The Psychology Department brings together outstanding faculty, staff, graduate, and undergraduate students to carry out our scientific and educational missions. At its core, Psychology seeks to understand the complexities of human behavior in a multitude of ways - how the brain gives rise to behavior, how behavior is affected by mental illness, injury, and disease, and finally, how to develop effective interventions to promote mental wellbeing. Our science examines everything from the single neuron to broad cultural and societal contributions to behaviorand the full range in between. As a 21st-century science, psychology is constantly exploring and incorporating emerging new approaches to our work, often by breaking down traditional academic and scientific boundaries.
Students graduate work will largely consist of courses, seminars, reading, and research in their graduate area, and all graduate students should discuss their proposed coursework with their area head prior to registration. There are, however, some departmental requirements that everyone must satisfy. These requirements are primarily designed to insure that students acquire a reasonable breadth of experience within psychology.
The program in Perception, Brain and Behavior is designed to provide students with the training necessary to conduct research on the sensory aspects of vision and hearing. The faculty members in this area have worked on a wide variety of topics, but their general emphasis has been on the more fundamental mechanisms involved in visual and auditory perception. Students will learn about the behavioral (psychophysical) and physiological techniques best suited for studying sensory mechanisms, and about mathematical modeling of sensory phenomena and systems. A traditional goal of sensory psychology is to explain psychophysical facts in terms of known physiological facts, accordingly, students in the Perception, Brain and Behavior area will be expected to study the literature in both domains. Graduates from Perception, Brain and Behavior will be qualified to work in either academic or industrial settings.
