Contact

Inquiries about the programme:

Dr. Kerstin Bleichner 

Internships:

Dr. Cornelia Kranczioch
 

@ncp_department_uol

Official university information about the Neurocognitive Psychology programme:

Study information - Neurocognitive Psychology

Course Overview

Course Overview

The Research Master Neurocognitive Psychology is a research-oriented international graduate programme, which offers systematic coverage of the major fields in psychology as well as in-depth training in cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychology.

The programme does not focus on clinical psychology.

The programme takes two years to complete and is offered through the Department of Psychology. It is a full time course that requires attendance. As a graduate student, you will be able to choose from a variety of research modules. The department's research spans cutting-edge topics such as hearing and cognition, brain oscillations and behaviour, mobile EEG, computational neuroscience, ambulatory assessment and pharmaco-neuroimaging, just to name a few. Different state-of-the-art neuroscience tools and psychology labs are available to gain hands-on experience in magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), magnetoencephalography (MEG), high-density (mobile) electroencephalography (EEG), eye tracking, transcranial magnetic and electrical stimulation (TBS), and psychophysics. Note that cutting-edge research with these techniques requires good programming skills which you will learn in our programme. Practical experience is gained through our applied modules and during the internship which may be performed in hospitals/rehab centres, laboratories or companies.

The programme prepares students for a career in research or for an employment in applied settings (such as hospitals or industry). Several of the research-based modules prepare students in depth for entering a PhD programme in the area of cognitive neuroscience. The applied modules additionally guarantee a basic training in the area of clinical neuropsychology and human computer interaction.

This programme has been accredited by AQAS and has been running since October 2010.

We are part of the Network of European Neuroscience Schools (NENS).

Goals of the study programme

The program Neurocognitive Psychology is designed to enable graduates to gain the following competencies/skills:

  • expert neuropsychological / neurophysiological knowledge
  • interdisciplinary knowledge & thinking
  • experimental neuropsychological/neuroscientific methods
  • statistics & scientific programming
  • data presentation & discussion
  • independent research
  • scientific literature
  • scientific English / writing
  • ethical evaluation / good scientific practice / professional behavior
  • critical & analytical thinking
  • scientific communication skills
  • knowledge transfer
  • group work
  • project & time management

Course structure

The programme is designed in a modular fashion. The number of mandatory modules decreases towards the end of the programme, offering increased flexibility to students. The course lasts for two years or four semesters, during which a total of 120 credit points (CP) must be achieved.

The “general” portion of the course contains five mandatory modules, including MATLAB, statistics, diagnostics, and scientific communication. The Minor module allows you to broaden your view and take courses from fields related to psychology.

The “specialised” portion offers several different modules from which students may choose according to their interests (requiring 24 CP).

The practical part of the programme includes 12 CP for a mandatory internship (lasting 360 hours) which can be carried out in (clinical) institutions, companies or research groups that employ psychologists. Another 9 CP must be acquired via the practical project module, where you will gain hands-on research experience in one of the Psychology labs at Carl von Ossietzky University. 30 CP are allocated for completing a Master's thesis with an accompanying Master's colloquium.

Module overview

General part (mandatory):  45 CP
*  Research methods I & II   12 CP
*  Neuropsychological Diagnostics    6 CP
*  Test Theory and Test Construction    6 CP
*  Communication of scientific results    6 CP
*  Computation in Neuroscience    9 CP
*  Minor    6 CP

Specialized part (choose 4*6, or 2*9 + 1*6;
taking a methods module is strongly recommended):  24 CP


* Transcranial Brain Stimulation    6 CP
* Neurophysiology (EEG)   6 CP
* Neurocognition    6 CP
* Sex and Cognition    6 CP
* Neuropsychology    6 CP (clinical non-mandatory contents partly taught in German)
* Applied Cognitive Psychology    6 CP
* Human Computer Interaction    6 CP
* Functional MRI Data Analysis    9 CP
* Ambulatory Assessment in Psychology    6 CP
* Clinical Psychology    9 CP (clinical contents partly taught in German)
* Study abroad Psychology/Neuroscience 2x 6 CP (to accredit modules from a study abroad)

Restrictions in participant numbers apply for each elective module. There is no guarantee that students can take all modules of their choice. Each student can study at least one module in which a neuroscientific method is taught.


Practical part (mandatory; choose 1 practical project):  51 CP
* Internship or lab visit (outside the Department of Psychology, Oldenburg)    12 CP
* Practical project   9 CP2
* Master's thesis & Master's colloquium  30 CP

2 choose from: Applied Neurocognitive Psychology, Psychological Methods and Statistics, Experimental Psychology, Neuropsychology, Biological Psychology, Ambulatory Assessment in Psychology


Total:    120 CP

Module descriptions and offered courses

Module handbook

You can find the module descriptions and the offered courses directly in the campus management system Stud.IP. You can also download a PDF version of the module handbook.

Module descriptions and offered courses

Important note on statistics and programming

Our programme requires solid knowledge in statistics as you should have learned it in your Bachelor's studies. Please test your knowledge with our short test. Make sure to catch up with any missing competencies before you start your studies with us in order to easily follow our Master's course.

