Psychology 3440F-001
Developmental 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
An introduction to the way in which genetic and experiential factors interactively contribute to the emergence of adaptive neural structures underlying visual processing, face perception, number processing, language, memory and executive functions.
Prerequisites: Psychology 2820E or both Psychology 2800E and 2810, and one of Psychology 2040A/B, 2220A/B, 2221A/B, 2410A/B or Neuroscience 2000
Unless you have either the prerequisites for this course or written special permission from your Dean to enrol 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.
3 lecture/seminar hours, 0.5 course
2.0 COURSE INFORMATION
Instructor: Isu Cho
Office: Western Interdisciplinary Research Building (WIRB) 5175
Office Hours: By appointment
Email: icho6@uwo.ca
Teaching Assistant: Jennifer Gillies
Office: TBA
Office Hours: TBA
Email: jgilli24@uwo.ca
Time and Location of Classes: Tuesdays 12:30pm to 3:30pm, SSC-3006
Students who are in emotional/mental distress should refer to Mental Health@Western
http://www.uwo.ca/uwocom/mentalhealth/ for a complete list of options about how to obtain help.
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 Student Accessibility Services (formerly known as Services for Students with Disabilities) at 519-661-2147.
3.0 TEXTBOOK
Johnson, M. H. (2011). Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 4th Edition. Blackwell Publishing: Oxford: UK.
It is NOT MANDATORY to purchase the text book.
The readings will mostly be recently published, peer-reviewed journal articles and some recent news articles and blog posts related to developmental cognitive neuroscience. The required readings are mandatory to read and it is important that you do these so that you can participate in class discussion. You will be expected to come up with one discussion question based on the readings each week. The suggested readings are recommended if you choose to present or write a paper on one of these topics, or if you’re simply interested in learning more about a particular topic. The readings can be found on the OWL website for the course, or by following the links. If you have difficulties accessing the materials or if you find that materials are missing from the website, please contact the instructor.
4.0 COURSE OBJECTIVES
This course provides an introduction to the theoretical, methodological, and empirical foundations of the field of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience.4.1 STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this course students will be able to:
- Describe concepts in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
- Compare and contrast evidence reported in scholarly research papers
- Locate and critically evaluate scholarly research in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience and consider implications of the findings
5.0 EVALUATION
- ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION = 20%
- MIDTERM EXAM = 25%
- PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION LEADER = 25%
- FINAL PAPER = 30%
PLEASE NOTE: Because this is an essay course, as per Senate Regulations (http://www.westerncalendar.uwo.ca/2017/pg108.html), you must pass the essay component to pass the course. That is, the average mark for your written assignments must be at least 50%.
This course is exempt from the Senate requirement that students receive assessment of their work accounting for at least 15% of their final grade at least three full days before the date of the deadline for withdrawal from a course without academic penalty.
- Attendance and Participation: This course depends on your active participation in class discussions. You must attend class and prepare by doing the assigned reading. Following each class, you will be required to submit a discussion question via a form. Attendance marks will be deducted for failing to attend class without a valid excuse, and for failing to submit a discussion question. Participation marks will be depending on your active participation during class discussions.
- Midterm exam: Exams will be short answer (SA) questions.
- Presentation and Discussion Leader: During the first week of term, you must sign up for a presentation date and topic here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ml7fiuuWDiYxxTJ8qTbiJOtBBBVJYa_MWWHdDxkKsiw/edit?usp=sharing
Presentations will be done in groups of two, and there may need to be a few groups of three. Each week’s presentations will relate to a discussion question and presentations will highlight differing perspectives on the question. You will be required to give 30-minute presentations (15-minute presentation for each article; For each week, we will have two articles) and to lead an one-hour discussion. You should review the literature assigned, and may review other relevant literature that you have found through independent literature searches. Following your presentation, you are required to lead the discussion of the papers you have reviewed.
Your presentation should cover the following five points for papers:
1) motivation (why the study was undertaken)
2) methods (genetics, physiology, anatomy, behavior, etc)
3) major results (synopsis of key figure panels only)
4) missed opportunities (was the initial hypothesis fully addressed, possible future directions, etc)
5) implications (how do the findings relate to the discussion topic)
Final Paper: You are required to write a final paper of no more than 8 pages (1.5 spaced, 12pt font, excluding a title page and a reference section) that extends your thinking about one of the discussion topics by critically reviewing evidence from multiple sources. You should choose the topic for your final paper from the topics within the syllabus and generate a question, but it should be a different topic from the one you are presenting on. The purpose of this assignment is to provide experience locating, reading, and evaluating primary research literature concerning structural and functional developments of the brain and their association with changes in psychological functioning. In particular, your paper should discuss the findings of the paper you will review and extend the discussion of your chosen by topic by either outlining future research directions or proposing a research project to generate new evidence to inform the debate. You may also consider the practical and applied implications of the question you choose. The Final Paper is due at 11:59pm via OWL on Tuesday, December 10.
