition	15	seen essay
PSYCGD04	Knowledge Learning and Inference	15	seen essay
PSYCGD01	Introduction to Philosophy of Cognitve Science	15	seen essay
PSYCGD05	Programming for Cognitive Science	15	design a program
PSYCGD03	Judgment and Decision Making	15	seen essay
PSYCGR01	Research Statistics	15	TBC
PSYCGD99	Dissertation	60	8-10,000 words

Option Modules

In addition, students register for two optional modules (each worth 15 credits) in consultation with the programme director chosen from the following:

OPTIONAL MODULES:

Code	Module Name	Credit Value	Examination
PSYCG201	Applied Decision-making	15	seen essay
PSYCG207	Human Learning and Memory	15	seen essay
PSYCG209	Cognitive Neuroscience	15	seen essay
PSYCG210	The Brain in Action	15	seen essay
PSYCGS01	Understanding Individuals and Groups	15	seen essay
PSYCGS04	Social Neuroscience	15	seen essay
PSYCGS02	Social Cognition; Affect and Motivation	15	seen essay
PSYCGS03	Current Issues in Attitude Research	15	seen essay
ANATG041	Neural Computation: Models of Brain Function	15	seen essay
PSYCGB01	Consulting Psychology	15	seen essay
PSYCGB02	Talent Management	15	seen essay
PSYCGB03	Business Psychology Seminars	15	seen essay
PUBLGC57	Interpretation of Forensic Evidence (please look under 'Structure' for further information)	15	seen essay and 2 hr unseen exam
PSYCGC20	Designing and Analysing fMRI Experiments	15	seen essay

Time table
TBC

Staff

Programme Director (and lecturer) David Lagnado

Programme Lecturer Brad Love

Programme Lecturer Adam Harris

Programme Teaching Fellow Stephanie Baines

Module convenor for Statistics Maarten Speekenbrink

Module convenor for Programming for Psychologists (MATLAB) Keith Langley

Course Administrator Pia Horbacki.

Application

Funding

UCL Scholarships

For further information on UCL Scholarships, please visit: Scholarships

Application

Entry Requirements

Eligibility: Applicants for this UCL graduate programme are normally expected to hold at least a 2.1 in a UK undergraduate degree (or equivalent overseas qualification) in a relevant subject such as psychology, economics, neuroscience, philosophy, computer science, mathematics, statistics, physics and engineering.
Overseas applicants also need to provide evidence of proficiency in English (we require a 'good' level).

Deadline for Applications

The course is now full. If you apply now you are very unlikely to be offered a place starting this September.

The official deadline is 2nd August for 2013 entry. Early applications are encouraged from students wishing to take a one-year (full-time) or two-year (part-time). Those applying for scholarship funding (particularly overseas applicants) should take note of application deadlines.

Please note that applications can take up to 3 weeks before they are received by the Course Administrator so please allow sufficient time for your application to be received by the Course Administrator before the deadline.

Application Process

Applications must be submitted on the standard UCL Graduate Application Form with all the required documentation. You can either Apply-On-Line (this is preferred) or send in a hard copy. The hard copy must have all required documentation and sent directly to:

Admissions
UCL Registry
University College London
Gower Street
London
WC1E 6BT
United Kingdom

Careers

Many students pursue PhD’s at UCL and other leading universities such as Oxford, Yale, Harvard. Many become research assistants working on: surgical simulators, marketing, in an engineering lab working on decision making aspects of disaster situations, looking at the cognitive causes of diagnostic error, on the human cognitions under the sleep deprivation. Others have gone on to work for: the department of Children’s, Schools and Families (policy making for disciplinary procedures), working in IT, User Interface designer in an electronics company, project manager in market risk change programme in a high profile bank, consultancy, providing marketing / social solutions based on the principle of neurology and behavioural economics, Head of the Deputy Group CRO (Chief Risk Officer) Office in a large investment bank, psychology lecturer in psychology and risk management, Director of Development and Communications (in a university), published books about what people need to have in place for success., coaching senior staff in large corporations.

