Specialisation

Applied Cognitive Psychology

MSc Psychology

Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences

Leiden University. The university to discover.

Applied Cognitive Psychology

Degree MSc in Psychology, specialisation

Applied Cognitive Psychology

Type of Programme Full-time

Duration 1 year

Start Date September and February

Language English

Entry Requirements BA or BSc in Psychology with a

third year course (or 400 level)
in applied cognitive psychology.
A level of knowledge of statistics
equivalent to the courses within
the BSc in Psychology at Leiden
University.
For detailed entry requirements
see www.mastersinleiden.nl.

Admission All prospective students need to

apply for admission. Students
with Dutch nationality and a
Dutch bachelor’s degree can file
their application form at the
Student Information Centre.
International students and/or
students with an international
diploma should contact the
Admissions Office. Application
forms can be obtained from
www.mastersinleiden.nl.
International students can
apply online.

master of sciences
About Applied Cognitive Psychology

Cognitive Psychology investigates mental processes such as percep-

tion, memory, reasoning, language, executive functions and motor
control. In the field of Applied Cognitive Psychology the acquired
knowledge is used to address and remedy important practical prob-
lems in society. Areas of attention include, for instance, the develop-
ment of accident-prevention programs (e.g., safety research in industry
and traffic), the development of user-friendly tools and interfaces
(cognitive ergonomics), the improvement of decision-making
processes (psychology and law, including the topics of eyewitness
memory, false confessions, and jury decision-making), and the
study of the effects of drugs on human performance.

Aim of the programme

The aim of this master’s programme is to provide students with a
maximum of hands-on experience and with all the practical and
intellectual skills necessary to apply cognitive-psychological knowl-
edge to real-life problems. The main emphasis is on translating theory
into practice. Apart from orientation, practical and methodological
courses, students will work on a field project (internship) within a
research institution or company throughout a major part of the year.

mastersinleiden.nl
The programme

The curriculum of the master’s specialisation in Applied Cognitive

Psychology comprises a variety of obligatory courses (for a total
of 25 ECTS), an elective course (5 ECTS), an integrated supervised
internship (10 ECTS) and a master’s thesis (20 ECTS).

Mandatory courses (*choose 4 out of 5) ECTS Level

The Art of Applying Psychology 5 500
Cognitive Aging* 5 500
Neuromodulation of Cognition* 5 500
Decision-making: Theory and Practice* 5 500
Human Computer Interaction* 5 500
Human Error at Work: Managing the Risks of 5 500
Organisational Accidents*

Elective courses (choose 1) ECTS Level

Remaining Applied Cognitive Psychology Course 5 500
Other tracks, e.g., Applied Data Analysis 5 500

Internship and Thesis ECTS Level

Internship 10 600
Thesis 20 600

Courses
The Art of Applying Psychology
This course introduces the major skills necessary to apply (cognitive)
psychology to real-world problems. It prepares students for the most
relevant aspects of dealing with “the outside world” of companies,
organisations, consultancies and research institutes. Students (a) prac-
tise designing projects to address and solve real-world problems in
efficient ways by combining scientific rigor with pragmatic realism,
(b) practise the writing of project proposals with an eye to the fit to
funding schemes and the policies of funding agencies, public opinion
and other important aspects of the funding process, (c) practise the
planning of successful applied projects, the estimation of costs and the
setting up of realistic budgets and (d) practise presenting their projects
in appealing and promotional ways. Students will participate in collo-
quia where practitioners from various cognitive areas will introduce
their fields and daily practice.

master of sciences
Cognitive Aging
This course aims at giving insight into normal changes of information
processing and performance in aging people, and their implications
for issues in applied cognitive psychology. These changes are studied
from the point of view of aging processes in the brain. The themes to
be discussed comprise: aging processes in the central nervous system,
speed and efficiency of information processing, attention, memory,
cognitive control and executive functions.

Decision-making: Theory and Practice

We all face a perplexing array of decisions everyday. Some are made
fast and superficially or even unconsciously. Some have long-term and
far-reaching consequences, such as decisions by judges in court, medi-
cal decisions about treatments and investment decisions by brokers on
stock markets. How do we make these decisions? How good are they,
and can they be improved? We discuss how – according to the science
of decision-making – human decisions are made or should be made.
The course includes guest lectures by experts working in specific
applied fields of decision-making.

Neuromodulation of Cognition
Cognitive processes are modulated by neurotransmitters, which do
not convey specific information to a neuron but alter the way it pro-
cesses other inputs. In recent years, there has been a considerable
increase in interest in how cognition is shaped by neuromodulation
and key roles of several transmitter systems were have been identified.
This course is intended to review and discuss state-of-the-art develop-
ments in neuromodulation, covering such issues as the roles of acetyl-
choline and serotonin in memory, of dopamine in learning and
executive control, of norepinephrine in visual attention and the
neural effects of drugs. Methods of manipulating neuromodulation
experimentally to study the physiological bases of human cognition are
also discussed. The course includes four guided visits to external labs.

