Cognitive Neuroscience (research) (MSc)
Career prospects
A master's degree in Psychology at Leiden University combines theoretical knowledge with academic and professional skills, making you an attractive candidate for many employers.
Skills after graduation
Students who choose to take the Research Master’s track Cognitive Neuroscience acquire in-depth knowledge of the psychological, computational, and neuroscientific bases of human cognition. Key topics include the integration of perception and action, the relationship between cognitive, affective and social processes, the way perceptual and value-based decisions are made, and neuromodulatory influences on cognition.
Staff members in the Cognitive Psychology Unit use a wide variety of methods, including EEG, fMRI, pharmacology, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), and computational modeling. Master students in the Cognitive Neuroscience track are encouraged to play an active role in ongoing behavioural and neuroscientific research.
Sabine Peters
Research alumna
'I looked at both cognitive and affective aspects of development. I focused on adolescence because it is a very interesting period with a range of developments, especially in the brain. Cognitive brain regions play a role in complex processes like planning, reasoning and reflecting on your own behavior.'
Sabine Peters of Leiden University investigated how the development of cognitive and affective brain regions relates to learning and risk-taking behavior, such as alcohol use. She showed that, contrary to predictions from prior research, brain regions for cognitive control could be recruited even by young children and adolescents, but in different situations than adults.
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A master's degree in Psychology from Leiden University will prepare you adequately for entering the job market. The bar chart below indicates in which different fields our Psychology alumni work.
*Note: this is a general list for all our Psychology alumni, not specifically for this master's specialisation Cognitive Neuroscience.
Source: Elsivier - Beste Banen (2016)
Where do our former students work?
The master’s programme provides an ideal preparation for students who want to continue with an academic career and obtain a PhD in psychology. The research master’s programme also prepares students for positions where basic or applied psychological research is used to support the development of corporate or public policy. These include research agencies such as TNO, NIA, IOWO, as well as private firms (e.g. software and hardware development, safety control), municipal, and governmental (SCP) institutions focusing on research and consultancy.