PIA (0501) 291 - Cognitive Neuroscience

Credits: 3.00

Cognitive Neuroscience is a field that merges the disciplines of psychology and neuroscience. In this course students will learn how the brain gives rise to the phenomena of the human mind such as attention, perception, emotion, thought and language.

Prerequisite 1: PIA 101
Students will:

gain understanding of the history and current state of the field of Cognitive Neuroscience as well as its aims, promises and challenges. This will enable students to put the state of current knowledge about the brain and cognition as well as novel research efforts into a science historical and philosophical context (exams, papers)

gain knowledge about non-invasive methodologies used in this field and their applications in research and medicine. Students will be able to critically evaluate research approaches in regard to their validity (exams, paper)

learn about the current state of knowledge about brain correlates of mental processes such as perception, object recognition, attention, action, memory, emotion, language, cognitive control, social cognition, consciousness an free will. Students will develop a broad knowledge about these “classic” psychological domains and what is known about their neurobiological foundations (exam)

learn about the applications of research in cognitive neuroscience for clinical psychology and medicine (exams)

learn about the challenges associated with the interpretation of brain imaging data, their proper use and misuse in the scientific literature, popular media and advertisement (in class discussion and homework assignments)