Brain and Cognition (interdisciplinaire minor)

This interdisciplinary minor emphasizes the diversity and complementarity of various cognitive neuroscience approaches to understanding the human brain.

• Aspects of (bio-)medical sciences, biology, pharmaceutical sciences, linguistics and psychology will be connected
• You will gain insight in the anatomy and physiology of the central nervous system, neuropharmacology and behavioural sciences.
• You will acquire knowledge of cognitive psychology and neuro- and psycholinguistics.

This minor is offered by the Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC), an interfaculty center for interdisciplinary research on brain and cognition, based on collaboration between the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) and the Faculties of Humanities, Science, and Social and Behavioural Sciences of Leiden University.

This minor follows the rules and regulations as specified by the board of examiners of Psychology. The board of examiners of Psychology is responsible to guard compliance of the rules and regulations of this minor.

Please be informed that the participating faculties may have different approaches to their education. This can result in differences with regards to the relation between contact hours and hours of self study, different use of Brightspace, large or small scale education, practicals and other educational support. Some courses may require mandatory presence in practicals, tutorials and/or symposia. The courses that form part of this minor will inevitably differ from one another. This can be challenging, but forms a vitable part of interdisciplinary education. Of course you will be supported.

Minor or electives

The 30 EC minor consists of three parts:

1. Introduction course (for alpha/gamma students: in Neuroscience; for beta students: in Linguistics and Neurocognitive Psychology) (5 EC)
2. Specialisation courses (4 x 5 EC = 20 EC)
3. Internship (5 EC)

The 15 EC minor consists of two parts:

1. Introduction course (for alpha/gamma students: in Neuroscience; for beta students: in Linguistics and Neurocognitive Psychology) (5 EC)
2. Specialisation courses (2 x 5 EC = 10 EC), you can choose your own courses from the 4 specialisation courses mentioned below.

Course periods

The entire minor is a full-time study programme spread out over one semester from September till the end of January. Courses will be offered in the following weeks:

• Week 36-37-38: Introduction to Linguistics and to Neurocognitive Psychology (lectures at FSW)
• Week 36-37-38: Introduction to Neuroscience (lectures at LUMC)
• Week 39-40-41: Brain Diseases (lectures at LUMC)
• Week 42-43-44: Perception, Attention and Decision Making (lectures at FSW)
• Week 45-46-47: Neurochemistry (lectures at FSW)
• Week 48-49-50: The Linguistic Brain (lectures at FSW)
• From week 51: Internship Minor Brain and Cognition

• Students from Leiden University will be placed on a waiting list. Confirmation on placement will take place in June or July.

This minor programme can also be followed for 15 EC. Register for this minor and contact the minor coordinator.

The minor is accessible for students from the universities in Leiden, Delft, and Rotterdam. The minor is intended for third year students in Biomedical Sciences, Medicine, Psychology, Pedagogical Sciences, Law, Linguistics, Biology and Biopharmaceutical Sciences. Students from different study programmes can only be admitted if there is space left, but they have to be aware that this minor might be challenging for them. For students who miss background in both neurosciences and psychology/linguistics, we offer the opportunity to follow both introduction courses. One of two is mandatory; the second introductory course can be taken on a voluntary basis, no EC’s are given for it. Students that have less than 90 credits in their main study programme are strongly discouraged to apply.

Brain and Cognition is not a typical ‘neurosciences-minor’ in the (bio)medical domain, as considerable attention will be given to cognition, linguistics and animal cognition in this minor.