The principal aim of the course is the acquisition of the theoretical and applicative principles of neurophysiology. The primary goal is to transmit to students the basic language and fundamental knowledge necessary to analyze and comprehend the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the major cognitive, emotional and behavioral functions.

The course will address the following topics, in the chronological sequence that follows the order indicated below:

• Overview on the methods and tools used for neuroscientific investigation. Principles of the anatomical and functional organization of the central nervous system and the cerebral cortex: relations with psychic and behavioral functions (lessons 1 and 2)
• The self: self-referentiality, perception of the self, embodied self-ownership (lessons 3-6)
• Social cognition and social behavior (lessons 7-10).
• Memory: the neurophysiological basis of memory processes: encoding, consolidation and recall (lessons 11-14)
• The emotions: categorization of emotions; theories on the generation of emotions; neural systems involved in the processing of emotions; interactions between emotional and cognitive functions; emotion regulation (lessons 15-18)

No bridging courses are reported

In line with Dublin Descriptors, at the end of the course students will have to demonstrate the following learning achievements:

·  Knowledge and comprehension ability: knowledge and clear understanding of the basic neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the fundamental cognitive and behavioral functions;

·  Applied knowledge and comprehension: ability to describe experimental studies and relative underlying working hypotheses, and to describe the experimental findings and their interpretation;

·  Autonomy of judgment: capacity of using knowledge and concepts to reason in an autonomous fashion on the various subjects presented during the course, with critical ability and autonomy of judgment;

·  Communicative skills: ability of using language and specific terminology appropriately, and ability of exposing the various topics in a clearly and logically organized way;

·  Ability to learn: ability to autonomously perform a literature search in order to acquire further knowledge on topics related to the discipline

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

During the course, attending and non-attending students will be offered an intermediate test of an exclusively "educational" nature, aimed at helping students verify their level of learning and the effectiveness of their study methods in a test which is similar to the final exam. The test is a brief written essay, that consist of an open-ended question on a topic chosen from those covered in the previous lessons. Students will not receive grades; at the end of the test, a schematic example of an ideal answer will be shown and commented, with respect to which each student will be able to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of their own essay. The timetable and methods of the test will be communicated to students at the beginning of the course, both in class and via the Blended platform.

Teaching

Frontal lessons

Attendance

Attendance is not obligatory

Course books

Gazzaniga, Ivry, Mangun, Cognitive Neuroscience. The biology of the mind, fifth edition, W.W. Norton & Company 2021

Assessment

The exam is a written essay, and consists of 2 open-ended questions. The duration of the test is 2 hours. The list of possible questions is as follows:

• Long-term memory: definition; classification and description of the main forms (declarative memory: episodic, semantic, autobiographical; non-declarative memory: procedural, priming, conditioning).

• Role of the hippocampus and medial temporal lobe in episodic memory encoding.

• Role of the frontal and parietal cortices in memory encoding and retrieval.

• Memory consolidation: definition; theories of memory consolidation; neural mechanisms underlying memory consolidation.

• The emotions: definition; categorization of emotions (basic emotions, complex emotions, dimensional theories, constructivist theories); theories on the generation of emotions.

• The neurobiological substrates involved in the processing of human emotions.

• Interaction between emotions and cognitive processes: influences of emotions on learning and memory.

• Interaction between emotions and cognitive processes: influences of emotions on perception, attention, and decision-making processes.

• The control of emotions: processes involved and regulation strategies; neurophysiological basis of emotion regulation.

• The self: self-referential processing, perception of the self, embodied self-ownership.

• Understanding the actions of the mind of others: the neural correlates of simulation theory (or sharing experience) and empathy.

• Understanding the actions and the mind of others: theory of mind and neural correlates of the theory of attribution of mental states.

• Social knowledge and its neural correlates: representations of social knowledge; use of social knowledge in moral judgments and decisions.

In order to facilitate the student in drafting the final written essay, a general conceptual scheme is suggested according to which he should organize the text. To each of the questions listed, the candidate will have to answer according to the following outline:

• Briefly introduce the topic: the student must describe the general framework within which he intends to articulate the response;
• Clearly and exhaustively discuss the neurobiological correlates of the psychic functions in question, illustrating the main neurophysiological evidence from studies conducted on animal models and humans;
• Report evidence of clinical neuropsychology only when it helps to understand the neurophysiological basis of the psychic processes in question (for example, injuries).

