Code: | MI013 | Acronym: | MI013 |
Keywords | |
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Classification | Keyword |
OFICIAL | Medicine |
Active? | Yes |
Responsible unit: | Departamento de Anatomia |
Course/CS Responsible: | Integrated Master in Medicine |
Acronym | No. of Students | Study Plan | Curricular Years | Credits UCN | Credits ECTS | Contact hours | Total Time |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
MIMED | 10 | Mestrado Integrado em Medicina 2007 | 6 | - | 2 | 32 | 54 |
Mestrado Integrado em Medicina- Plano oficial 2013 (Reforma Curricular) | 6 | - | 2 | 32 | 54 |
The main goal of this course is to help students to understand how specific motor, limbic, and cognitive functions emerge within the brain. This will be achieved by acquiring and integrating knowledge from several disciplines, such as neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, neurochemistry and behavioral neuroscience. The students will be familiarized with modern experimental techniques used to investigate the neuronal basis of behavior. Finally, the students will familiarize themselves with the interests and motivations that have driven the investigation of the linkage between neural circuitry and complex behaviors.
Describe the neuronal circuits underlying the human brain functions, including learning and memory, conditioning, skills and habits, motor memory, fear, anxiety, hunger, reproduction, pleasure and reward. Relate structural, neurochemical and neurophysiological alterations in the nervous system to behavioral abnormalities present in patients. Demonstrate the ability to conduct a critical analysis of neuronal mechanisms underlying neurological, psychiatric and psychosomatic pathologies using existing bibliographic sources and data bases.
1. Overview of structure of the brain and its sensorial, limbic, motor, associative, higher cognitive and motor functions. 2. Classical and operant conditioning; overview of the basic concepts in learning and memory. 3. Memory systems: limbic system and hippocampal formation, explicit memory and amnesia. 4. Memory systems: importance of basal ganglia and cerebellum in learning skills and habits and in motor memory. 5. Amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex: fear, anxiety, aggression, depression. 6. Hypothalamus: defense, feeding and reproduction. 7. Ventral striatum, ventral tegmental area and dopamine in reward, pleasure, and addictions. 8. Molecular mechanisms of neuronal plasticity. 9. Cognitive aspects of chronic pain; brain circuits of justice.
In addition to traditional lectures providing background on neural systems selected for the insight that they provide to behavioral principles, we shall have seminar studies consisting in analyzing both classic and up-to-date scientific papers and discussing their methods and conclusions. In addition, two class periods will be spent observing animal behavior and analyzing brain materials in order to get an appreciation of modern neuroscience methods.
Designation | Weight (%) |
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Defesa pública de dissertação, de relatório de projeto ou estágio, ou de tese | 10,00 |
Participação presencial | 90,00 |
Total: | 100,00 |
Designation | Time (hours) |
---|---|
Elaboração de relatório/dissertação/tese | 5,00 |
Estudo autónomo | 26,00 |
Frequência das aulas | 5,00 |
Realização de Estágio | 5,00 |
Total: | 41,00 |
Distribution assessment fulfilled
The distributed evaluation will provide a total of 18 values to the final classification and will be calculated as a sum of the classifications obtained by each student in each study subject (2 values per theme). Classifications obtained for monographs and/or oral presentations (1 or 2 values) will be added to the classification obtained during the distributed evaluation to yield the final classification.
At the end of the course each student can wish to write a monograph or present a brief talk correlating morphological and physiological alterations with a chosen behavioral pathology.
According to the regulations of the FMUP
According to the regulations of the FMUP
The chapters for reading will be provided from the following books:
Fundamental Neuroscience, 2012, Larry R. Squire (Editor), Oxford University, Elsevier Science, New York;
Biological Psychology: An Introduction to Behavioral, Cognitive, and Clinical Neuroscience, 2010, by S. Marc Breedlove, Neil V. Watson and Mark R. Rosenzweig. Sinauer Associates, Berkeley;
The Human Brain. An Introduction to its Functional Anatomy – J. Nolte, 6ª Edição, Mosby Elsevier, 2009;
Up-to-date review and research papers will be suggested for each theme.