Psychology 2220B 001
Introduction to Behavioural & 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.
WESTERN UNIVERSITY
LONDON CANADA
Department of Psychology
2022 - 2023
Psychology 2220B Section 001
Introduction to Behavioural and Cognitive Neuroscience
(Revised Dec 2022)
- CALENDAR DESCRIPTION
An introduction to the structure and function of the nervous system in relation to behaviour in humans (cognitive neuroscience) and other animals (behavioural neuroscience). Topics covered include brain anatomy, neuronal function, drugs & addiction, research methods, sensory perception & motor actions, learning & memory, cognition, and neurological & psychiatric disorders.
Antirequisite: Neuroscience 2000, Psychology 2221A/B
Prerequisite: A mark of at least 60% in 1.0 credits of Psychology at the 1000 level.
A background in biology is strongly recommended
3 lecture hours; Course Weight: 0.5
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.
2.0 COURSE INFORMATION
Instructor: Roberto Limongi
Office: Robarts Research Institute (Room 1232C)
Office Hours: Online (via Zoom) with appointment via OWL
Email: rlimongi@uwo.ca
Teaching Assistant: TBA
Office: TBA
Office Hours: TBA
Email: TBA
Time and Location of Classes: Tuesdays 2:30 – 5:30 pm SEB 1059
Delivery Method: In-Person
Students who are in emotional/mental distress should refer to Health and Wellness @Western https://www.uwo.ca/health/ 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 contact Accessible Education at aew@uwo.ca or 519-661-2147.
3.0 TEXTBOOK
Brain and Behavior: A Cognitive Neuroscience Perspective
by David Eagleman; Jonathan Downar, Oxford University Press
4.0 COURSE OBJECTIVES & LEARNING OUTCOMES
Course objective (overview)
The mind is an inference machine that engages in “active inference” to help us navigate (behave) and adapt to the uncertain environmental changes. The less uncertain our minds are about the environment the more chances we have to adapt and survive. The brain is the physical implementation system that embodies the mind. The main goal of this course is to understand the basic structures and functions of the brain covered under the general principles of cognitive and behavioural neuroscience.
|
Learning Outcome |
Learning Activity |
Assessment |
|
Depth and Breadth of Knowledge.
|
Lectures Readings
|
Exams Participation |
|
Knowledge of Methodologies.
|
Lectures Readings
|
Exams Participation |
|
Application of Knowledge.
|
Lectures Readings |
Newsletter: “The Diverse and Inclusive Brain” Participation |
|
Communication Skills.
|
Lectures Readings |
Newsletter: “The Diverse and Inclusive Brain Participation |
|
Awareness of Limits of Knowledge.
|
Lectures Readings |
Active Inference in Epistemic writing Participation |
|
Autonomy and Professional Capacity.
|
Lectures Readings |
Newsletter: “The Diverse and Inclusive Brain” Participation |
5.0 EVALUATION
The evaluation and testing formats for this course were created to assess the learning objectives as listed in section 4.0 and are considered necessary for meeting these learning objectives.
If you are to learn the basic behavioural and cognitive neuroscience principles that govern how the brain embodies the mind and exerts active inference, it is congruent to expect that the ways to assess your knowledge also rely on the same principles. The course comprises Four means of evaluations: epistemic writing, the “diverse brain” newsletter, exams, and participation. Each of these means assesses the level of precision and uncertainty that you have regarding the course content.
Epistemic writing (10% of final mark).
Writing is the best way to learn because while writing we increase the precision about a given course content. Therefore, writing is active inference in practice, and we refer to it as “epistemic writing”. In the course, epistemic writing takes the form of a short reaction/position paper that you must write directly on OWL during the last 30 minutes of every session. The instructor will present to the class an essay question. You will write via an electronic device (e.g., cell phone, laptop, notebook, tablet) on OWL an essay of at least 250 words. Essay will be graded using a rubric (available on OWL by the first session of the course). Essay questions, and grading strategy will be similar in format to the essay questions of the exams.
“The Diverse Brain” newsletter (10% of final mark).
