The Cognitive Science Center is a unique interdisciplinary center that fulfils a number of functions within the University of Amsterdam. It serves as a platform and community for cognitive scientists interested in a wide range of Cognitive Science topics, ranging from perception to memory, decision-making, language and logic. We organise a yearly Lecture series and Summer School, and various symposia and expert meetings.

Research projects within the CSCA are carried out in the participating institutes but the Center also has its own research programme focusing on research questions that cross the borders between disciplines. This programme is carried out at the CSCA Research Center, which is strongly linked with the Spinoza Center for Neuroimaging. The combination of state of the art neuroimaging facilities with the ambitious interdisciplinary research groups creates a true center of excellence in the field of cognition as a whole.

In order to train the next generation of cognitive science researchers that are optimally prepared to work in interdisciplinary settings, the CSCA also offers a unique Brain and Cognitive Sciences' research master. The strong experimental and theoretical/formal orientation of the CSCA community provides unique opportunities for a cognitive science curriculum focusing on integrated themes. And because it is part of the CSCA, the master provides its students with outstanding research.