Behavioural Neurosciences

Recommended Prerequisites

Good English reading skills

Teaching Methods

Theoretical classes will be based on the expository method. Students are encouraged to intervene in class in response to classroom questions and required reading. Practical classes will require students to do literature research, and to present experimental data for one or more scientific articles.

Learning Outcomes

The main goals of this course are to familiarize students with the functioning of the brain and the mind, and to introduce some of the most used neuroimaging methods in the neurosciences (fMRI, TMS, EEG, etc.)

Another goal of the course is to make students aware of the importance of reading scientific articles in the course of preparing for a career in the psychological sciences (regardless of the field). As such, in the theoretical and practical classes, students will have to read, prepare, and present scientific papers.

Students should be able to:

Understand how diff. cognitive processes are related to diff. types of neuronal response patterns and neural areas, as well as to know which methods are most used in research in cognitive neuroscience.

To read and understand scientific articles, summarizing them and presenting the main theoretical proposals and experimental data, as well as to understand in what way a particular article can foment subsequent research.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience: The Brain for Beginners.

Neuroimaging methods

Neuroscience of Vision I - Retina and subcortical pathways

Neuroscience of Vision II - Primary Cortex.

Neuroscience of Vision III - Movement and Color Processing

Neuroscience of Vision IV - Object recognition and complex processing

Neuroscience of Action - Mirror neurons.

Neuroscience of Language.

Neuroscience of Memory

Neuroscience of Attention and Consciousness.

Head Lecturer(s)

Jorge Manuel Castelo Branco de Albuquerque Almeida

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Frequency: 50.0%
Research work: 50.0%

Bibliography

Ward, Jamie – (2010) - The Student's Guide to Cognitive Neuroscience, 2nd Edition; Routledge-uk

Livingstone, M., Hubel, D. (1988). Segregation of form, color, movement, and depth: anatomy, physiology, and perception. Science, 240, 740-749

Sereno MI, et al. (1995). Borders of multiple visual areas in humans revealed by functional magnetic resonance imaging. Science, 268, 889-893

Newsome, WT and Paré, EB (1988). A selective impairment of motion perception following lesions of the middle temporal visual area (MT). J. Neurosci. 8, 2201-2211

Kriegeskorte et al. (2008). Matching Categorical Object Representations in Inferior Temporal Cortex of Man and Monkey. Neuron, doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2008.10.043

Rizzolatti, G. & Craighero, L. (2004). The mirror-neuron system. Annual Review of Neuroscience 27: 169–192