E. Parakeva, R. Stamatiou, A. Vasilaki

Face to Face:

Teaching of “Physiology of Behavior” consists of lectures. The lectures content is described above.

Attendance of lectures is obligatory.

Information and Communication Technologies are used for the preparation of the lecture material, the online information and provision of supplementary learning material to students.

Specifically:

• Common software (e.g. MS powerpoint) is used to prepare lecture material and display slides and videos.

•    Announcements, information etc are available online via e-class. Communication is also done via e-mail.

The language of assessment is English.

Evaluation methods.

At the end of the semester, students present a paper with a theme similar to these lectures and submit (electronically) a written paper on a topic similar to that of their presentation.

Student presentations are posted in the e- class.

Final Grade:

The final grade of the course is based on students’ oral presentations   

Aims of the course

The aim of the course is the presentation of the higher functions of the brain (perception, memory, learning, emotion, motivation) as well as some basic principles governing them at the cellular level. The course material aims to familiarize students with terms and concepts related to higher functions and introduce them to disorders of these functions. It also refers to experimental approaches to the study of higher human brain functions. Therefore, students will be able to understand the importance of comprehensive and in-depth knowledge of the function of the nervous system for the scientific field of Neuroscience as well as the Neurology and Psychiatry specialists.

The specific objectives of the course are specialized in the following intended learning outcomes:

After the successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:

• Recognize and describe the higher human brain (cognitive) functions and acquire a critical attitude towards the scientific knowledge related to them.
• Assess the limits within which the mechanisms related to the higher brain functions operate and possible disturbances that will occur in cases of deviations from these limits.
• Study with critical disposition scientific studies (articles) that investigate the higher (cognitive) functions.
• Collaborate with his classmates to study, organize and present a scientific topic.

General Abilities

• Research, analysis and synthesis of data and information, using the necessary technologies
• Decision making
• Autonomous work
• Teamwork
• Exercise criticism and self-criticism
• Promoting free, creative and inductive thinking

The content of the course includes the following major items:

A. The content of the lectures together with the relevant clinical insights the students need to learn/acquire per chapter.

COURSE CONTENT

Section 1: History of Mind Mapping

•  From antiquity to the 18th century AD
• Albrecht Von Haller- the equipotential view
• Franz Joseph Gall – Phrenology-
• Localization of brain functions

Section 2: Brain and Behavior – Cognitive Function and Cortex

The enigma of consciousness

• The Phi phenomenon
• Daniel Dennett: «Multiple drafts model»
• The Neuroscience of Consciousness: Bridging the gulf between brain and consciousness

The biological basis of behavior

• Behavioral Disorders
• The relationship between brain and behavior
• Methods of Studying the Brain- Brain Imaging Techniques

Cognitive function and brain cortex

• Hierarchical organization of brain
• Functional specificity in the human brain

Section 3: Genes and Behavior: The Biological Basis of Behavioral Disorders

• The genetic element in human behavior
• Studing the effect of genes on behavior
• Human behavior is shaped by both genetic and environmental factors
• Most complex behavioral features are controlled by multiple genes
• Biological basis of behavioral disorders

Section 4: The evolution of the brain and behavior throughout life

• Experiences have a major impact on brain development
• Visual deprivation can lead to blindness
• The brain is still changing as we grow older
• Theories of “aging”

Section 5: Perception

General principles -Definitions

Auditory perception

• Audiogram
• Audio Frequency Separation
• Psychoacoustics
• Experience has an impact on auditory perception and auditory pathways

Visual perception

• Face and object recognition
• Theories of visual perception
• Depth perception- Perceptual Stability
• Gestalt Theory and Its Legacy: Organization in Eye and Brain, in Attention and Mental Representation
• Other theories of visual perception
• Visual perceptual deficiencies

Section 6: Emotion & social brain

• General principles -Definitions
• Components of emotion
• Emotional brain
• Neuropsychological theories about emotion
• Production of emotional behavior
• Empathy : mirror neurons

Section 7: The Neurophysiology of Speech-Hemispheric Specialization and Cognition

• Cerebral hemisphere asymmetry
• Language Evolution and Human Development
• The FOXP2 gene
• The cortical organization of speech processing
• The role of Broca’s area in speech
• Speech Disorders
• Types of Aphasia
• Brain Lateralization
• Split brain – the corpus callosum
• Corpus callosum abnormalities

Section 8: Gender and brain

• Genger dimorphism
• Gender definition
• The Influence of Sex Hormones on the Nervous System
• The effect of sex hormones on the developing brain
• Masculinization of the brain
• Male and Female Brain Differentiation
• Parental Behavior
• Non-chromosomal gender disorders – Gender change in puberty

Section 9: Neurogenesis

Section 10: Learning and memory- Cellular mechanisms

• The relationship between Learning and Memory
• Memory problems after brain injuries
• Patient HM
• Amnesia: Types, Symptoms, and Causes
• The Korsakoff syndrome
• Types of memory
• Habituation and sensitization
• Sensory, short and long term memory
• Parts of the Brain Involved in short and long term memory formation
• The main components of human memory and the brain areas involved
• Hippocampus and spatial memory
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Neural mechanisms of learning and memory
• Plasticity
• Aplysia as a model organism for the study of memory
• Mechanisms of short-term and long-term potentiation
• Mechanisms involved in age-related memory impairment

Α. Lecture Material

Main suggested textbooks:

1. Brain & Behavior: An Introduction to Behavioral Neuroscience Sixth Edition by Bob Garrett (Author), Gerald Hough (Author)

Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc, ISBN-13: 978-1071839935

2. Fundamentals of Human Neuropsychology 8th Edition by Bryan Kolb (Author)

Publisher: Worth Publishers, ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1319247164

Relevant Scientific Journals:

Neuron

Consciousness and Cognition

Neuroscience Letters

Neuroscience Research

Current Biology

Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology

PLoS ONE

Journal of Learning Disabilities