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 Western's 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 ASSESSMENT/EVALUATION SCHEDULE
MIDTERM EXAMINATION: Tuesday, October 22, 2019, 12:30 to 2:30pm, SSC 3006
7.0 CLASS SCHEDULE
Tuesday, September 10, 2019. Introduction to Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience
Tuesday, September 17, 2019. Theoretical Perspectives
Johnson, (2011). Chapter 1—The biology of change
<Discussion topic: Are we born with core knowledge of how the world works?>
- Required reading: Stahl & Feigenson, 2015
Wang, Zhang, & Baillargoen, 2016
Optional: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/01/decoding-the-infant-brain/513005/
Tuesday, September 24, 2019. Research Methods
Johnson, (2011). Chapter 2—Methods and Populations
<Discussion topic: Are there critical periods in human development?>
- Required reading: Pallier, 2007
Hakuta, Bialystok, Wiley, 2003
Optional: http://bold.expert/turning-back-the-learning-clock/
Tuesday, October 1, 2019. Brain Development
Johnson, (2011). Chapter 4—Building a brain
< Discussion topic: How do early experiences influence brain development?>
- Required reading: Fox, Levitt, & Nelson, 2010
Hackman & Farah, 2009
Tuesday, October 8, 2019. Brain Aging
<Discussion topic: Does aging mean progressive loss and decline?>
- Required reading: Reuter-Lorenz & Lustig, 2005
Cabeza et al., 2002
Tuesday, October 15, 2019. Focus topic 1: Language Development
<Discussion topic: Is there a cognitive advantage to being bilingual?>
- Required reading: Bialystok, Craik, Luk, 2012
Morton & Harper, 2007
Tuesday, October 22, 2019. MIDTERM EXAMINATION
Tuesday, October 29, 2019. Focus topic 2: Development of executive functioning
Johnson, (2011). Chapter 10—Prefrontal cortex, working memory, and decision-making
<Discussion topic: Can training executive functions transfer to other cognitive skills?>
- Required reading: Spencer-Smith & Klingberg, 2015
Melby-Lervag Redick & Hulme, 2016
Tuesday, November 5, 2019. READING WEEK
Tuesday, November 12, 2019. Focus topic 3: Development of arithmetic proficiency
Johnson, (2011). Chapter 6—Perceiving and acting on the physical world, pp. 113-117
<Discussion topic: Are men better suited to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) careers than women are?>
- Required reading: Hutchison et al., 2006
Sokolowski et al., 2019
Tuesday, November 19, 2019. Focus topic 4: Social development (Decision-making)
Guest speaker: Dr. Cassandra Lowe
<Discussion topic: Do children show different decision-making pattern as they get older? How is it related to age-related changes in their brain?>
- Required reading: Sul et al. (2017)
Guroglu et al. (2009)
Tuesday, November 26, 2019. Focus topic 5: Social development (Understanding the goals of others)
<Discussion topic: Do mirror neurons understand the goals of others?>
- Required reading: Heyes, 2009
Buccino, Binkofski, & Riggio, 2004
Campbell, Cunnington, 2017
Tuesday, December 3, 2019. Focus topic 6: Atypical development and REVIEW
<Discussion topic: Can studying atypically developing children inform our understanding of typical development?>
- Required reading: Karmiloff-Smith, 2009
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/PolicyPages.cfm?PolicyCategoryID=1&Command=showCategory&SelectedCalendar=Live&ArchiveID=#Page_12
The full policy for consideration for absences can be accessed at: https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/Academic_Consideration_for_absences.pdf
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
If you experience an extenuating circumstance (e.g., illness, injury) sufficiently significant to temporarily make you unable to meet academic requirements, you may request accommodation through the following routes:
- Submitting a Self-Reported Absence form (for circumstances that are expected to resolve within 48 hours);
- For medical absences, submitting a Student Medical Certificate (SMC) signed by a licensed medical or mental health practitioner in order to be eligible for Academic Consideration;
For non-medical absences, submitting appropriate documentation (e.g., obituary, police report, accident report, court order, etc.) to Academic Counselling in their Faculty of registration in order to be eligible for academic consideration. Students are encouraged to contact their Academic Counselling unit to clarify what documentation is appropriate.
Students must see the Academic Counsellor and submit all required documentation in order to be approved for certain accommodation. The self-reported absence form may NOT be used for absences longer than 48 hours; coursework/tests/exams/etc., worth more than 30% of the final grade; or exams scheduled in the December or April final-exam periods: http://counselling.ssc.uwo.ca/procedures/medical_accommodation.html
Students seeking academic consideration:
- are advised to consider carefully the implications of postponing tests or midterm exams or delaying handing in work;
- are encouraged to make appropriate decisions based on their specific circumstances, recognizing that minor ailments (upset stomach) or upsets (argument with a friend) are not normally an appropriate basis for a self-reported absence;
must communicate with their instructors no later than 24 hours after the end of the period covered by either the self-reported absence or SMC, or immediately upon their return following a documented absence
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
- 2019-2020 Calendar References
No electronic devices, including cell phones and smart watches, will be allowed during exams.
Copyright Statement: Lectures and course materials, including power point presentations, outlines, and similar materials, are protected by copyright. You may take notes and make copies of course materials for your own educational use. You may not record lectures, reproduce (or allow others to reproduce), post or distribute lecture notes, wiki material, and other course materials publicly and/or for commercial purposes without the instructor’s written consent.