You are supposed to join a group of students and collaboratively and inclusively create a newsletter about fostering equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) via dissemination of cognitive and behavioural neuroscience knowledge. The newsletter should be uploaded to OWL not later than the day of the last lecture. The newsletter will receive a grade based on a rubric, available on OWL by the first session of the course. Group configuration will be informed on OWL by the first session of the course.
Exams (70 % of final mark).
There will be mid-term (35 % of final mark) and final (35% of final mark) in-person exams. The exams comprise multiple-choice, true/false items, and short-answer/essay items. Each item embeds a level of objective (external) and expected subjective (i.e., yours) uncertainty. For example, true/false statements have 50% of objective uncertainty (i.e., if you responded by guessing!) whereas four-choice items have 25% of objective uncertainty. In addition, items vary in subjective uncertainty -by varying the similarity between choices. This means that the higher your conceptual organization is on a given topic the higher your chance of accurately responding items with high level of subjective uncertainty. Marks’ weights depend on the balance between objective and subjective uncertainty (item wise). Examples of items with different levels of subjective and objective uncertainty will be shown in class as “participation” prompts.
Participation (10% of final mark). During each session, the instructor will prompt T/F and multiple-choice questions. You will use iClicker to submit your answers which will be logged. Questions will have the same format you will answer in the exams.
5.1 POLICY ON MISSING COURSEWORK
If you miss an assignment and have an excuse documented accommodation approved by the academic counselling office in your home faculty, you will be offered a make-up assignment. In arranging academic consideration, medical documentation will be required for any absences, late assignments or essays, laboratory experiments or tutorials, laboratory reports, mid-term papers, and final projects. Such documentation must be submitted by the student directly to the appropriate Faculty Dean’s office, and it will be the Dean’s office that will make the determination whether academic consideration is warranted. Given the University’s Official Student Record Information Privacy Policy, instructors may not collect medical documentation.
In all cases where academic consideration is being sought for work totalling 10% or more of the final grade in a course, students will be directed to the appropriate Faculty Dean’s office. Students who have been denied academic consideration by the instructor may appeal this decision to the appropriate Faculty Dean’s office but will be required to present appropriate documentation. A student may appeal a decision on academic consideration made by the Dean’s Office of the student’s Home Faculty to the Senate Review Board Academic (SRBA) as set out in the Undergraduate Student Academic Appeals policy.
The expectation for course grades within the Psychology Department is that they will be distributed around the following averages:
70% 1000-level to 2099-level courses
72% 2100-2999-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
Note that in the event that course grades are significantly higher or lower than these averages, instructors may be required to make adjustments to course grades. Such adjustment might include the normalization of one or more course components and/or the re-weighting of various course components.
Policy on Grade Rounding: Please note that although course grades within the Psychology Department are rounded to the nearest whole number, no further grade rounding will be done. No additional assignments will be offered to enhance a final grade; nor will requests to change a grade because it is needed for a future program be considered. To maximize your grade, do your best on each and every assessment within the course.
