Psychobiology and Cognitive Psychology

Description

Overview: Class will run 2017/18 pending BPS accreditation. The educational aim of the class is to introduce students to core concepts in cognitive and psychobiology, giving both breadth and depth of knowledge. No prior conceptual knowledge is expected. Across each topic we will typically begin with historic overviews of key concepts and theories, before focusing on more advanced conceptual debate. Across the course students will be exposed to a broad range of terminology and resources in the field of experimental psychology. The course will be supported by a broad range of interactive learning resources including tutorials, quizzes, films and lectures. Students will gain first-hand experience of both participating in and conducting psychological research, including data collection, analysis and report writing. Students experience will also be enhanced by participation in collaborative group work. Syllabus: Content: Week 1 Psychobiology: An introduction to Psychobiology • We will cover basic neuroanatomy, the concept of the brain as the organ of behaviour, the neuron as the functional unit of the brain and how it is studied. Cognitive Psychology: Introduction & Thinking • We shall begin with a historical introduction, and cover basic definitions. From Introspectionists to Information processing we shall ask; what is Cognitive Psychology? • Thinking: We shall examine how people solve problems, including theoretical work by both Gestaltist and Information Processing Schools. Week 2 Psychobiology: The Neuron • We will examine inter and intra neuronal communication, and how activity occurs as a consequence of temporal and spatial summation. Cognitive Psychology: Thinking • We examine deductive reasoning, focussing on conditional reasoning and theories of deduction, concluding with an examination of judgement and decision making, including the ‘heuristics and biases’ approach. Week 3 Psychobiology: Measurement techniques and research methods in neuroscience • We will broadly examine research methods in behavioural neuroscience: how the metabolic, electrical and chemical processes of neurons allow us to investigate brain function, including single cell and scalp recordings and imaging techniques. Cognitive Psychology: Perception • We will begin with a basic introduction to perception, covering concepts related to visual cues, an introduction to the Gestaltists and the concept of top down versus bottom up perception Week 4 Psychobiology: Organisation of the visual system: Shape and form • We will introduce fundamental concepts relating to the function of the eye and the visual system. We will then go on to examine how the organisation of the visual system allows for the perception of shape. We will adopt both a cellular and a cortical view of vision, from receptive fields of the ganglion cell to receptive fields in primary visual cortex, and finally examine other cortical areas beyond that also contribute to the perception of shape. Cognitive Psychology: Objects and Faces. • This week will address the general problem of object recognition and focus specifically on Face Perception, asking the question ‘are faces special’? • Additionally this week we will be providing you with learning materials to support your research report.* Week 5 Psychobiology: Organisation of the visual system: Colour and motion perception. • Moving on from the study of shape perception, we will then study how the organisation of the visual system allows us to perceive colour and motion; from the retina to the cortex. Cognitive Psychology: Attention, history and key theories • We will provide an overview of classic research in Attention, and examine Early versus late models of attentional selection, we will also examine research and theory into when attention fails. Week 6 Psychobiology: Mapping brain regions to function Cognitive Psychology: Learning • We shall introduce and explore key historical and theoretical developments in Learning theory, including Classical and Operant Conditioning and observational learning, and study how such theory can be applied to real world issues. Week 7 Psychobiology: Organisation of the motor system: Introduction • Within the motor system the brain creates a mental representation of the planned, intended and current movements of the body systems. We will learn how muscle transduces electrical information from the brainstem and spinal cord into mechanical energy. Cognitive Psychology: Memory • An introduction to memory covering short term memory, long term memory, Amnesia and disease. Week 8 Psychobiology: Organisation of the motor system: Muscle • We will further our understanding of how the spinal cord controls muscle function. Additionally, we will examine how the primary motor cortex informs the spinal cord about intended movements. Cognitive Psychology: Memory • We shall continue our study of memory by examining the working memory model and theoretical models of semantic and episodic memory. Week 9 Psychobiology: Organisation of the motor system: Cortical & Subcortical • We will examine the roles of the basal ganglia and the cerebellum in modulating cortical and spinal control of muscle, and the roles of the pre-motor cortical areas in the planning and sequencing of actions. Cognitive Psychology: Language • An introduction to the study of Psycholinguistics, with topics including the components of language, the biology and development of language, problems with language and theories of language acquisition. Week 10 Cognitive Psychology: Language • We address Language production models for words and explore factors that underlie the choice of different sentence structures, concluding with sentence comprehension theories. Psychobiology: Biological basis of behaviour and disorders Learning Outcomes: Cognitive skills 1. To gain a critical awareness of the wide range of research methods that can be applied in Psychobiology and Cognitive Psychology. 2. To be able to evaluate how experimentally acquired data relates to psychological theory. Knowledge and understanding 3. To provide students with knowledge and understanding of micro and macro nervous system structure and function. 4. To provide a basic understanding of how the nervous system receives and analyses information from the environment. 5. To provide a basic understanding of how the nervous system controls movement and action. 6. To provide students with knowledge and understanding of physiological methods and instrumentation to investigate brain and nervous system function. 7. To provide students with knowledge and understanding of how insight into behaviour (both normal and abnormal) and psychological function can follow from knowledge of nervous system function. 8. To develop in students the ability to describe and critically evaluate theories and models in cognitive psychology. 9. To develop in students the ability to critically evaluate methods and paradigms commonly found in cognition and neurophysiological literature. 10. To develop in students the ability to describe and critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the cognitive/information processing approach. 11. To develop in students an understanding of how the topic information applies to other realms of psychological theory (e.g. perception, development, psychopathology), and informs about real world issues. Practical skills 12. Students will develop a toolbox of experimental and research techniques in both physiology and Cognitive Psychology. 13. Students will be able to carry out a review of relevant literature. 14. Students will be able to conduct a cognitive experiment, collecting data from human participants, carry out appropriate analysis of the data, and write up the results of experiments in a standard report format. 15. Students will gain experience of explaining their research to others, via group presentations to peers, the writing of the practical report, and in the writing of the group ethics application. Transferable skills 16. Students will understand scientific hypothesis testing as encountered via cognitive models. 17. Students will develop communication and teamwork skills through group work and tutorial interaction. 18. Students will develop skills related to the systematic acquisition of relevant information. 19. Students will acquire and develop skill in problem solving real world issues using principles from psychology. 20. Students will engage directly with questions and present independent opinions about them in arguments that are well-written, clearly expressed, coherently organised and effectively supported by relevant evidence. 21. Students will further develop the ability to write clear and concise practical reports in conventional APA format. Assessment: Assessment 1 (25%) - An open book 2 hour exam which will require 2 questions from 6 to be answered and uploaded. Exam papers will be available online and contain different questions for students in very different time zones as required. Assessment 2 (25%) - Class test 1: MCQ (Multiple-choice questions) and short notes answers on brain physiology, structure and function as covered in first part of biological psychology course Assessment 3 (25%)- A second MCQ class test covering topics presented in the 2nd part of the biological psychology course. Assessment 4 (25%)- A practical report based on a provided cognitive topic and a data set provided for the students to supplement data collected by the students themselves.