The human brain is the most complex, sophisticated, and powerful
information-processing device known.
To study its complexities, the
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology combines the experimental technologies of
neurobiology, neuroscience, and psychology, with the theoretical power
that comes from the fields of computational neuroscience and cognitive
science.
The Department was founded by Hans-Lukas Teuber in 1964 as a
Department of Psychology, with the then-radical vision that the study
of brain and mind are inseparable. Today, at a time of increasing
specialization and fragmentation, our goal remains to understand
cognition- its processes, and its mechanisms at the level of molecules,
neurons, networks of neurons, and cognitive modules. We are unique
among neuroscience and cognitive science departments in our breadth,
and in the scope of our ambition. We span a very large range of inquiry
into the brain and mind, and our work bridges many different levels of
analysis including molecular, cellular, systems, computational and
cognitive approaches.
Since the field of brain and cognitive sciences is relatively young
and extremely dynamic, there is no single text that encompasses the
subject matter covered in most of the classes offered by the
department. To educate and train future scientists, readings are from
primary journal articles or research papers. This approach provides
broad coverage, as well as the depth needed, so that students are
exposed to cutting-edge knowledge in the various specialties of
neuroscience and cognitive science. Browsing the course materials in
MIT OpenCourseWare, the jewels are revealed in the detailed reading
lists that provide a window on the current thinking in each subject.
Central to our mission is the training of graduate students in the
brain and cognitive sciences, and the education of undergraduate
students. Our graduate students benefit from the comprehensiveness of
our program as well as by conducting research with individual faculty
members who are on the cutting edge of their fields. The Department
recently expanded its undergraduate program to include both
neuroscience and cognitive science and our major is now one of the
fastest growing in the institute.
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences links
Visit the MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences home page at:
http://web.mit.edu/bcs/
Review the MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences curriculum at:
/OcwWeb/web/resources/curriculum/index.htm#9