Undergraduate Course: Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory (PSYL10159)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course explores how memories are formed and retrieved, how the brain supports these processes, and how they can break down in cases of brain damage. The course will focus primarily on long-term memory for past experiences and general knowledge. |
| Course description |
In this course, we will explore the cognitive and neural processes that support memory. We will focus particularly on how we encode and recall episodic memories of specific experiences; and on how we integrate and generalise over many such experiences to form robust semantic representations of the world around us.
The course will draw on evidence from behavioural experiments in animals and humans, neuropsychological studies in people with brain damage, functional neuroimaging studies and brain stimulation studies. Students will be encouraged to contrast the different types of insights we can gain from these different methodological approaches.
Throughout the course, students will gain an appreciation of how converging evidence from multiple sources can be used to develop and test theories of cognitive processing. They will develop skills in critical analysis, presenting and structuring arguments and scientific writing skills.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should be studying Psychology as their degree major, and have completed at least 3 Psychology courses at grade B or above. We will only consider University/College level courses. Applicants should note that, as with other popular courses, meeting the minimum does NOT guarantee admission. Applicants should note that, as with other popular courses, meeting the minimum does NOT guarantee admission. **Please note that upper level Psychology courses are high-demand, meaning that they have a very high number of students wishing to enrol in a very limited number of spaces.** These enrolments are managed strictly by the Visiting Student Office, in line with the quotas allocated by the department, and all enquiries to enrol in these courses must be made through the CAHSS Visiting Student Office. It is not appropriate for students to contact the department directly to request additional spaces. |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand current research investigating the cognitive and neural mechanisms by which memories are encoded, maintained and retrieved.
- Understand some of the major theoretical models of memory and how they relate to brain function.
- Identify the ways in which brain damage can impair different aspects of memory.
- Appreciate the strengths and limitations of different methods used in cognitive neuroscience/psychology and what kind of research questions can be addressed by each.
- Critically evaluate research studies in the field of human memory.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Biological,Cognitive,Memory,Brain Imaging,Neuropsychology |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Paul Hoffman
Tel: (0131 6)50 4654
Email: p.hoffman@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Susan Scobie
Tel: (0131 6)51 5505
Email: sscobie@ed.ac.uk |
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