Psychology 3224A-001

Neuropsychology and Cognitive Neuroscience

If there is a discrepancy between the outline posted below and the outline posted on the OWL course website, the latter shall prevail.

1.0    CALENDAR DESCRIPTION

Neural mechanisms in human perception, spatial orientation, memory, language and motor behaviour.

Antirequisite: Psychology 3227A/B

Antirequisites are courses that overlap sufficiently in content that only one can be taken for credit. So if you take a course that is an antirequisite to a course previously taken, you will lose credit for the earlier course, regardless of the grade achieved in the most recent course.

Prerequisites: Psychology 2820E, or both Psychology 2800E and 2810, and one of Psychology 2220A/B, 2221A/B or Neuroscience 2000

3 lecture/discussion hours, 0.5 course.

Unless you have either the prerequisites for this course or written special permission from your Dean to enroll in it, you may be removed from this course and it will be deleted from your record. This decision may not be appealed. You will receive no adjustment to your fees in the event that you are dropped from a course for failing to have the necessary prerequisites.


2.0    COURSE INFORMATION

Instructor: Dr. Elizabeth Hampson

Office and Phone Number: SSC  9218, 519-661-2111 Ext. 84675

Office Hours:   By appointment

Email:  ehampson@uwo.ca    

Teaching Assistant:  Evan Houldin

Office:  NSC, by appointment*

Office Hours:                                         

Email: ehouldin@uwo.ca 

Time and Location of Classes:Tuesdays, 2:30 – 5:30 PM

                                           Room 11, Health Sciences Building (HSB)

 

**If you wish to meet with the instructor or TA outside of regular class hours, please e-mail to arrange an appointment.

If you or someone you know is experiencing distress, there are several resources here at Western to assist you.  Please visit:  http://www.uwo.ca/uwocom/mentalhealth/ for more information on these resources and on mental health.


Please contact the course instructor if you require material in an alternate format or if you require any other arrangements to make this course more accessible to you. You may also wish to contact Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) at 519-661-2111 ext 82147 for any specific question regarding an accommodation.

3.0  TEXTBOOK

Required:

     Cognitive Neuroscience (3rd ed.), by Marie T. Banich  &  Rebecca J. Compton  (2011).  Belmont, CA:  Wadsworth.

     Occasionally extra readings or diagrams will be required and they will be posted on OWL in PDF format (see Class Schedule)

4.0    COURSE OBJECTIVES

The objective of this course is to familiarize students with some of the symptoms that follow acquired brain damage in human beings, with an emphasis on understanding what these symptoms can tell us about the normal functional organization of the human brain.

1.  To provide an introduction to the principal methods, research findings, theories, and contentious issues in the field of neuropsychology and cognitive neuroscience.

2.  To encourage the reading of primary source material; to stimulate critical thinking and encourage the use of logical scientific inference

   4.1    STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of the course, the successful student should be able to:

  • Identify parts of the human nervous system using standard terminology

(Assessed by quizzes and exams)

  • Explain techniques and methods used in the field of cognitive neuroscience

(Assessed by quizzes and exams)

  • Recognize, name, and be able to differentiate clinical symptoms seen in a neurology clinic

            (Assessed by quizzes and exams)

  • Predict which brain regions give rise to these symptoms and understand why

            (Assessed by quizzes and exams)

  • Articulate major historical theories in cognitive neuroscience

            (Assessed by quizzes, exams, and written essays or oral presentations)

  • Describe alternative theoretical accounts of the function of discrete brain areas or networks

            (Assessed by quizzes, exams, and written essays or oral presentations)

  • Read primary journal articles in the field of cognitive neuroscience

            (Assessed by written essays or oral presentations)

  • Critically evaluate evidence for and against current theories or topics of controversy

            (Assessed by quizzes, exams, written essays or oral presentations)

  • Locate and independently read research literature on a particular topic and integrate your ideas in the form of a written assignment or essay (or oral presentation to the class)

            (Assessed by written essays or oral presentations)

  • Communicate your ideas clearly using the acceptable vocabulary of cognitive neuroscience

            (Assessed by quizzes, exams, written essays or oral presentations)

5.0     EVALUATION

All students should be familiar with the basic neuroanatomy of the central nervous system upon entering the course.  However, the lectures will review basic terminology and major features of the brain and associated tissues.

     There will be a test on October 4 (Test #1), worth 20% of the final grade, and a second test on November 1 (Test #2), worth 20%.  The final exam in December will be worth 40%.  It will be written during the final exam period, and the timing will be scheduled by the Office of the Registrar.  The final exam will be 3 hrs in length.  All tests and exams will include multiple choice and short-answer questions (e.g., fill-in-the-blanks, definitions, or questions that require a brief written response).  Test #1 will also include label-the-diagram questions.  No diagrams will appear on the final exam, but the final will include a written medium-length answer section.  The two midterm tests will not be cumulative.  The final exam will be cumulative.

            Tests and exams will be based on the lecture material and assigned readings.  Extra readings or diagrams that are posted on OWL will be included in the tests and exams.

            Another 10% of the final grade will be based on an oral presentation, given in class, on either November 22 or 29.  The class will be divided into pairs, and you and your partner will present a journal article to the class, describing the background, method, results, and conclusions of an empirical study, analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the work, and any limits to its generalizability. 

     The remaining 10% of the final grade will be based on a written mini-review, due on December 6.  This should take the form of a written scholarly essay of ~ 1200-1400 words (not counting References), which critically analyzes and discusses a topic of current controversy within cognitive neuroscience.  A selection of appropriate topics will be provided, but students may also design their own topic (with the prior agreement of the course instructor).  You will be required to independently research your topic and synthesize the material into a scholarly critique, citing references to support your arguments.  Your mini-review is due December 6 and must be submitted both in hardcopy and by electronic submission to Turnitin.  A late penalty of 10% per day will be applied to papers submitted after the deadline.


