The Cognitive and Brain Sciences Program is one of three doctoral programs within the Department of Psychology, along with Clinical and Behavior Analysis. The Psychology department also participates in an interdisciplinary Social Psychology program. The Cognitive and Brain Sciences Program has collaborative links with several other departments on campus, including Biology, Medicine, Computer Science, and the Graduate Program in Biomedical Engineering. Many of the program faculty also maintain close working links with colleagues and research labs at other universities.

The Graduate Program offers programs of study leading to the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees. Students are given a strong foundation in current theory and methods and have the opportunity to specialize within a number of substantive areas of research that include:

The university is located in Reno, a community of approximately 250,000. Located on the eastern edge of the Sierras, the city is a major tourist destination and offers a mild climate, spectacular outdoor environments, and wide range of outdoor activities. The town is within an hour´s drive of Lake Tahoe and several major ski resorts. San Francisco is a 4-hour drive.