About

Faculty members in CLPS contribute individually and collectively to the professional life of the University by offering students learning experiences and advising of the highest quality, by carrying out rigorous scientific research, and by promoting the success of scholarly research in improving society.

Housed in the fully-renovated and historic Metcalf Research Building, the CLPS Department is a leading center for the multidisciplinary study of mind, brain, behavior, and language. We investigate phenomena such as perception, thinking, learning, memory, attention, action, personality, speech, and language processing. We examine the functional organization of these capacities, the representational and computational processes that underlie them, their neural bases, their development across the lifespan, and how they shape individual and social behavior. We use diverse methodologies, including psychophysical, cognitive, and behavioral experiments, formal analysis and computational modeling, neuroimaging, and neuropsychological and neurophysiological studies, in both humans and other species. 

We are dedicated to research, teaching, and providing service to the University and the broader professional community. Our undergraduate concentrations in Psychology, Cognitive Science, and Cognitive Neuroscience are designed to educate our students broadly within the area of mind, brain, behavior, and language, and to provide a platform for students interested in pursuing advanced degrees in these areas for productive careers as teachers, scholars, and scientists. Through our lecture, laboratory, and seminar courses, academic advising, Honors Program, and many undergraduate research opportunities, we encourage students to think critically, to pursue scholarly topics freely, and to achieve scholarly excellence. These pursuits will prepare students for a lifetime of learning.

Our graduate programs in Psychology and Cognitive Science are organized into broad areas of research: Perception, Cognition, Cognitive Neuroscience, Behavioral Neuroscience, and Social Psychology. Through seminars, scholarly projects, research, teaching experience, career development programs, and faculty mentoring, our graduate students develop the skills, expertise, and perspectives to excel in teaching and research.

Announcement regarding Linguistics: As of Fall 2023, Brown Linguistics is an independent program separate from the CLPS department. Information on the Linguistics Program, its faculty, research, concentrations, and course offerings can be found on the program's website.