Statistics Test

As a Research Master programme we will teach you various programming skills (Matlab, R, Presentation) that are essential for performing research in neurocognitve psychology. Those classes are mandatory and will make up, together with classes in advanced statistics, many of the studying hours in your first year. 

We expect students to be interested in learning programming and deepening their statistical knowledge.

Important note on modules that teach neuroscientific methods or clinical contents

Knowledge of either EEG, fMRI, TBS, or MEG data analysis, or knowledge of HCI or ambulatory assessment methods is essential for most practical projects and Master’s theses offered in the Department of Psychology. Therefore, we strongly advise to attend at least one of the modules:

psy170: Neurophysiology (EEG)
psy220: Human Computer Interaction
psy270: Functional MRI Data Analysis
psy280: Transcranial Brain Stimulation
psy290: Ambulatory Assessment in Psychology

In addition, we offer a magnetoencephalography course within the module psy141 Minor.


Working with patients or experimental data acquisition with participants generally require a good command of German! Students who want to follow the clinical contents of the modules Clinical Psychology or Neuropsychology need to understand a lecture given in German with accompanying English slides.
You can take German courses as your Minor.

Internships

The internship (usually outside the Department of Psychology, Oldenburg) is a mandatory part of the study programme and lasts 360 hours. It may be split in two shorter internships. We suggest that you do your internship in the semester breaks. When planning your internship dates, please consider that exams always take place in the two weeks after the lecture periods end.

Students should do internships that help them develop their individual career perspective. Often, students find their first job in the institutions where they performed an internship.

You are free to do internships in institutions (research, clinics, public sector, industry etc.) of your choice. Internships can be performed in Germany or abroad to gain international experience; in the last years, about 1/3 of all internships have been performed outside Germany.

The following institutions near or in Oldenburg have accepted applications for research and clinical internships from students enrolled in the programme "Neurocognitive Psychology" in the past:

  • Agentur für Arbeit, Psychologischer Dienst, Oldenburg
  • Evangelisches Krankenhaus, Neurozentrum, Oldenburg 
  • Rehazentrum, Oldenburg
  • EWE AG, Oldenburg
  • Hörzentrum/HörTech Oldenburg
  • Fraunhofer IDMT, Oldenburg
  • OFFIS, Oldenburg
  • Department of Neuroscience, University of Oldenburg
  • Department of Medical Physics, University of Oldenburg
  • Nemo Research Group, Universitätsklinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Oldenburg
  • Universitätsklinik für Neurologie, Oldenburg
  • Klinikum Oldenburg, Onkologie und Hämatologie, Oldenburg
  • Klinikum Bremen Ost, Psychiatrie, Bremen
  • Klinikum Bremen Ost, Neurologie, Bremen
  • Waldklinik Jesteburg, Jesteburg
  • Diakoniekrankenhaus Rotenburg (Wümme)
  • Helios Klinik Leezen
  • Karl-Jaspers-Klinik, Bad Zwischenahn
  • Reha-Zentrum am Meer, Bad Zwischenahn
  • Klinik für Psychosomatik und Psychotherapie, Medizinische Hochschule Hannover (MHH)
  • Netzwerk für traumatisierte Flüchtlinge in Niedersachsen (NTFN e.V.)

Please keep in mind that work with patients or customers always requires a very good command of German.

To generate ideas, a folder with information on internships that other students have performed is available in the office of Dr. Cornelia Kranczioch. Additionally, we encourage students to attend the internship presentations of other students that take place regularly about three times per semester.

For questions or if in doubt whether your internship fulfils the requirements for approval, please contact Dr. Cornelia Kranczioch before you start.

Documents/information to be found on the website of the examinations office / in Stud.IP

The following documents can be found on the website of the examinations office or (new) in Stud.IP:

  • official examination regulations in German
  • unofficial English translation of the current examination regulations
  • registration of Master's thesis
  • request for credit transfer (English form in the list above)
  • request for a free attempt to improve grades
  • notification of illness
  • module certificate (to be used for your Minor)
  • transcript (Stud.IP: in German only, for an English transcript, please contact the examinations office!)

examinations office

Recognition of study periods and examinations

This is where you can find the same documents directly in your Stud.IP account:

List of examiners

A list of examiners can be found on the website of Faculty VI:

list of examiners

Complaints and support

If you experience problems in one of your classes, please discuss the problems with the lecturer directly if possible. If this does not solve the problem, you can contact the person responsible for the entire module.

If you want to discuss the issue with someone outside the teaching staff, please contact Kerstin Bleichner as programme coordinator. She will always handle complaints confidentially. She is also an elected equal opportunity representative.

If you cannot solve the issue within the study programme, you can contact the deanery of student affairs of Faculty VI: 

Complaint Management of School VI

If you experience sexual discrimination or harassment, you can contact conTakt, the counselling centre for sexualized discrimination and violence issues of the university.

conTakt

Additionally, students can always ask the programme coordinator Kerstin Bleichner for advise on all study related issues.

(Changed: 04 Mar 2024)  | 
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