About CBCS

The Center of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences (CBCS) was formally set up in 2002 as a ‘Centre with Potential for Excellence’ by The University Grants Commission (UGC). We were the first institution to start a master’s program in Cognitive Science in India. Several batches of Master’s and PhD students have graduated till date (2020), totaling close to 250 in number. Staying true to its vision, CBCS alumni have played a key role in setting up various Cognitive Science programs and departments in the country.

Research takes center stage at CBCS, with faculty and students in a relentless quest of exploring new frontiers and consolidating existing ones. Primary areas of research includes, attention, meditation, time perception, emotion, cognitive control, cognitive development, language and cognition, bilingualism, ageing, decision making, action planning, execution and inhibition using methodologies such as behavioural experimentation, EEG/ERP, eye movements, computational modeling and fMRI

CBCS has been very active in community outreach- with focus on making cognitive science more accessible to the masses, and applying insights from cognitive science to solve real world problems. To find out more, scroll below to the Outreach, Culture and Community subsection.

CBCS is the most well equipped cognitive science centre in the country. We house an fMRI in our National Neuroimaging Facility, first of its kind in an Indian University setup. There are multiple EEG/ERP and Eyetracker systems, and a Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation system. We also have a Virtual Reality setup to design and run experiments in virtual space. Finally, we also have computer monitors running at top refresh rates and high resolution, for brief and clear presentation of stimuli while running psychophysical experiments. We are also currently in the process of establishing a non-human Primate Neurophysiology lab. Students learn to design psychophysical experiments using platforms such as E Prime, Psychopy, Opensesame and MATLAB as well as statistical analysis using MATLAB, R, and SPSS. CBCS has its own library curated by the faculty to have a wide selection of books (1300) in cognitive science.

Our progress in the frontiers of research and teaching since the inception of the Centre makes it one of the best centres for Cognitive Science in India.

Outreach, Culture and Community:

Annual quiz: As a centre we organize an annual neuroscience quiz for school students in Allahabad, as the Regional Brain Bee in collaboration with International Brain Bee Competition, an initiative to encourage neuroscience education.

Memory Camp: As an outreach activity the centre holds once a year free cognitive profiling and memory evaluation camps for the elderly. Participants are given full reports of testing and consultancy on a case by case basis.

The Outreach Centre: CBCS also has a full-time outreach centre to offer consultancy for children with developmental disorders such as autism, ADHD, and dyslexia.