- Aims:
The course is an introduction to the neurophysiological mechanisms of human perception,
motor control and higher cognitive functions. It will defend the idea that human mental
life has a biological basis and a number of methods allow for studying its
neurophysiological mechanisms although the observable variables in human behaviour are
stimulus and response.
- Objectives:
On completion of the course students should be able to: On completion the course the
students should be able to discuss the perspectives to the cognitive psychology of the
future to study the problems of consciousness, feelings, motivation, internal
representations, dynamics and subjective states of mind grounded in empirical neural
science.
- Learning strategies:
Lectures on key problems, demonstrations and videotapes, experiments, discussions.
- Overall duration and format:
A one semester (15 weeks) course with 1.5 hour lectures and 1.5 hour demonstrations,
experiments and discussions.
- Credit hours:
3.
- Lecturer:
Angel Vassilev.
- Literature:
Eysenck M. (1996).
Bruce Vicki:
. Psychology Press 1996. Eysenk M., Keane M. T.:
Psychology Press 1995 Rosenzweig M. R., Leiman A. L. and Breedlove S. M.:
Sinauer Associates Publ., Sunderland, Massachusetts, 1996. Kandel E. R., Schwartz J.
H., Jessel T. M.:
(Bibliographic data to be specified)
- Course outline:
- The course is divided into 3 parts:
- Basic neurophysiology
- Introduction to sensory physiology and psychology
- Integration of both on the basis of the knowledge aquired
The methods of research will be particularly emphasized
- Lecture by lecture breakdown:
Lecture 1: Cognitive psychology and neuroscience. The integrative action of the
nervous system from simple reflexes to behaviour. Requirements for implementation,
structure blocks and their morphological and functional properties. The central and
peripheral nervous system. Main parts of the central nervous system and their functions.
Lecture 2: Methods of investigation. Anatomical, histological, physiological.
Non-invasive methods in human research of neural function: EEG, MEG, PET, fMRI.
Lecture 3: Cellular structure of the nervous system. The neuronal doctrine. The
neurone as an information processing and transmitting unit. A: Signal transmission along
the axon: Cellular membrane. Resting membrane potential. Axon potential. Phases of
excitability. Excitation and inhibition.
Lecture 4: The neurone as an information processing and transmitting unit. Signal
transmission from cell to cell: Electrical and chemical synapses. Excitatory and
inhibitory synapses. Neurotransmitters and modulators. Ionic channels: voltage gated
channels, ligand gated channels. Second messenger systems.
Lecture 5: Signal integration by the neurone. The inputs and output. Generation of
the action potential. Types of synapses. Short-term synaptic plasticity: habituation,
sensitization. Long-term synaptic plasticity.
Demonstrations: Electroencephalography.
Lecture 6: The overall plane of the sensory systems. Receptor cells: mechanisms of
signal transduction. Coding of signal modality, localization, intensity and duration.
Psychophysics and methods of studying the sensations.
Lecture 7: The somatosensory system. Receptive fields. Somatotopic neural maps.
Modular organization of the cortex. Lateral inhibition and signal processing in neural
nets. Proprioception. Active and passive touch. Ascending and descending control of the
sensory input. Plasticity of the somatosensory cortex.
Lecture 8: Vision 1. The optical apparatus. The photoreceptors as signal
transducers and amplifiers. The retina as a part of the brain: structure and signal
processing. Spatial and temporal summation, lateral inhibition. Threshold/area and
threshold/exposure time functions. Simultaneous contrast.
Lecture 9: Vision 2. The unstable visual code and its consequencies.
Retino-cortical and intracortical pathways. Organisation of the visual cortex. The
principle of information processing by parallel pathways. Colour perception. Colour
constancy.
Demonstration: Detection threshold measurement. Contrast sensitivity measurement.
Lecture 10: Visual perception. Contours as places of discontinuity in a surface
features. Mechanisms of contour extraction. Movement perception. Recognition of objects.
Lecture 11: Audition. Sound frequency, intensity and localisation encoding. Speech
perception.
Lecture 12: The sense of balance. Taste and olfaction. The sensations of the
newborns. Stimulus deprivation effects.
Lecture 13: Proprioception and motor control. Spinal and brain mechanisms of motor
control. Posture and movements.
Lecture 14: Higher cognitive and affective functions and their neural mechanisms:
Learning and memory.
Lecture 15: Higher cognitive and affective functions and their neural mechanisms:
Language. Hemispheric asymmetry. Emotions. Motivation. Attention.
- Assessment:
The knowledge obtained will be evaluated by: recording the students activity during the
course, test and reporting on an essay written by the student.
- Prerequisites: none.