6.0 ASSESSMENT/EVALUATION SCHEDULE
|
Date |
Assessment |
|
17-Jan |
Epistemic writing 1 In-class participation |
|
24-Jan |
Epistemic writing 2 In-class participation |
|
31-Feb |
Epistemic writing 3 In-class participation |
|
7-Feb |
Epistemic writing 4 In-class participation |
|
14-Feb |
Epistemic writing 5 In-class participation |
|
28-Feb |
Mid term |
|
07-Mar |
Epistemic writing 6 In-class participation |
|
14-Mar |
Epistemic writing 7 In-class participation |
|
21-Mar |
Epistemic writing 8 In-class participation |
|
28-Mar |
Epistemic writing 9 In-class participation |
|
04-Apr |
Epistemic writing 10 In-class participation Newsletter |
|
(April 13 -30) |
Final exam |
7.0 CLASS SCHEDULE
|
Dates |
Lecture |
Topic |
Reading |
|
Jan. 10 |
1 |
Introduction to the course. Epistemic writing and iClicker practice |
Syllabus |
|
Jan. 17 |
2 |
Introduction The Brain and Nervous System |
Eagleman & Downar Chapters 1, 2 |
|
Jan. 24 |
3 |
Neurons and Synapses Neuroplasticity |
Eagleman & Downar Chapters 3, 4 |
|
Jan. 31 |
4 |
Vision Other Senses |
Eagleman & Downar Chapter 5, 6 |
|
Feb. 7 |
5 |
Motor System |
Eagleman & Downar Chapter 7 |
|
Feb. 14 |
6 |
Attention and Consciousness |
Eagleman & Downar Chapter 8 |
|
Feb. 21 |
|
Reading Week |
|
|
Feb. 28 |
7 |
Mid-Term |
Eagleman & Downar Chapters 1-8 |
|
Mar. 7 |
8 |
Memory |
Eagleman & Downar Chapter 9 |
|
Mar. 14 |
9 |
Sleep Language and Lateralization |
Eagleman & Downar Chapters 10, 11 |
|
Mar. 21 |
10 |
Decision Making Emotions |
Eagleman & Downar Chapters 12, 13 |
|
Mar. 28 |
11 |
Motivation and Reward Social Cognition |
Eagleman & Downar Chapters 14, 15 |
|
Apr. 4 |
12 |
Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders |
Eagleman & Downar Chapters 16 |
|
Apr. 13 - 30 |
|
Final Exam |
Eagleman & Downar Chapters 9-16 |
8.0 Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that Western University is located on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak and Attawandaron peoples, on lands connected with the London Township and Sombra Treaties of 1796 and the Dish with One Spoon Covenant Wampum.
With this, we respect the longstanding relationships that Indigenous Nations have to this land, as they are the original caretakers. We acknowledge historical and ongoing injustices that Indigenous Peoples (e.g. First Nations, Métis and Inuit) endure in Canada, and we accept responsibility as a public institution to contribute toward revealing and correcting miseducation, as well as renewing respectful relationships with Indigenous communities through our teaching, research and community service.
9.0 STATEMENT ON ACADEMIC OFFENCES
Students are responsible for understanding the nature and avoiding the occurrence of plagiarism and other scholastic offences. Plagiarism and cheating are considered very serious offences because they undermine the integrity of research and education. Actions constituting a scholastic offence are described at the following link: https://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 offences. 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).
Computer-marked multiple-choice tests and/or exams will be subject to submission for similarity review by software that will check for unusual coincidences in answer patterns that may indicate cheating.
In classes that involve the use of a personal response system (PRS), data collected using the PRS will only be used in a manner consistent to that described in this outline. It is the instructor’s responsibility to make every effort to ensure that data remain confidential. However, students should be aware that as with all forms of electronic communication, privacy is not guaranteed. Your PRS login credentials are for your sole use only. Students attempting to use another student’s credentials to submit data through the PRS may be subject to academic misconduct proceedings.
Possible penalties for a scholastic offence include failure of the assignment/exam, failure of the course, suspension from the University, and expulsion from the University.
10.0 POLICY ON THE USE OF EXAM PROCTORING SOFTWARE
If a remote proctoring service is used, the service will require you to provide personal information (including some biometric data). The session will be recorded. In the event that in-person exams are unexpectedly canceled, you may only be given notice of the use of a proctoring service a short time in advance. More information about remote proctoring is available in the Online Proctoring Guidelines. Please ensure you are familiar with any proctoring service’s technical requirements before the exam. Additional guidance is available at the following link: https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/onlineproctorguidelines.pdf
* Please note that Zoom servers are located outside Canada. If you would prefer to use only your first name or a nickname to login to Zoom, please provide this information to the instructor in advance of the test or examination. See this link for technical requirements: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us
11.0 POLICY ON ACCOMMODATION FOR ILLNESS OR OTHER ABSENCES
Western’s policy on Accommodation for Medical Illness can be found at:
https://www.westerncalendar.uwo.ca/PolicyPages.cfm?PolicyCategoryID=1&Command=showCategory&SelectedCalendar=Live&ArchiveID=#Page_12
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:
- 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.
https://www.registrar.uwo.ca/faculty_academic_counselling.html
Students seeking academic consideration:
- are advised to consider carefully the implications of postponing tests or midterm exams or delaying handing in work;
- must communicate with their instructors no later than 24 hoursafter the end of the period covered SMC, or immediately upon their return following a documented absence
Students seeking accommodation for religious purposes are advised to contact Academic Counselling at least three weeks prior to the religious event and as soon as possible after the start of the term.