Contact

If you would like any further information on the programme, you can contact any of the following people:

Programme Director: email: David Lagnado phone: (+44 20) 7679 5389

Programme Lecturer: email: Brad Love phone TBC

Programme Lecturer: email: Adam Harris phone: (+44 20) 7679 5412

Programme Teaching Fellow: email: Staphanie Baines phone: (+44 20) 7679 5412

Course Administrator: email: Pia Horbacki phone: (+44 20) 7679 5335

For information about specific course content it is recommended that you contact either Dave Lagnado or Adam Harris. For advice on the application process, please contact Pia Horbacki.

FAQs

What are the fees this year for full-time and part-time studying?

For information on fees, please visit: All Course fees

What are the term time dates?

For further information on term dates please visit: Term Dates Main teaching is the the 1st and 2nd term. During the 3rd term there is no teaching as this period is for development on the research project as well as other coursework submissions.

Information on Scholarships/funding:

Unfortunately there is very littleon offer interms of funding for this course. For information, please visit: Scholarships/Funding

Are there any prerequisites to enable entry to this course?

No. There are no prerequisites. We do however, make aware that the Statistics module is set at an advanced level and advise that those without any statistical experience may find this difficult. Pre-course reading is encouraged: Charles M. Judd, Gary H. McClelland, and Carey S. Ryan, "Data Analysis: A Model Comparison Approach" (2 edition), Routledge, 2008. (for further information, please visit: Data Analysis This book covers almost all the module content for 2011-12 and is the recommended book. Alternatively you can also refer to 'Discovering Statistics with SPSS' by Andy Field

Is there any recommended reading?

For further Information, please visit: Recommended Reading

Part-Time studying - How would this work?

For further information, please visit: Part-Time Studying

What do our students say?

Keith "Since starting the MSc in CoDes, I feel my mind has expanded- pressed outwards by the new ideas, thoughts, and understanding I have of human behaviour, cognition and social interaction. I love understanding ‘why’ people flirt, gamble, make ‘silly decisions’; or even just ‘consciousness’. As a mature foreign student I was humbled by the Depts drive to ensure students bond together well, are supported academically, and are encouraged to pursue their own personal interests; be it world domination, academia, or curing the world of Tuberculosis."

Pedro "By far the best part of the Master's are the seminars and optional talks. Of course, the regular schedule of classes and research opportunities are a fundamental part of the learning experience, but at UCL there are so many extra curricular activities that might interest you, that is impossible not to be excited about them. This reminds me of another point: if you have the time, do the course part time. Double the time to dedicate to your projects, double the time to think about your research, half the pressure on essays and exams, but most of all, twice as many seminars. I can't think of a better learning experience short of a PhD."

What other Master's programmes, Research programmes or Professional Doctorates are available within the Division of Psychology and Language Sciences?

For further information, please visit? Masters, MSc/PhD or Professional Doctorates

Can you offer any advice on student accommodation?

Accommodation is dealt with by UCL Residencies. For further information and contacts, please visit: Accommodation

A couple of relevant and very readable introductory books: Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard H. Thaler & Cass R. Sunstein (2008, Yale UP) Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely (2009, HarperCollins)

'Computing the mind' Shimon Edelman, Oxford University Press, 2008, ISBN 978019532067

Crane. T. (2003). The Mechanical Mind. Routledge, (2nd edition) Okasha, S. (2002). Philosophy of science: A very short introduction, OUP. Kim, J. (2006). Philosophy of mind. Westview. (2nd edition)

Marr, D. (1982). The philosophy and the approach. Vision: A Computational Investigation Into the Human Representation and Processing of Visual Information. San Francisco, WH Freeman, 3-38. Alter, A. L., & Oppenheimer, D. M. (2009). Uniting the tribes of fluency to form a metacognitive nation. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 13(3), 219-235. Gough, P. M., Nobre, A. C., & Devlin, J. T. (2005). Dissociating linguistic processes in the left inferior frontal cortex with transcranial magnetic stimulation. The Journal of Neuroscience, 25(35), 8010-8016. Daw, N. D., Niv, Y., & Dayan, P. (2005). Uncertainty-based competition between prefrontal and dorsolateral striatal systems for behavioral control.Nature neuroscience, 8(12), 1704-1711. Rangel, A., Camerer, C., & Montague, P. R. (2008). A framework for studying the neurobiology of value-based decision making. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 9(7), 545-556. Freeman, J. B., Dale, R., & Farmer, T. A. (2011). Hand in motion reveals mind in motion. Frontiers in Psychology, 2. Johnston, A. (2010). Modulation of time perception by visual adaptation Attention and Time. A. C. Nobre and J. T. Coull. Oxford, OUP: 187-200. Barsalou, L. W. (2009). Simulation, situated conceptualization, and prediction. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 364(1521), 1281-1289.

