DEVELOPMENT OF COGNITION

Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, Cambridge MA

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Abstract

The mission of the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences is to promote an interdisciplinary approach to the study of intelligence, combining the substance and methods of experimental psychology and neuroscience with the formal analyses of linguistics and mathematics. Because two-thirds of the faculty in our department study problems of learning and development, the field of cognitive development is a major unifying intellectual focus. The proposed developmental training program is designed to give 6 predoctoral and 2 postdoctoral students the knowledge, skills and perspective they will need to pursue research careers in developmental cognitive science, through broad training in the multidisciplinary approaches to development represented by our department. The program emphasizes depth in a student's primary area of concentration. Trainees are expected to conduct research in the laboratories of at least two faculty members, preferably using methods derived from different subdisciplines to confront problems in a single cognitive domain. Trainees also will attend a multidisciplinary developmental seminar throughout their graduate or postdoctoral training. Predoctoral trainees will complete other required course work in the first two years, after which they will take qualifying exams. In succeeding semesters, trainees will choose from a flexible array of courses, seminars, and guided readings under the supervision of faculty advisors. Postdoctoral trainees will also be encouraged to attend seminars to broaden their empirical perspective on cognitive development, and they are expected to take an active role in seminars within their areas of specialization.