Undergraduate Course: Neurobiology of Cognition in Health and Disease (BIME10070)
Course Outline
| School | Deanery of Biomedical Sciences |
College | College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Progress in contemporary neuroscience is beginning to give us a handle on the network, cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie cognition. This elective builds on the foundations laid in Neuroscience 3 (Year 3) and introduces final year undergraduates in neuroscience to a topic that is central to the discipline.
It consists of a mixture of lectures and seminars, led by Prof Richard Morris and Prof Tara Spires-Jones with important contributions from colleagues, including Chancellor's Fellows, senior postdoctoral staff and guest-lecturers.
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| Course description |
The course will focus on two themes in cognition:
1. Neurobiological basis of normal cognition including: Organisation of memory, synaptic plasticity, memory persistence and forgetting, the role of sleep in cognition, and cognition throughout the life course (development to ageing).
2. Neurobiology underpinning disorders affecting cognition including developmental disorders and neurodegenerative disorders.
On completion of this course, the student will understand the broad concepts of the neurobiology of cognition and diseases affecting cognition, and will enhance their skills in reading primary research papers, presenting to colleagues, and writing critically.
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Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2021/22, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 38,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 6,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 1,
Formative Assessment Hours 3,
Summative Assessment Hours 3,
Revision Session Hours 1,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
144 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
33 %,
Coursework
67 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
67% in-course assessment and 33% degree examination |
| Feedback |
Formative feedback will be given following quizzes at the end of a teaching theme and also from a 'mid term exam'. Feedback on summative in course assessment (presentation and essay) will be given in semester 1. |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours & Minutes |
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| Main Exam Diet S1 (December) | | 2:00 | |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Research a particular topic in depth and write a detailed essay with diagrams about it.
- Develop an understanding of what cognition is and how it enables us to understand the wold around us and react appropriately and to develop an understanding of brain diseases affecting cognition and the progress in the field towards therapeutics.
- Integrate knowledge from learning about healthy and diseased cognition.
- Understand research methods in the neurobiology of cognition and begin developing novel ideas about how to use these to advance the field.
- Develop skills for reading advanced scientific papers in the field, distilling the essence of this work, and presenting it to their student colleagues
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Reading List
General textbooks of neuroscience that include neurobiology of cognition and diseases of cognition:
¿ Kandel, ER, Schwartz J and Jessel T (2012) Principles of Neural Science, Elsevier, 5th Edition.
¿ Gazzaniga, M (2009) The Cognitive Neurosciences III MIT Press.
More specialized books that may be useful:
¿ Anderson P, Morris R, Amaral D, Bliss T and O¿Keefe J (2007). The Hippocampus Book. Oxford Uni. Press.
¿ Blakemore, S-J and Frith, U. (2005) The Learning Brain: lessons for education. Blackwell Publishing.
¿ Squire LR et al (2014) Fundamental Neuroscience. Academic Press.
¿ Duyckaerts C and Litvan I (2008) Handbook of Clinical Neurology vol 89: Dementias. Elsevier.
Specific reading lists of primary research papers will be provided by each lecturer.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
This course will allow students to develop transferable skills in the following areas:
1. Critical review and consolidation of knowledge
2. Oral and written communication of a complex topic
3. Ability to teach at undergraduate and postgraduate level
4. Critical review of scientific literature
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| Keywords | Neuroscience,cognition,dementia,synaptic plasticity,memory,learning,neurodegeneration |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Tara Spires-Jones
Tel: (0131 6)51 1895
Email: Tara.Spires-Jones@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Agnese Lapetrova
Tel: (0131 6)51 5997
Email: Agnese.Lapetrova@ed.ac.uk |
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