4295G-001
Psychology 4295G-001
Special Topics in Behavioural and Cognitive Neuroscience - "Memory and Emotion"
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
Selected topics of current interest in Behavioural and Cognitive Neuroscience.
Prerequisites: Psychology 2220A/B, 2221A/B or Neuroscience 2000, and registration in third or fourth year Honours Specialization in Psychology, Honours Specialization in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Honours Specialization in Neuroscience, Honours Specialization in Physiology/Psychology or Honours Specialization in Animal Behaviour.
Other Psychology students and Psychology Special Students who receive 70% in the prerequisite course may enrol in this course.
3 seminar 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. Stefan Köhler
Office and Phone Number: NSB-201
Office Hours: by appointment
Email: stefank@uwo.ca
Time and Location of Classes: Tuesdays 9:30am -12:30pm; WL-259
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
No textbook. Selected readings will be provided as pdf or link on OWL course website.
4.0 COURSE OBJECTIVES
In the classic cognitive-psychology tradition, memory has typically been considered as a phenomenon that is best understood if it is studied independent from any impact of emotion. To avoid ‘contamination’, most memory experiments have been conducted with materials of emotionally neutral content that purportedly do not elicit any affective response. In the past 20 years, however, there has been a significant shift in thinking about this issue. Researchers have come to realize that considering the role of emotion is integral to understanding many core aspects of memory itself, specifically in the domain of autobiographical and episodic memory. Accordingly, the links between memory and emotion have become a heavily studied topic in psychology and neuroscience. Much of this work has emerged in the field of behavioural, cognitive, and affective neuroscience, where the focus of interest is on the relationship between the brain, mind, and behaviour. The general goal of the present course is to review current research and theories that address how affective and memory processes interact in the mind and brain. The specific goals are:
1. To provide a comprehensive research-oriented overview of key findings, methodology, theories, and contentious issues in the study of human memory and emotion.
2. To encourage reading and writing about primary source material in cognitive neuroscience research; to encourage critical thinking about the topics; to explore and appreciate the limits of current scientific knowledge in the field.
3. To provide training for public (in-class) presentations on a specific research question and its empirical study; to encourage discussion of contentious issues in cognitive neuroscience research.
4.1 STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
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Learning Outcome |
Learning Activities |
How Assessed |
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Knowledge and Understanding |
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Describe and explain key concepts and research findings that address how memory and emotion interact in the human mind and brain
Describe applications of research on memory and emotion to everyday experiences outside the laboratory, and to clinical disorders
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Reading Participation in class discussion Preparing class presentations Writing thought papers
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Class participation Class presentations Thought papers
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Critical Thinking |
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Organize and synthesize research results
Describe and explain limits of current knowledge in research on memory and emotion
Design novel follow-up research
Develop hypotheses and predictions for follow-up research
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Preparing class presentations
Participation in class discussion Writing thought papers Writing final essay
Writing final essay
Writing final essay
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Class presentations
Class participation Thought papers Final essay
Final essay
Final essay
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Communication |
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Communicate ideas, methods, and findings from research on memory and emotion in oral form
Communicate ideas, methods, and findings from research on memory and emotion in written form
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Participation in class discussion Preparing class presentations
Writing thought papers Writing final essay |
Class participation Class presentations
Thought papers Final essay
|
5.0 EVALUATION
Students are expected to attend all classes and to read all assigned material. Each student will
select two of the assigned primary research articles for which they will prepare a presentation and discussion, as well as link them to issues covered in the background readings. Students will usually present in groups of two. An essay on one of the topics of the course must be submitted at the end of term. Each student will also select four topics on which they will prepare short thought papers. Evaluation will be based on the presentation, essay, thought papers, and participation.
Feedback on at least 15% of the final grade will be provided on or before February 28, 2017.
Composition of final course grades will be as follows:
Participation in class discussion 10% 5% up to Feb 14; 5% after Feb 14
Class presentations 40% 20% per presentation
Thought papers 20% 5% per paper; 2 papers up to Feb 14
Essay 30%
THOUGHT PAPERS
Students are required to write four brief thought papers (maximum 2 pages; 12 point font; double-spaced; about 500 words) on the assigned readings over the course of the term. Thought papers are intended to be brief discussions of assigned primary research articles. They should include a brief summary of the study as well as independent thoughts such as questions, critique, commentary, comparisons to other research findings, proposals for further research, or a discussion of application to daily experiences outside the laboratory. Students are also encouraged to link the study to issues discussed in the background readings. Thought papers are meant to get students thinking about what they want to discuss in class. Every student must submit at least two thought papers by February 14 2017, and they cannot write thought papers on the topic of their own presentations. Thought papers must be uploaded to the course website in PDF format prior to the corresponding class (i.e., by 9:30am of the day on which the paper will be covered).
PRESENTATIONS
Students are required to give two presentations on the assigned primary research papers over the course of the term. Each presentation will typically be given by a group of two students. Presentations should be 15-20 min in length, supported by visual aids (PowerPoint). They must offer a summary of the article, including coverage of (i) the specific research question addressed, (ii) the specific hypotheses tested (if any), (iii) the design and methods used, (iv) the main results reported (with Figures and/or Tables), and (v) the main conclusions drawn. Students are encouraged to link the study to issues discussed in the background readings. In the final section of the presentation, students should also include questions and comments to stimulate class discussion. The presenters should consider themselves as experts on the study they summarize. Thus, they should also be prepared to answer related questions.
ESSAY
Students are required to submit an essay on a topic covered in this course. The paper must be a proposal for a research project that would follow up on one of the studies covered in the primary research articles of this course. Essays are expected to include (i) an introduction with a brief review of pertinent background, (ii) the specification of the critical research question and a justification why it is important, (iii) a description of research methods and the study design proposed to answer that question, (iv) a description of anticipated results, and (v) a summary of conclusions that can be drawn if the outcome is as expected. The paper should not exceed a maximum of 10 pages (12 point font, double-spaced, about 2500 words, excluding cover page and references) and should be written according to APA format. The deadline for submitting essays is Friday April 7, 2017, 12pm noon. Essays must be submitted electronically through the course website.
CLASS PARTICIPATION
Students are expected to participate regularly in class discussion, and they will be graded based on their participation. Students should be prepared to be addressed directly by the Course Instructor in these discussions. Students will receive a grade for their participation in the first half of the course (up to February 14), and a grade for the remaining half at the end of the course.
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
There are no tests or examinations in this course. Evaluation is based on the components summarized in Section 5.0.
7.0 CLASS SCHEDULE
January 10 Introduction and Course Organization
January 17 Methods in affective and cognitive neuroscience
Illustration with one study presented by students
January 24 Introduction to the cognitive neuroscience of memory
Illustration with one study presented by students
January 31 Introduction to the cognitive neuroscience of emotion
Illustration with one study presented by students
February 7 Encoding & consolidation of emotional memory
In-depth discussion of three studies presented
February 14 Encoding & consolidation of emotional memory
In-depth discussion of three studies presented
February 21 Reading week (no classes)
February 28 Retrieval of emotional memory
In-depth discussion of three studies presented
March 7 Flashbulb memory
In-depth discussion of two studies presented
March 14 Traumatic memory
In-depth discussion of two studies presented
March 21 Suppression and control of emotional memory
In-depth discussion of two studies presented
March 28 Lab visit and demos at the Brain and Mind Institute (no class presentations)
April 4 Erasure of emotional memory
In-depth discussion of two studies presented
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.
