Entry requirements

The student should be admitted to the Master's programme in Psychology. For admission to the course, at least 22.5 credits should be completed within the Psychologist programme's courses 1-4. Admission to the course is also granted to students that have received permission from the department's director of first-cycle studies to carry out supplementary studies to obtain Swedish psychologist certificate.

Learning outcomes

On completion of the course, the student should be able to

- account for theories and findings regarding brain development from an evolutionary perspective

- account for the subdivision of the nervous system and, based on a skeleton map of the brain, be able to locate important parts of the brain and state their names

- explain, by means of drawings and words, both the structure and function of individual neurons, and how neurons communicate with other neurons at synapses and by means of neurotransmitters

- explain in what way areas and structures in the brain are involved in motor, perceptual, cognitive, language, learning, motivational and emotional processes and behaviours,

- summarise theories and facts about biological rhythms, sleep, wakefulness and consciousness,

- describe the fundamental features of brain development in chronological order from embryonic period to the teenage period

- explain why different methods of measurement (e.g. PET, EEC, ERP) are used within brain research,

- give examples of arguments and findings in the search for gender differences.

Content

The course should give basic biological basic knowledge related to normal motor, perceptual, cognitive, language, motivational and emotional processes and behaviours. The course also should illustrate deviances and disturbances by using examples The course consists of facts and theories about the human brain, its structure and development. One part of the course consists of the basic structures in the brain and nervous systems and the basic units that these consist of, primarily in terms of neurons with related neurotransmitters. The second part concerns the relation between these structures and basic units on the one hand and psychological phenomena on the other. The brain's relation to perception, motor function, memory, learning, feelings, language, sleep, consciousness, differences between people etc. as well as brain development from an evolutionary and ontogenetical perspective, forms the basis for the other part of the course content.

Instruction

Teaching is given in the form of teaching sessions supplemented with reading instructions, filmed mini-lectures and TV and radio programs accessible in the web-based course "Brain and behaviour" with address: http://www.psyk.uu.se/distans/hb.

Assessment

Student's knowledge is assessed via a written examination. For examination, the grades used are passed or failed. The contents of lectures can constitute a basis for examination even when the lectures are not compulsory.

Other regulations

Other requirements, prerequisites and conditions for participation in and the fulfilment of the course, e.g. compulsory attendance, design of own work, etc., are evident from information given at the course introduction. A student who does not meet the mandatory requirements for a passing grade is usually given the opportunity to complete remaining parts the following term and/or is given complementary assignments by the course director.