Psychology 3485F-001
Research in 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 design, administration, and interpretation of developmental cognitive neuroscience research. Students receive instruction in the formulation of developmental research questions and the choice of appropriate methods, and training in the analysis and interpretation of pediatric evoked response potential (ERP) and functional magnetic resonance imagining (fMRI) data.
Prerequisites: Psychology 2800E, 2810, and one of Psychology 2040A/B, 2220A/B, 2221A/B 2410A/B, or Neuroscience 2000, plus registration in third or fourth year Honours Specialization in Psychology, Honours Specialization in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience or Honors Specialization in Neuroscience.
Third or fourth year Psychology Majors and Psychology Special Students who receive 70% or higher in Psychology 2820E (or 60% or higher in 2800E and 2810), plus 60% or higher in one of Psychology 2040A/B, 2220A/B, 2221A/B, 2410A/B or Neuroscience 2000 also may enrol in this course.
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.
4 lecture/laboratory hours, 0.5 course
2.0 COURSE INFORMATION
Instructor: J Bruce Morton
Office and Phone Number: 519-661-2111 x84795
Office Hours: 11am-12pm (M); by appointment
Email: bmorton3@uwo.ca
Teaching Assistant: Daamoon Ghahari
Office: WIRB 4th floor
Office Hours: by appointment
Email: dghahari@uwo.ca
Time and Location of Classes:
Lectures: Tuesday 9:30 – 11:30am WIRB-1160;
Tutorials: Thursday 9:30 – 11:30am WIRB-1160
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
Huettel, S. A., Song, A. W., & McCarthy, G. Functional Resonance Magnetic Imaging, 3rd Edition. Sunderland MA: Sinauer Associates.
4.0 COURSE OBJECTIVES
The course provides an introduction to the design, administration, analysis, and interpretation of experiments in developmental cognitive neuroscience focusing in particular on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)—and their use with developing populations. The course combines lecture-style instruction on select topics with hands-on experience analyzing existing fMRI data.4.1 STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES
After successfully completing this course, students should be able to:
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Learning Outcome |
Learning Activities |
Assessment |
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Knowledge and Understanding |
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Identify (I), describe (De), and explain (E) concepts related to paediatric neuroimaging. |
Reading.
Class discussion.
Group exercises. |
Examination (IDeE)
Group presentation (DeE)
Class participation (IDeE)
Writing assignment (DeE) |
|
Abilities |
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Propose a falsifiable hypothesis about age-related change in brain activity. (Pr)
Learn and implement an analysis strategy for testing the hypothesis with fMRI data (Im).
Interpret results of an fMRI analysis (In).
Identify limitations of fMRI findings and their interpretation (Id). |
Reading.
Class discussion.
Group exercises.
Computer assignment. |
Computer assignment (Im).
Writing assignment (Pr,Im,In,Id,Co,Di)
Examination (Co, Di,In,Id)
Group presentation (Pr,Im,In,Id,Co,Di,Ci) |
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Communicate (Co) ideas and research-based evidence orally and in writing.
Distinguish (Di) cognitive and neurophysiological explanations of behaviour
Participate in collaborative partnerships (Ci) |
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5.0 EVALUATION
COMPUTER ASSIGNMENT: 10%
WRITING ASSIGNMENT INTRODUCTION: 15%
MIDTERM EXAM: 30%
GROUP PRESENTATION: 20%
WRITING ASSIGNMENT COMPLETE DOCUMENT: 25%
The Midterm exam will be mixed format MC and SA questions based on readings, lectures, and in-class discussions. Writing Assignment will be a 20-page write-up of an independent developmental fMRI research project. The Introduction of the Writing Assignment will be a 5- to 7-page document in which reviews extant literature, proposes a falsifiable hypothesis, and a design for testing the hypothesis via fMRI. This will form the first part of the final Writing Assignment. Group presentations are shared research presentations required of each research group in the class. The computer assignment will be an exercise in MATLAB in which students need to open a data set and view data using figures and plots.
Students who are unable to attend the MIDTERM examination are required to provide the Instructor with documentation that clearly attests to their inability to be present for the MIDTERM. Failure to do so will result in a grade of 0 for the MIDTERM. Students who provide necessary documentation will be given an opportunity to write a MAKE-UP examination. There will be one date and time for the MAKE-UP exam which will be determined after the MIDTERM exam date. The format of the MAKE-UP exam will be different than the format of the MIDTERM exam.
PLEASE NOTE: Because this is an essay course, as per Senate Regulations, 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.
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
Tuesday, September 24, 2019: COMPUTER ASSIGNMENT DUE ON OWL
Tuesday, October 15, 2019: WRITING ASSIGNMENT INTRODUCTION DUE ON OWL
Tuesday, October 22, 2019: MIDTERM EXAMINATION 9:30am – 10:30am
Wednesday, December 6, 2019. Term papers due on OWL.
7.0 CLASS SCHEDULE
Tuesday, September 10, 2019. Introduction to Research in DCN. Formulating a research question
Tuesday, September 17, 2019. fMRI Signal & Measurement; Experimental Design.
Required reading: READING 1 (posted) or Chapter 9 from textbook
Recommended reading (not for the faint of heart): Chapter 3 from textbook (not posted; AND please note, this is not required. The basics will be covered in class and that is all you will need to know).
Tuesday, September 24, 2019. Ethics & Pre-processing
Required reading: READING 2 (posted) or Chapter 8 from textbook
Tuesday, October 1, 2019. Single-subject analysis: Introduction to General Linear Modeling
Required reading: READING 3 (posted) or Chapter 10, pp. 331 - 357
Tuesday, October 8, 2019. Spatial Normalization and Pediatric fMRI
Required reading: Burgund et al, 2002, NeuroImage. Find in Resources folder on OWL
Tuesday, October 15, 2019. Group analysis: Second-level GLM
Tuesday, October 22, 2019. Statistical thresholds
Required reading: Chapter 10, pp. 357 - 369
Tuesday, October 29, 2019. MIDTERM EXAMINATION
Tuesday, November 5, 2019. READING WEEK
Tuesday, November 12, 2019. Modelling Age effects; Region of Interest (ROI) Analysis
Tuesday, November 19, 2019. In-class group presentations.
Tuesday, November 26, 2019. In-class group presentations.
Tuesday, December 5, 2019. Feedback on group presentations.
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.