Charles M. Judd, Gary H. McClelland, and Carey S. Ryan, "Data Analysis: A Model Comparison Approach" (2 edition), Routledge, 2008. (seehttp://www.dataanalysisbook.com/)

Baron, J. (2000). Thinking and deciding. CUP Gilovich, T., Griffin, D., & Kahneman, D. (2002). Heuristics and biases: The psychology of intuitive judgment. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (2000). Choices, Values, and Frames. CUP. Koehler, D. & Harvey, N. (2004). Blackwell handbook of judgment and decision making. Blackwell. Newell, B.R, Lagnado, D. A., & Shanks, D. R. (2007). Straight choices: the psychology of judgment and decision. Psychology Press.

Duda, R. O., Hart, P. E., & Stork, D. G. (2000). Pattern classification. Wiley. (2nd edition). Pearl, J. (1988). Probabilistic Reasoning in Intelligent Systems: Networks of Plausible Inference. Morgan Kaufman Publishers. Pearl, J. (2000). Causality: Models, Reasoning and Inference. CUP. Oaksford, M. & Chater, N. (2007). Bayesian Rationality. OUP. Russell, S. & Norvig, P. (2003). Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach. Prentice Hall. (2nd edition). Sloman, S. A. (2005). Causal Models: How people think about the world and its alternatives. OUP.

Part-Time Studying

Back to FAQ's

Part-time students will take two years to complete this degree by attending one day a week. You will be expected to devote extra time for private study and you will also have to attend lectures for your optional module which may fall on a different day than your assigned day of study. The Introductory lectures will be held on Mondays, so first year students should arrange to be in College on this day. The project work should be spread out over the two years and students are strongly encouraged to make substantial inroads in to it in their first year. Please ensure that you have (a minimum of) one day per week off work for the whole year and not just during term time. Part-time students can sometimes find the start of the course overwhelming, and feel that they are missing out by not attending the other modules, or because they do not have as much time as other students for reading or attending optional departmental seminars. Try not to let this worry you too much. You will soon find that there are some advantages to doing the course in two years (e.g. project is more spread out), and you will go in to your second year with the confidence of knowing that you have far more background knowledge than your newly-arrived full time peers.

Part-time students will take two years to complete this degree by attending one day a week. You will be expected to devote extra time for private study and you will also have to attend lectures for your optional module which may fall on a different day than your assigned day of study. The Introductory lectures will be held on Mondays, so first year students should arrange to be in College on this day. The project work should be spread out over the two years and students are strongly encouraged to make substantial inroads in to it in their first year. Please ensure that you have (a minimum of) one day per week off work for the whole year and not just during term time.
Part-time students can sometimes find the start of the course overwhelming, and feel that they are missing out by not attending the other modules, or because they do not have as much time as other students for reading or attending optional departmental seminars. Try not to let this worry you too much. You will soon find that there are some advantages to doing the course in two years (e.g. project is more spread out), and you will go in to your second year with the confidence of knowing that you have far more background knowledge than your newly-arrived full time peers.

What part-time students will complete over the two years:

First Year:

* Term 1 (28th Sept-18th Dec): TWO core modules: (Principles of Cognition & Stats) Attend all day Monday. * Term 2 (11th Jan-26th March): ONE core module: Judgement and Decision Making and ONE optional module. (all day Wednesday). You can choose a module that starts in Term 1 in which case you don’t have to do any in Term 2. * Term 3 (26th April+): Main Research Project (to be completed by end of second year). By the end of Year 1 you will have completed: 3 core modules and 1 optional module.

