COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY

Program

The division of Cognitive Psychology promotes excellence in basic and applied research on human cognition and prepares students for careers in research and teaching. At UIC, Cognitive Faculty research programs are linked through the theme of exploring complex cognitive processing and applying cognitive principles to educational and other real-world contexts. Areas of research include language and text processing, learning and memory, conceptual change, problem solving, metacognition, effective tutoring and instruction, principled assessment, and the effects of individual differences on cognitive performance. We also specialize in using a variety of methodologies including computational modelling, think-aloud, eyetracking and electrophysiology.

Our faculty have been highly successful at obtaining external funding for these lines of work from the National Science Foundation, the Institute of Educational Science, and the Office of Naval Research, among other funders. The faculty are internationally recognized with honors such as membership in the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Education, two Distinguished University Professorships in Psychology and Education, an Erskine Fellow, and a Humboldt Scholar. Several serve in leadership positions in the Cognitive Science Society, the International Society for the Learning Sciences, the Society for Text and Discourse, and the American Education Research Association, and as Editors or on the Editorial Boards of JEP:LMC, Memory & Cognition, Discourse Processes, the Journal of Educational Psychology, the Journal of the Learning Sciences, Cognition & Instruction, the Journal of Engineering Education, and Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis. Further, many Cognitive faculty are part of the Learning Sciences Research Institute, and we have a number of interdisciplinary collaborations including funded projects with faculty in multiple departments and colleges at UIC including education, medicine, computer science, engineering, math, chemistry and other departments in LAS.

The cognitive program has a strong, vibrant group of graduate students. Our students receive training in several basic areas of cognition (memory, concept and knowledge acquisition, language, and problem solving) as well as in special topics seminars in areas such as individual differences, learrning in multimedia contexts, assessment, creativity, and bilingualism/second language acquisition. Over the past decade, we have graduated over a dozen PhDs, most of whom obtained tenure-track faculty positions in Departments of Psychology or Education, and a few who are in academic research positions. Our students have also received external awards including the Erlbaum Award in Cognitive Science, the APA Young Researcher Award, the Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral NRSA, Psi Chi Graduate Research awards and several APA Dissertation Awards.

Our students are trained through a mentorship model, thereby allowing them to gain first-hand research experience under the supervision of one or more faculty members. Students are expected to be actively involved in either faculty-sponsored or independent-supervised research continuously throughout their training. Expertise in teaching is strongly promoted through the department's teaching practicum. If you are interested in the Cognitive Division PhD program, please feel free to e-mail any of the faculty listed on the Cognitive Faculty Page.