Cognition and Perception
Our Approach
Central to the Cognition and Perception training area at Iowa is a distinctive philosophy and perspective. Our philosophy incorporates a dual insistence on empirical rigor and theoretical development. Thus, we are committed to hard-nosed empiricism; however, we are also committed to theory-building, and our programs of research are therefore theory-driven rather than data-driven. Our perspective emphasizes an integrative approach to the study of perception and cognition. This perspective is reflected in both the content and diverse methodologies used in our research programs.
Our Research
The research programs among individual laboratories overlap considerably, and most content areas are studied by multiple laboratories and with different methodologies. This leads to a high degree of interaction among laboratories, and it provides graduate students with many opportunities to work with multiple faculty members on a single topic. The content areas of research strength and focus include:
- Attention
- Categorization
- Computational Modeling
- Language and Language Learning
- Motor Control
- Spatial Cognition
- Visual Perception and Cognition
- Working Memory
Graduate Program
The goal of our graduate program is to prepare students for top positions in research, teaching, and industry. In all three of these domains, the most significant factor for obtaining a top position and excelling over the long term is an individual's research training and record of publications. Our program is therefore structured to maximize our students' research potential. Students are required to take a basic set of classes, supplemented by seminars in specialty areas, but course requirements are minimized so that students can devote most of their time to research activities. We use an apprenticeship model, in which graduate students work closely with a faculty mentor at first and then become progressively more independent as they gain knowledge and skills. We also provide an exciting intellectual environment, which includes extensive student participation in national and international research conferences, the departmental "brown bag" research series, reading groups on special topics, and lectures by visiting scientists.
Our program encourages students to work with multiple faculty, both within the program and across the department and university. Our students often combine basic work on cognition with work in areas such as neuroscience, psychiatry, social psychology, human factors engineering, law, and marketing.
Specialized Training
In addition to our standard training program, we offer specialized training in cutting-edge areas. For example, a student with specialized interests in computational modeling could develop an individualized curriculum that included parts of the standard curriculum, supplemented by courses in mathematics, computer science, and neuroscience. Specialized programs of study can be created by students at any time (with the approval of the faculty)
Prospective Graduate Students
If you are thinking about applying to our Ph.D. program in Cognition and Perception and want to learn more about the program and the affiliated faculty, please feel free to contact our training area coordinator, Andrew Hollingworth at:
| E-Mail: | andrew-hollingworth@uiowa.edu |
| Office Phone: | 319-335-2964 |
| Lab Phone: | 319-335-0304 |
| Postal Mail: | Department of Psychology E11 Seashore Hall The University of Iowa Iowa City, IA 52242 |
Joint Faculty
| Gary Gaeth (Department of Marketing, College of Business) |
|
Marketing information and marketing research; consumer decision-making |
| Daniel Tranel (Department of Neurology, College of Medicine) |
|
Cognitive neuroscience at the systems level; clinical and experimental neuropsychology |
Related Faculty
Members of the Cognition and Perception area also interact regularly with researchers with related interests across campus, including the following faculty in other departments:
| Ralph Adolphs (Department of Neurology, College of Medicine) |
|
Cognitive neuroscience of social cognition and emotion in humans |
| James Cremer (Department of Computer Science, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences) |
|
Simulation, virtual environments, computer graphics, integration of numeric and symbolic computing, geometric modeling, problem solving environments |
| Warren Darling (Department of Exercise Science, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences) |
|
Movement control in visual target acquisition in neurologically healthy and impaired individuals |
| Jean Gordon (Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences) |
|
Speech and language deficits in aphasia, particularly in the processes of lexical access |
| Matthew Howard (Departments of Neurology and Neurosurgery, College of Medicine) |
|
Neurophysiology of human cerebral cortex; epilepsy surgery |
| Richard Hurtig (Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences) |
|
Uncovering general invariants of perceptual and cognitive processes involved in human communication |
| Joe Kearney (Department of Computer Science, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences) |
|
Simulation, virtual environments, animation, graphic interfaces |
| John Lee (Department of Industrial Engineering, College of Engineering) |
|
Human interaction with automation, interface design, cognitive demands of driving, modeling of human behavior |
| Joyce Moore (Educational Psychology Program, College of Education) |
|
Learning, problem-solving, and reasoning, particularly in mathematical cognition |
| Matthew Rizzo (Department of Neurology, College of Medicine) |
|
Neural substrates of human visual attention and visuomotor coordination; driving performance in neurological disease |
| J. Bruce Tomblin (Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences) |
|
Developmental language impairment |