Course Syllabus
Sustainable Development Goals
Learning area
Applied Experimental Psychological Sciences
Learning objectives
Knowledge and understanding
· Knowing the cognitive, neurobiological and functional bases of social and affective mental processes.
· Understanding the genesis and dynamics of alterations and disorders of cognitive, communicative, emotional-motivational and social activity
Applying knowledge and understanding
· Acquisition of the ability to apply the acquired knowledge in order to design and carry out empirical studies in the field of social and affective neuroscience.
· Acquisition of the abillity to apply the acquired knowledge in order to personally design and carry out studies focused on specific patients with socio- affective disorders.
Contents
This course provides essential knowledge concerning the main cognitive models of social and emotional-motivational processes in humans, in order to promote the understanding of socio-emotional and behavioral functions, both in healthy people and patients with specific social or affective disorders.
Detailed program
Biological motion, causality and agency
Face and gaze perception
Social attention and gaze following
Attentional biases towards social and emotional stimuli
Mentalizing
Embodied cognition
Mirror neurons, empathy, action and intention understanding
Pathological and atypical aspects of Social Cognition:
Autism Spectrum Condition.and other conditions
Prerequisites
This course requires a basic knowledge of anatomy and physiology of the nervous system and its cognitive functions.
The understanding of English textbook and scientific articles.
Teaching methods
Frontal lessons with slides and audio/video presentations. Presentation and discussion of ongoing data and research articles.
Assessment methods
Written exam with an oral interview on demand (either by the student or by the lecturers). The written examination consists of two open ended questions (essay-like) on textbooks and slides of the lectures; part of the exam (one question) can be substituted with an oral presentation of a scientific article, or a brief essay, to be completed during the course and agreed with the lecturer, testing both the knowledge on a topic presented in the course and the student's critical thinking skills.
Erasmus students are admitted to the course and take the exam in English.
Textbooks and Reading Materials
Course slides and scientific papers will be uploaded on the course website by the lecturer.
Detailed information about reading material will be given on course start, and published on the course webpage.
