Research facilities include: special rooms for research in problems of perception and cognition; a social-psychology laboratory equipped for experimental and observational studies; electrophysiological, histological, and chemical laboratories; surgery facilities; facilities for the maintenance and behavioral study of vertebrate and invertebrate laboratory animals; darkrooms and shops; an audiovisual studio equipped for the study of teaching; laboratory computers and interacting terminals with the capacity to control equipment in experiments and to do online processing and complex data analyses; and other specialized facilities, both on campus and at various off-campus locations.

Students develop an independent program of study in consultation with their Special Committee. The three primary members of the Special Committee must be chosen by the end of the first year; students are encouraged to select at least one member (not the chairperson) from a field other than psychology. The Director of Graduate Studies appoints a fourth member, whose function is to ensure that the student obtains adequate breadth of training.

The Special Committee oversees requirements that are established by the field. Current requirements include a first-year review and annual meetings of the Special Committee to review the student's progress; a research paper completed by the end of the first year and an oral report of the research presented to a meeting of students and faculty members; a one-year course in statistics and experimental design; at least ten hours a week of supervised teaching experience for at least two semesters; the Admission to Candidacy examination, which should be taken by the end of the third year (a Graduate School requirement); a written dissertation proposal, which must be accepted at a meeting of the Special Committee called for that purpose; and the doctoral dissertation itself with a final examination on the dissertation (Graduate School requirements).