The goal of the second year of the master is for students to discover interdisciplinary topics and to produce first-hand research in cognitive science.
In the first semester, students are exposed to current research topics in cognitive science through interdisciplinary courses.
In the second semester, students complete a five-month research internship. This internship can take place in an academic laboratory of their choice in France or abroad, or it can take place in the non-academic sector (such as in a public administration, an R&D department of a company, etc.), provided students are co-supervised by an academic researcher. The internship culminates in the writing of a thesis in the form of a scientific article and an oral presentation of their work.
First semester - interdisciplinary topics
Students must select approximately 6 courses (for a total of 30 credits) from the following list:
- How to approach the neural code, by C. Tallon-Baudry & T. Andrillon
- Action, decision, volition, by E. Koechlin
- Learning and decision making, by S. Palminteri & M. Lebreton
- The bayesian brain, by F. Meyniel
- Self and consciousness, by C. Tallon-Baudry & F. De Vignemont
- Psychologie cognitive expérimentale, by S. Dehaene (Collège de France, in French)
- Linguistique générale, by Luigi Rizzi (Collège de France, in French)
- Art and cognition, by D. Pressnitzer
- Comparative cognition, by R. Malassis
- Machine cognition, by E. Chemla, V. Wyart & S. Palminteri
- Machine learning: principles and applications, by S. Cocco
- Interplay between deep learning and cognitive science, by L. Bonnasse-Gahot
- Theoretical neuroscience, by J. Ranft et S. Ostojic
- Education & cognition, by E. Pasquinelli & F. Ramus
- Behavioral public policy, by M. Perona
- Sensory ecology, by C. Lorenzi
- Science: curiosity, communication, and trust, by H. Mercier
- Social cognition, by J.-B. André
- Auditory perception, by D. Pressnitzer
- Visual perception, by P. Mamassian
- Language processing and acquisition, by S. Tsuji
- Language in the visual modality, by C. Geraci
- Super-semantics, by E. Chemla, P. Schlenker & B. Spector
- Advanced issues in philosophy of cognitive science, by Institut Jean Nicod
External courses that can also be taken in the first semester of the second year
If they wish, students may take only 4 (or 5) courses from the above list and replace them with courses from outside the master's program, selected from the following list:
Département d'Etudes Cognitives courses outside the master's program
Courses from other ENS departments