Human Computer Interaction

This course provides an overview of recent approaches towards the
basic issues of usability, representation and co-ordination that arise
in human-computer interface design and related areas. The cognitive
issues that are involved in designing interactive systems are discussed.
The course features guest speakers and field trips to state of the art
usability labs. In practical assignments students evaluate the usability
of actual software products in collaboration with major ICT companies.

mastersinleiden.nl
Human Error at Work: Managing the Risks of Organisational Accidents.
Human Error at Work provides an overview of methods and approa­
ches that can be used to obtain a better insight into systemic and
behaviour-related causes of accidents. In this course the focus will be
on two aspects: (1) Organisational Accidents; comparatively rare, but
often catastrophic, events that occur within complex technological
systems, such as the Bhopal and Piper Alpha disasters and (2) the
individual contribution to accidents: the range of individual human
factors that have been studied in relation to accident liability/ proba-
bility, including cognitive factors, individual differences and personal
work values.

Career Prospects

The skills acquired in this programme are the basis of careers in a

wide range of academic, governmental, industrial, and organisational
settings where improvement of human functioning in a complex tech-
nological environment is at issue, but also for research assistantships
and PhD projects in applied areas. The following list presents some
examples (not an exhaustive enumeration!) of career opportunities.
(a) Safety and accident-prevention manager in oil and offshore indus-
tries (e.g., SHELL), in traffic and road safety design (e.g., governmen-
tal agencies), and in aviation and transport (e.g., KLM/AirFrance). (b)
Policymaker and policy adviser (e.g., various governmental organisa-
tions, education, police departments). (c) Medical and judicial deci-
sion-making expert (e.g., hospitals, insurance companies, forensic and
penitentiary institutions). (d) IT systems and software consultant (e.g.,
Oracle and all other IT companies). (e) Security adviser (e.g., govern-
ment, financial institutions). (f) Cognitive engineer in industry (e.g.,
product design and control of operating environments in production,
process, food and advertisement industries). (g) Cognitive engineer in
health care and care of the elderly (e.g., hospitals, geriatric and reha-
bilitation centres). (h) Applied cognitive researcher (e.g., universities,
TNO, space, aviation and traffic research centres).

master of sciences
Estella Groeneweg, MSc

“The great advan-

tage of this master’s
is that it specialises
in putting psycho­
logy into practice.”

“I graduated from the master’s specialisation in Applied Cognitive

Psychology in 2008 and since then I have been working for Gover-
nors, a company in Leiden. This is a software development company
for risk management tools. I am an ‘Information Ergonomics
Researcher and Developer’. My job is to investigate the ergonomic
use of our products and to optimise the user-friendliness of the
software. I support the developers in the making of software designs
and the development of usable features in the products. I also have a
lot of communication with our customers to consult with them on
their use of risk management software. To familiarise myself with
this knowledge, I collaborate with researchers at Leiden University
to determine how people investigate and analyse incidents and how
they handle risk management. The change from the University to the
real world of business can be quite big, but the great advantage of the
Applied Cognitive Psychology master’s is that it specialises in putting
psychology into practice. You have a lot of ‘hands on’ information
that is directly applicable in the real world, which was exactly what
I was hoping to get from the programme. For me, the Human Com-
puter Interaction course was particularly useful in being able to look
at usability of computer applications. The course on Human Error
gave me a good insight into people’s perception of risk and how you
can manage that. In my job, I bring these two subjects together!”

mastersinleiden.nl
More Information
For more information on
• the master’s programme, courses and structure
• admission requirements
• registration and application procedures, and
• tuition fees
please check our website: www.mastersinleiden.nl
or contact the Student Information Desk in the
Psychology Department:

Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences

Department of Psychology
Wassenaarseweg 52
PO Box 9555, 2300 RB Leiden, The Netherlands
+31 (0)71 527 36 06
onderwijsbaliepsychologie@fsw.leidenuniv.nl
(Dutch students)
studentdeskpsychology@fsw.leidenuniv.nl
(international students)

For information concerning applications,

please contact the Student Information Centre
(Dutch students) or the Admissions Office
(international students):

Student Information Centre

Kaiserstraat 25
PO Box 439, 2300 AK Leiden, The Netherlands
+ 31 (0)71 527 80 11
informatiecentrum@ics.leidenuniv.nl

Admissions Office
PO Box 9500, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
+ 31 (0)71 527 72 87
study@io.leidenuniv.nl
www.leiden.edu

Although this brochure has been compiled with the

utmost care, Leiden University accepts no liability for
any consequences arising from errors contained therein.

mastersinleiden.nl