* Term 1 (28th Sept-18th Dec): TWO core modules: (Principles of Cognition & Stats) Attend all day Monday.
* Term 2 (11th Jan-26th March): ONE core module: Judgement and Decision Making and ONE optional module. (all day Wednesday). You can choose a module that starts in Term 1 in which case you don’t have to do any in Term 2.
* Term 3 (26th April+): Main Research Project (to be completed by end of second year).
By the end of Year 1 you will have completed: 3 core modules and 1 optional module.

Second Year:

* Term 1: TWO core modules: Introduction to Philosophy of Cognitive Science and Mini Project (MATLAB). (Attend all day on Wednesday). * Term 2: ONE core module: Knowledge, Learning and Inference (Monday) and ONE optional module. You can choose a module that starts in Term 1 in which case you don’t have to do any in Term 2. * Term 3: Work on main project due end of August 2010. By the end of Year 2 you will have completed an additional 3 core modules and 1 optional module.

* Term 1: TWO core modules: Introduction to Philosophy of Cognitive Science and Mini Project (MATLAB). (Attend all day on Wednesday).
* Term 2: ONE core module: Knowledge, Learning and Inference (Monday) and ONE optional module. You can choose a module that starts in Term 1 in which case you don’t have to do any in Term 2.
* Term 3: Work on main project due end of August 2010.
By the end of Year 2 you will have completed an additional 3 core modules and 1 optional module.

Back to FAQ's

Student Destinations

Destinations of past MSc graduates include:

Various research assistant roles including: focusing on the human cognition under sleep deprivation (at the cognitive neuroscience lab in Duke-NUS), surgical simulators (observing live operations and rate team work in the operating team, working on surgical stress simulations rating team skills, leading a simulation involving a newly designed portable simulated operating theatre setting up and recruiting surgeons to run simulations in this simulated operating environment then rating their non-technical skills including communication, decision making, leadership etc, and interviewing them), marketing, in an engineering lab working on decision making aspects of disaster situations, looking at the cognitive causes of diagnostic error.
Research Assistants in various universities including: UCL, Birkbeck College, University of British Columbia, Singapore National University, King's College London, Imperial College, St. Mary's Hospital
Civil Service (Ministry of Education), Advisor to Minister of Education
Cabinet Office on the Behavioural Insights Teams (2 students from the same cohort)
Decision Technology, Research Analyst
RBS Manager
The Independent Media Consultant
New Africa Analysis Editorial Assistant
UNon-Government Organisation Development Officer
Financial Company Software Engineer
Financial Information Company Analyst Developer
Final Mile consultancy company (based in India). It integrates Cognitive Neuroscience and Behavioural Economics
SML Consult Clean Technology Analyst
European Commission Trainee PgCert in Personal and Professional development
University of East Anglia Individualator
Instinct Laboratories Consumer Insight Researcher
Decision Technology Graduate Research Analyst
The General Medical Council Policy Research Assistant
University of Greenwich Director of Development + Communication
Holden Pearman Research Analyst
China Telecom Marketing Assistant
Elis Ltd Company Director
Buranarumluk School Teacher
Sony: Human Interface Designer
Contributor on a book for a university Professor
Others have gone on to work for: the department of Children’s, Schools and Families (policy making for disciplinary procedures
User Interface designer in an electronics company
Project manager in market risk change programme in a high profile bank
Consultancy
Providing marketing / social solutions based on the principle of neurology and behavioural economics
Head of the Deputy Group CRO (Chief Risk Officer) Office in a large investment bank
Psychology lecturer in psychology and risk management.
Director of Development and Communications (in a university).
Published books about what people need to have in place for success., coaching senior staff in large corporations.

PhDs

Many students go on to undertake PhD/further studies
Research areas include: Cognitive and Decision Sciences, Alzheimer’s Disease, Social and Developmental Psychology Neuroscience, Cognitive Modelling, Medicine, risk perception in medical decision making, judgmental forecasting
Destinations include: University College London, Oxford, Harvard, Yale, Imperial College, Queen Mary, Universidad de Granada, Stanford, Cambridge, MPI Berlin

Page last modified on 13 mar 12 14:13 by Carolyne S Megan

UCL DIVISION OF PSYCHOLOGY AND LANGUAGE SCIENCES

Funding

UCL Scholarships

Application

Entry Requirements

Deadline for Applications

Application Process