Doctor of Philosophy in Psychological and Brain Sciences - Cognition, Perception, and Cognitive Neuroscience

The graduate program in Cognition, Perception, and Cognitive Neuroscience (CPCN) probes how humans perceive, remember, think, learn, and act upon the world. The program comprises broad faculty interests that include consciousness, problem solving, reasoning, memory, spatial cognition, language, visual perception, attention, human-computer interaction, categorization, the organization of goal directed behavior, laterality of brain function and more.

The faculty in CPCN employ a variety of approaches. These include measurement of performance, assessment of the neural substrates of behavior, and computational/mathematical modeling. Their research is concerned with the development of basic theories of perception and cognition and the biological basis of these processes. There is ongoing application of theories of perception and cognition to real world problems in information technology, issues in selection, training, education, medicine, human factors, and law. The CPCN faculty laboratories are well-funded by national research agencies including the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the US Army, and NASA.

Online application
Statement of Purpose, Personal History and Diversity Statement, and Resume or CV (submitted in the online application)
Scholarly writing sample, preferably in APA format. No page limit (submitted in the online application).
Three Letters of Recommendation (submitted online)
Transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended (submitted online)
English Language Exam Scores (if applicable): TOEFL Internet-Based Test (IBT) total score of 80, or TOEFL Paper-Based Test (PBT) total score of 550, or IELTS Overall Band score of 7
Final/Official transcripts will be required for all applicants who are admitted and have indicated their intent to enroll at UC Santa Barbara by submitting a Statement of Intent to Register (SIR). UC Santa Barbara reserves the right to require official transcripts at any time during the admissions process and rescind any offer of admission made if discrepancies between uploaded and official transcript(s) are found.