ID:
507323
Duration (hours):
36
CFU:
6
SSD:
PSICOBIOLOGIA E PSICOLOGIA FISIOLOGICA
Year:
2025
Overview
Date/time interval
Primo Semestre (22/09/2025 - 09/01/2026)
Syllabus
Course Objectives
The aim of the course is to provide an overview of the neuropsychological inferences driven on the structure of the normal mind, and of the most recent debates in this field of research. Despite neuropsychology will be the specific topic of the lectures, this discipline, as it will soon be clear to students attending the course, will be taken as an example of scientific research in general, and will be dealt with in order to highlight the logical steps which make reasoning scientific. The logic of scientific enquiry, and more generally, scientific culture (some would say “critical spirit”) is growing more and more relevant in all psychological professions, not just in neuropsychology, so, an indirect aim of the course is to provide the students with a flavour of such an approach, which will turn out to be precious and decisive in their professional and personal life.
Active participation by students to class discussion will be encouraged all throughout the course, which, if possible, will also include seminars by neuroscientists (colleagues of the teacher).
Active participation by students to class discussion will be encouraged all throughout the course, which, if possible, will also include seminars by neuroscientists (colleagues of the teacher).
Course Prerequisites
Basic notions of physiological psychology, neuropsychology, and experimental psychology
Teaching Methods
Official guidelines of the University will be followed
Assessment Methods
Written exam.
While students are formally free to reject a positive grade (18/30 or higher), the general advice is not to do so more than once.
While students are formally free to reject a positive grade (18/30 or higher), the general advice is not to do so more than once.
Texts
Lecture slides. More info to be available during the course
Contents
[BEWARE NOT TO CONFUSE THIS COURSE with the one by the same name held by Professor GIULIO PALMAS in the year 2024-25. Programs and exams differ]
The course will provide several examples of research in Cognitive Neuropsychology, the discipline which infers the structure of the normal mind from the performance of brain damaged patients. Scientific papers will be discussed from a theoretical-methodological point of view, trying to highlight both strengths and weaknesses of them. If possible, some of these papers will be presented by their authors (neuroscientists). Instances will be provided regarding the various phases of development of a neuropsychological research program, with special attention to "crucial" experiments in the history of some of them.
The main topics will be:
Disorders of representation of space and of its metrics (visuo-spatial neglect, optic ataxia, anisometry);
Disorders of awareness of visual stimuli (blindsight);
Disorders following damage to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex;
Recent neuroscientific theories of consciousness.
The main purpose of these lectures is to provide the student with a critical attitude towards neuropsychological scientific work, and at the same time, to illustrate some of the most curious and surprising phenomena scientific research has happened to come across.
The course will provide several examples of research in Cognitive Neuropsychology, the discipline which infers the structure of the normal mind from the performance of brain damaged patients. Scientific papers will be discussed from a theoretical-methodological point of view, trying to highlight both strengths and weaknesses of them. If possible, some of these papers will be presented by their authors (neuroscientists). Instances will be provided regarding the various phases of development of a neuropsychological research program, with special attention to "crucial" experiments in the history of some of them.
The main topics will be:
Disorders of representation of space and of its metrics (visuo-spatial neglect, optic ataxia, anisometry);
Disorders of awareness of visual stimuli (blindsight);
Disorders following damage to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex;
Recent neuroscientific theories of consciousness.
The main purpose of these lectures is to provide the student with a critical attitude towards neuropsychological scientific work, and at the same time, to illustrate some of the most curious and surprising phenomena scientific research has happened to come across.
Course Language
Italian
More information
Consistently with the University policy on Innovative Didactics, favouring inclusion, the teacher guarantees up to 2 office hours a week for students, to be agreed upon with the teacher himself by email
Degrees
Degrees (2)
PSYCHOLOGY
Master’s Degree
2 years
PSYCHOLOGY
Master’s Degree
2 years
No Results Found