Cognitive Neuropsychology Issues

Recommended Prerequisites

NA

Teaching Methods

Lecturing and active participation of students, namely through the oral and written presentation of 2 works based on scientific papers related to the program contents. 

Learning Outcomes

Objectives

To know the different processes involved in memory, comprehension / production of language and executive control.

To know how to relate the normative and pathological functioning of these processes with the respective neural substrates.

To know models of spatial distribution / hemispheric lateralization, temporal dynamics and interpretation of patterns of activation and deactivation of brain regions associated with cognitive aging.

To know how to characterize the age related changes in functioning and in the respective neural bases of memory, language and executive functions.

 

Learning outcomes

Integrated knowledge of the mental processes inherent to memory, language and executive functions and their neural bases.

Be able to differentiate normative and pathological functioning of memory, language and executive functions at the behavioral and neural levels.

Knowledge of the impact of aging on the studied cognitive functions.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

MEMORY

- System consolidation: consolidation and reconsolidation of episodic memory; episodic retrieval: functional neuroimaging data (Event-Related Potentials and fMRI); animal models of amnesia.

LANGUAGE

- Lexical, morphological, syntactic, discursive processing and respective neural substrates; language pathologies of lesional and degenerative origin.

EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS

- Superordinate processes of control of cognition/action and their neural substracts: planning, attention, and inhibition; pathologies of executive control of lesional and degenerative origin.

AGING

- Aging models (e.g., HERA, HAROLD, ELSA, STAC); explanations of the decrease in hemispheric asymmetries: de-differentiation, competition and compensation.

- Normative age related changes in memory processes (e.g., episodic memory, working memory), language (e.g., lexical, syntactic and pragmatic processing in the comprehension and production of language) and executive functions.

Head Lecturer(s)

Maria Salomé Ferreira Estima Pinho

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Synthesis work: 40.0%
Frequency: 60.0%

Bibliography

Anderson, V., Jacobs, R., & Anderson, P.(2014). Executive functions and the frontal lobes: A lifespan perspective. New York: Taylor & Francis.

Cabeza, R., Nyberg, L., & Park, D. (2005) (Eds.), Cognitive neuroscience of aging. Oxford: OUP.

Friederici, A. D. (2017). Language in our brain: The Origins of a uniquely human capacity. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Menn, L., & Dronkers, N. (2015). Psycholinguistics: Introduction and applications (2nd edition). San Diego, CA: Plural Publishing.

Ochsner, K., & Kosslyn, S. (2014).The Oxford handbook of cognitive neuroscience. Oxford: OUP.

Parker, A., Wilding, E. L., & Bussey, T. (2002). The cognitive neuroscience of memory: Encoding and retrieval. Hove: Psychology Press.

Roediger, H. L. , Dudai, Y., &. Fitzpatrick, S. M. (2007). Science of memory: Concepts. Oxford: OUP.

Slotnick, S. D. (2017). Cognitive neuroscience of memory. Cambridge University Press.

Ward, J. (2020). The student's guide to cognitive neuroscience (4th Edition). London: Routledge.