Behavioral & Cognitive Neuroscience 23-PIE-BCN
The lectures will cover a wide range of topics, and relevant research papers on biopsychological and neuroscientific approaches to issues/subjects specified in the syllabus below.
SYLLABUS:
Week 1: Introduction to contemporary Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience
Week 2: Research methods in biopsychology, neurobiology, behavioral and cognitive neuroscience
Week 3: Functional neuroimaging in humans
Week 4: Sensorimotor processing and/or learning and memory
Week 5: Lateralization of basic behavioural and cognitive functions
Week 6: Hormones and sex
Week 7: Hunger, eating and related health issues
Week 8: Sleep, dreaming, and circadian rhythms
Week 9: Emotions, stress, and related health issues
Week 10: Drugs, addiction, and reward circuits in the brain
Week 11: Biopsychology of psychiatric disorders (I)
Week 12: Biopsychology of psychiatric disorders (II)
Week 13: Brain damage and models of diseases
Week 14: Genes and diseases of the nervous system
Week 15: Neuroplasticity
Module learning aims
Information on where to find course materials
Major
Methods of teaching for learning outcomes achievement
Course module conducted remotely (e-learning)
Student workload (ECTS credits)
Cycle of studies
Module type
Year of studies (where relevant)
Pre-requisites in terms of knowledge, skills and social competences
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
Upon the completion of the lecture series, students should know the basic and advanced concepts, major models and approaches to studying the neural bases of behaviour and cognition.
Assessment criteria
The final exam will cover the material from the studied chapters/papers, and the related slides.
The BCN exam consists of only one part, involving answers to 60 multiple-choice questions.
Example questions are given below:
(1) "Emergent stage 1" is one of the phases of _________ as measured by _________. Emergent stage 1 differs from the initial stage 1 by the presence of _________, and _________.
A) drug-withdrawal effect … EOG … rapid heart beats (RHB) … no muscle convulsions
B) sleep cycle … EEG … rapid eye movements (REMs) … loss of core muscle tone
C) sleep cycle … EMG … saccadic eye movements (SEMs) … loss of core muscle tone
D) drug-withdrawal effect … EOG … cardiopulmonary arrest (CPA) … no muscle tone
E) none of the above
(2) Drug tolerance is any attenuation of a drug's effect resulting from prior exposure to the drug. There are at least two different types of tolerance effects: _________ tolerance that results from a decrease in the amount of the drug reaching the target cells, and _________ tolerance that results from a decrease in the ability of the drug to influence the target cells. Notably, tolerance to most psychoactive drugs is primarily _________.
A) functional … metabolic … metabolic
B) functional … metabolic … functional
C) metabolic … functional … metabolic
D) metabolic … functional … functional
(3) The _________ theory of schizophrenia explains the symptoms such as hallucinations by postulating an access of certain kind of neurotransmitter in the limbic system. Antipsychotic properties of most drugs capitalize on the fact that they are _________ receptors’ antagonists. Indeed, in the classic paper by Seeman et al. (1976) the average clinical dose of each antipsychotic agent was plotted against its ability to block a particular receptor, and this activity is directly correlated with the aforementioned kind of receptor but not _________ receptors, whose functions are not well understood.
A) serotonin … S1 … S2, S3, and S4
B) dopamine … D2 … D1, D3, and D4
C) dopamine … dopaminergic … D2, D3, and D4
D) serotonin … serotonergic … S1, S3, and S4
Practical placement
N.A.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: