Cognitive Neuroscience

Code:

OPT25

Acronym:

NC14

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Medicine

Instance: 2017/2018 - 2S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Departamento de Biomedicina
Course/CS Responsible:	Integrated Master in Medicine

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MIMED	22	Mestrado Integrado em Medicina- Plano oficial 2013 (Reforma Curricular)	2	-	3	20	81
			3

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

The course aims to introduce students to the field of Cognitive Neuroscience: the body of knowledge that studies the neural basis of cognitive functions. The course aims to expand the knowledge acquired in the course Morphophysiology of the Nervous System (1st year of Medical School), integrating it into a functional perspective that will be useful as a foundation for the later study of clinical neurology and psychiatry.
The course will have two main objectives: a) to provide students with a comprehensive overview of the physiology of cognitive functions that will enable them to have a thorough knowledge of the neurobiological mechanisms that underlie the neurological and psychiatric diseases with which they will contact in future academic courses and throughout the professional career; b) to provide students with a powerful introduction to the methodologies of scientific research in cognitive neuroscience that will allow them to consider pursuing a postgraduate research program.

Learning outcomes and competences

The syllabus of the course deals with a simplified but comprehensive view that will address all the important concepts of Cognitive Neuroscience; the course will focus on the study of the neurobiological structures that are crucial for each cognitive function, and all lectures will use examples and parallelisms from the clinical framework. In the practical classes the students will have direct contact with the most important current technologies and discuss current scientific research.

The small number of students admitted to the course will allow intensive interaction and personal-based learning.

Working method

Presencial

Program

Theoretical classes:
Cognitive Neuroscience: topics of interest and scientific methodologies
Plasticity of synapses, neural populations and brain areas
Sensory Processing: perception of auditory, visual, olfactory, gustatory and somatosensitive stimuli. Agnosias and neglect.
Motor processing. Ataxia, apraxia and dyspraxia.
Neuronal systems of attention. Attentional deficit and hyperactivity disorder.
Memory: declarative, non-declarative, working memory, priming, skill learning and conditioning. Amnesias and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Neural basis of emotion. Consciousness. Prosopagnosia and autism
Executive Function and inhibitory control; decision making and value. Placebo; drug addiction.
Neurobiology of language, time, music and numbers. Aphasia, agraphia and acalculia.

Practical classes:
Methods in cognitive neuroscience
Imaging techniques in cognitive assessment of humans
Cognitive and neurophysiological evaluation in humans and animals
Scientific Project

Mandatory literature

Purves, Cabeza, Huettel, LaBar; Principles of Cognitive Neuroscience, 2012

Complementary Bibliography

Banich, Compton; Cognitive Neuroscience

Teaching methods and learning activities

The curricular unit will be based on lectures that address the main concepts of cognitive neuroscience, taught together with a strong practical component developing in the students the individual skills needed for conducting experimental work.
The evaluation of the course will be based on two components:
     a. written test which will evaluate acquired knowledge (50 minutes duration; 25 questions of either short descriptive response or questions of multiple choice; 50% of final score)
     b. final written essay (50% of final score)

keywords

Health sciences > Neuroscience > Neuropsychology
Health sciences > Neuroscience
Health sciences > Neuroscience > Neurobiology

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Exame	50,00
Trabalho escrito	50,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	21,00
Frequência das aulas	20,00
Trabalho escrito	40,00
Total:	81,00

Eligibility for exams

"Frequência"will be obtained by the presence in, at least, 75% of the classes, and by completing the essays or projects required for evaluation.

Calculation formula of final grade

( Score of Individual Exam + Score of Essay) / 2

Internship work/project

In the practical classes, the students plan and write a proposal for a scientific project.

Classification improvement

Students may repeat the final Exam during the "Época de recurso". The written project (prepared in groupwork) will not be subjected to appeal. Due to the limited number of students that may enroll in the Unit, the possibility of "melhoria por frequência" will not be considered.