Although the Psychology Department does not require instructors to adjust their course grades to conform to specific targets, the expectation is that course marks will be distributed around the following averages:


70%     1000-level and 2000-level courses
72%     2190-2990 level courses
75%     3000-level courses
80%     4000-level courses
   
The Psychology Department follows the University of Western Ontario grading guidelines, which are as follows (see http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/general/grades_undergrad.pdf ):

A+  90-100      One could scarcely expect better from a student at this level
A    80-89        Superior work that is clearly above average
B    70-79        Good work, meeting all requirements, and eminently satisfactory
C    60-69        Competent work, meeting requirements
D    50-59        Fair work, minimally acceptable
F    below 50    Fail



6.0  TEST AND EXAMINATION SCHEDULE

Test 1               October 4                  20%

Test 2               November 1               20%

Final Exam        TBA                           40%

Oral Presentation      November 22 or 29   10%

Mini-Review       December 6     10%


7.0   CLASS SCHEDULE

PowerPoint Notes will be posted on OWL, before or after each day's lecture.  All weekly readings described below can be found in the textbook, Cognitive Neuroscience (3rd ed.).  Any additional required readings or diagrams (not in the text) will be posted on the OWL website in PDF format:

 

 

September 13:   Course organization and evaluation scheme

                        Review of brain anatomy and vascular system

 Reading:  Chapter 1:  Introduction to the Nervous

System, pp. 1-16 only (stop at the heading “Motor

Cortex" at the bottom of p. 16) 

September 20:  Neurological disorders

Diagnostic and imaging techniques

Reading:  Chapter 3:  Methods

 

September 27: Hemispheric specialization in the normal brain

Sex and handedness

Reading:  Chapter 4:  Hemispheric Specialization

 

October 4: Test #1                                                                                                                      

Reading:  No readings assigned for this week

 

 

October 11:The modular organization of the visual system

Visual field defects

Blindsight

Cortical lesions and the extraction of object features

 

Reading:  Chapter 6:  Early Perceptual Processing

(read  pp. 145-165 only, stop at the heading "Auditory Processing" )

 

 

October 18: The “Two Visual Systems” model

Visual agnosias

Balint’s syndrome, contralateral neglect

Visuomotor areas in the parietal cortex

 

Reading:  Chapter 7:  Object Recognition, pp. 178-201

(stop at  pp. 202-205, “Agnosias in Other Modalities”)

 

Also read:  Chapter 11:  pp. 321-333 only (section on "Hemineglect:  Clinical Aspects")

 

 

October 25: Neural mechanisms involved in speech

Aphasias; acquired impairments in reading

Limb apraxia, relations between speech and praxis

 

Reading:  Chapter 9:  Language

 

 

November 1:Test #2

Reading:  No readings assigned for this week

 

November 8:Memory and the temporal lobes

Disorders of memory, amnesias

The role of the hippocampus in memory

Diencephalic amnesia

A neural model of explicit memory

           

Reading:  Chapter 10:  Memory

 

 

November 15: The frontal lobes and disorders of emotional and behavioural regulation                        

Reading:  Chapter 12:  Executive Function

Also read:   Chap. 13:  Emotion and Social Cognition,pp. 365-382 only  (stop at "Communicating Emotion")

 

November 22: Oral Presentations - I

November 29: Oral Presentations - II

December 6: Alzheimer’s disease, other forms of dementia

 **Mini-Reviews Due**

Reading:  Chapter 16:  Generalized Cognitive

Disorders, read  pp. 471-489 only (section on "Dementing Diseases")

8.0     STATEMENT ON ACADEMIC OFFENCES

Students are responsible for understanding the nature and avoiding the occurrence of plagiarism and other scholastic offenses. Plagiarism and cheating are considered very serious offenses because they undermine the integrity of research and education. Actions constituting a scholastic offense are described at the following link:  http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/scholastic_discipline_undergrad.pdf

As of Sept. 1, 2009, the Department of Psychology will take the following steps to detect scholastic offenses. All multiple-choice tests and exams will be checked for similarities in the pattern of responses using reliable software, and records will be made of student seating locations in all tests and exams. All written assignments will be submitted to TurnItIn, a service designed to detect and deter plagiarism by comparing written material to over 5 billion pages of content located on the Internet or in TurnItIn’s databases. All papers submitted for such checking will be included as source documents in the reference database for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of papers subsequently submitted to the system. Use of the service is subject to the licensing agreement, currently between Western and Turnitin.com http://www.turnitin.com

Possible penalties for a scholastic offense include failure of the assignment, failure of the course, suspension from the University, and expulsion from the University.



9.0    POLICY ON ACCOMMODATION FOR MEDICAL ILLNESS

Western’s policy on Accommodation for Medical Illness can be found at:
http://www.westerncalendar.uwo.ca/2016/pg117.html

Students must see the Academic Counsellor and submit all required documentation in order to be approved for certain accommodation:
http://counselling.ssc.uwo.ca/procedures/medical_accommodation.html


10.0        OTHER INFORMATION

Office of the Registrar web site:  http://registrar.uwo.ca

Student Development Services web site: http://www.sdc.uwo.ca

Please see the Psychology Undergraduate web site for information on the following:

    http://psychology.uwo.ca/undergraduate/student_responsibilities/index.html

- Policy on Cheating and Academic Misconduct
- Procedures for Appealing Academic Evaluations
- Policy on Attendance
- Policy Regarding Makeup Exams and Extensions of Deadlines
- Policy for Assignments
- Short Absences
- Extended Absences
- Documentation
- Academic Concerns
- 2016 Calendar References

No electronic devices, including cell phones, will be allowed during exams.