12.0 Contingency Plan for Return to Lockdown: IN-Person & Blended classes
In the event of a COVID-19 resurgence or any other event that necessitates the course delivery moving away from face-to-face interaction, all remaining course content will be delivered entirely online, either synchronously (i.e., at the times indicated in the timetable) or asynchronously (e.g., posted on OWL for students to view at their convenience). The grading scheme will not change. Any remaining assessments will also be conducted online, as determined by the course instructor.
13.0 STATEMENTS CONCERNING ONLINE ETIQUETTE
In courses involving online interactions, the Psychology Department expects students to honour the following rules of etiquette:
- please “arrive” to class on time
- please use your computer and/or laptop if possible (as opposed to a cell phone or tablet)
- please ensure that you are in a private location to protect the confidentiality of discussions in the event that a class discussion deals with sensitive or personal material
- to minimize background noise, kindly mute your microphone for the entire class until you are invited to speak, unless directed otherwise
- In classes larger than 30 participants please turn off your video camera for the entire class unless you are invited to speak
- In classes of 30 students or fewer, where video chat procedures are being used, please be prepared to turn your video camera off at the instructor’s request if the internet connection becomes unstable
- Unless invited by your instructor, do not share your screen in the meeting
The course instructor will act as moderator for the class and will deal with any questions from participants. To participate please consider the following:
- If you wish to speak, use the “raise hand” function and wait for the instructor to acknowledge you before beginning your comment or question.
- Please remember to unmute your microphone and turn on your video camera before speaking.
- Self-identify when speaking.
- Please remember to mute your mic and turn off your video camera after speaking (unless directed otherwise).
General considerations of “netiquette”:
- Keep in mind the different cultural and linguistic backgrounds of the students in the course.
- Be courteous toward the instructor, your colleagues, and authors whose work you are discussing.
- Be respectful of the diversity of viewpoints that you will encounter in the class and in your readings. The exchange of diverse ideas and opinions is part of the scholarly environment. “Flaming” is never appropriate.
- Be professional and scholarly in all online postings. Use proper grammar and spelling. Cite the ideas of others appropriately.
Note that disruptive behaviour of any type during online classes, including inappropriate use of the chat function, is unacceptable. Students found guilty of Zoom-bombing a class or of other serious online offenses may be subject to disciplinary measures under the Code of Student Conduct.
14.0 OTHER INFORMATION
Office of the Registrar: https://registrar.uwo.ca
Student Development Services: www.sdc.uwo.ca
Psychology Undergraduate Program: https://www.psychology.uwo.ca/undergraduate/index.html
If you wish to appeal a grade, please read the policy documentation at: https://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/appealsundergrad.pdf
Please first contact the course instructor. If your issue is not resolved, you may make your appeal to the Undergraduate Chair in Psychology (psyugrd@uwo.ca).
Copyright Statement: Lectures and course materials, including power point presentations, outlines, videos 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 any course materials publicly and/or for commercial purposes without the instructor’s written consent.
Policy on the Recording of Synchronous Sessions: Some or all of the remote learning sessions for this course (if scheduled) may be recorded. The data captured during these recordings may include your image, voice recordings, chat logs and personal identifiers (name displayed on the screen). The recordings will be used for educational purposes related to this course, including evaluations. The recordings may be disclosed to other individuals participating in the course for their private or group study purposes. Please contact the instructor if you have any concerns related to session recordings. Participants in this course are not permitted to privately record the sessions, except where recording is an approved accommodation, or the student has the prior written permission of the instructor.
