Cognitive Neuroscience (Research Master)

What happens in your brain when you act? How is this fascinating, complex ‘micro cosmos’ no bigger than half a football inside your skull organised? If these questions spark your interest, this Master's programme is for you!

Something for you?

• This Master’s programme is located within the world-renowned Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, with a research staff of over 900 scientists.
• Nijmegen is one of the foremost centres of cognitive neuroscience in the world.
• This competitive programme provides a sound balance of theory and practice.
• The Radboud University campus holds a large array of state-of-the-art equipment.
• The programme has its own, student-driven, scientific journal; based on the Stanford Exchange: Proceeding of the Master’s Programme Cognitive Neuroscience.

Cognitive Neuroscience studies the cognitive and neural basis of mental processes such as perception, action, language, attention and memory. This relatively young discipline seeks to unravel the workings of the human brain. The research Master’s programme offers four tracks that coincide with the research themes of the Donders Institute.

• Language and Communication. How is it possible that, in such an amazingly short period of time, you can select the correct words, put them in the correct order and grammatical form, and pronounce them intelligibly? The acquisition and comprehension of language are based on extremely complex cognitive processes which are not yet entirely understood. It’s these processes, and their biological underpinnings, that form psycholinguistics’ field of study and are the basis of this track.
• Perception, Action and Decision-making. In the Perception, Action and Decision-making track you’ll gain ample experience in current research and analysis techniques in perception, three-dimensional motor research, psychophysiological studies, neuroimaging and electromyographical studies. You’ll also be able to apply formal theories on and models of perceptive functions, sensorimotor functions, and complex actions in your research.
• Development and lifelong plasticity. Memory is at the very heart of our personality: the countless snapshots of our daily experiences have a pervasive and enduring influence on the self. But how are these memories organised in the brain and how are they given value and meaning? The track in Development and Lifelong Plasticity looks at the development and decay of the healthy and the maladaptive brain. The goal is to understand various types of neuroplastic changes in the brain, specifically in patients with for example Alzheimer's disease, stress-related disorders, chronic pain, autism, intellectual disabilities, and ADHD.
• Natural Computing and Neurotechnology. In the Natural Computing and Neurotechnology track, you’ll have ample knowledge of the anatomical and neurophysiological aspects of networks in the human brain and the techniques for the computational analysis and modelling of brain networks. This will enable you to conduct independent research into the neurofunctional architecture of cognitive key functions, such as perception, attention, memory, language, planning and targeted actions and develop technologies to measure, characterise and model networks at the whole brain level and/or the local cortical circuit.

Each track has its own set of seven core courses and a student has to complete 30 EC of these courses to complete their track. The entire programme is in English and the tracks share a common ground in the set of general core courses mandatory for all students.

This programme was recently rated number one in the Netherlands in the Keuzegids Masters 2015 (Guide to Master's programmes).