The assessment of the essay is carried out considering the following criteria: "exhaustiveness" (to assess the degree of completeness of the contents displayed, therefore the presence within the report of the fundamental elements concerning the subject in question); "Structure of the paper" (evaluates the overall organization of the paper, that is, if the topics are presented in a consequential, coherent and logical order); "Appropriateness of terminology and precision of concepts" (evaluates the conceptual clarity achieved by the student on the topics covered); "Correctness" (evaluates the presence of incorrect statements); "Pertinence" (pertinence of the contents to the question proposed; irrelevant contents will not be evaluated). The overall final assessment emerges from the integration of the assessments obtained into the individual criteria.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Teaching

The course will address the following topics, in the chronological sequence that follows the order indicated below:

• Overview on the methods and tools used for neuroscientific investigation. Principles of the anatomical and functional organization of the central nervous system and the cerebral cortex: relations with psychic and behavioral functions (lessons 1 and 2)
• The self: self-referentiality, perception of the self, embodied self-ownership (lessons 3-6)
• Social cognition and social behavior (lessons 7-10).
• Memory: the neurophysiological basis of memory processes: encoding, consolidation and recall (lessons 11-14)
• The emotions: categorization of emotions; theories on the generation of emotions; neural systems involved in the processing of emotions; interactions between emotional and cognitive functions; emotion regulation (lessons 15-18)

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

Attendance

Attendance is not obligatory

Course books

Gazzaniga, Ivry, Mangun, Cognitive Neuroscience. The biology of the mind, fifth edition, W.W. Norton & Company 2021

Assessment

The exam is a written essay, and consists of 2 open-ended questions. The duration of the test is 2 hours. The list of possible questions is as follows:

• Long-term memory: definition; classification and description of the main forms (declarative memory: episodic, semantic, autobiographical; non-declarative memory: procedural, priming, conditioning).

• Role of the hippocampus and medial temporal lobe in episodic memory encoding.

• Role of the frontal and parietal cortices in memory encoding and retrieval.

• Memory consolidation: definition; theories of memory consolidation; neural mechanisms underlying memory consolidation.

• The emotions: definition; categorization of emotions (basic emotions, complex emotions, dimensional theories, constructivist theories); theories on the generation of emotions.

• The neurobiological substrates involved in the processing of human emotions.

• Interaction between emotions and cognitive processes: influences of emotions on learning and memory.

• Interaction between emotions and cognitive processes: influences of emotions on perception, attention, and decision-making processes.

• The control of emotions: processes involved and regulation strategies; neurophysiological basis of emotion regulation.

• The self: self-referential processing, perception of the self, embodied self-ownership.

• Understanding the actions of the mind of others: the neural correlates of simulation theory (or sharing experience) and empathy.

• Understanding the actions and the mind of others: theory of mind and neural correlates of the theory of attribution of mental states.

• Social knowledge and its neural correlates: representations of social knowledge; use of social knowledge in moral judgments and decisions.

In order to facilitate the student in drafting the final written essay, a general conceptual scheme is suggested according to which he should organize the text. To each of the questions listed, the candidate will have to answer according to the following outline:

• Briefly introduce the topic: the student must describe the general framework within which he intends to articulate the response;
• Clearly and exhaustively discuss the neurobiological correlates of the psychic functions in question, illustrating the main neurophysiological evidence from studies conducted on animal models and humans;
• Report evidence of clinical neuropsychology only when it helps to understand the neurophysiological basis of the psychic processes in question (for example, injuries).

The assessment of the essay is carried out considering the following criteria: "exhaustiveness" (to assess the degree of completeness of the contents displayed, therefore the presence within the report of the fundamental elements concerning the subject in question); "Structure of the paper" (evaluates the overall organization of the paper, that is, if the topics are presented in a consequential, coherent and logical order); "Appropriateness of terminology and precision of concepts" (evaluates the conceptual clarity achieved by the student on the topics covered); "Correctness" (evaluates the presence of incorrect statements); "Pertinence" (pertinence of the contents to the question proposed; irrelevant contents will not be evaluated). The overall final assessment emerges from the integration of the assessments obtained into the individual criteria.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.