The course is intended to provide students with a brain-based account of cognition, and a broad knowledge of the neuroscience methods.

1. Knowledge and understanding.
At the end of the course, students will have to demonstrate :
- knowledge of the basic principles and most up-to-date investigative techniques in the field of cognitive neuroscience;
- knowledge of cognitive system architecture, and theoretical models.

2. Applying knowledge and understanding.
The students will be encouraged to propose how to apply his/her knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the brain to models of human cognition. Moreover, he/she will be able to understand the basic functioning principles of the most commonly used techniques in cognitive neuroscience.

3. Making judgements
The student will be able to have a comprehensive understanding of the cognitive system. In particular, he/she will be able to understand how cognitive processes can be plausibly implemented in the nervous system.

4. Communication skills.
Throughout the course, students will improve their knowledge of the technical and scientific terms needed to describe cognitive processes and psychological theories. The oral presentation of scientific papers is designed to assess the student's ability to apply the concepts learned in the course effectively, appropriately and with specific language. Language appropriateness will also be assessed in the written examination.

5. Learning abilities.
Learning skills will be developed through hands-on labs on some of the experimental techniques which are the subject of the course.

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Course arguments: - Introduction to cognitive neuroscience - Methods of cognitive neuroscience (EEG, ERP, fMRI, NIBS)- Vision (early visual processes + object and face recognition)- Attention and Space perception- Motor control (planning of movements and the dorsal stream)- Memory (Amnesia and medial temporal lobes + frontal contributions to memory and false memory)- The semantic system- Mathematical abilities- How to prepare an oral presentation.

Main Textbook: Jamie Ward. (2025). The Student's Guide to Cognitive Neuroscience. Psychology Press: NY. 5th edition.

An extensive exposition of the cognitive neuroscience methods: electrophysiology, brain imaging, patients’ studies, and non-invasive brain stimulation. The main theories and findings in the fields of high- and low-level vision, space perception, memory, mathematical abilities, and the semantic system.
The course will consist of two parts: 40 hours of introductory theoretical lectures and eight hours devoted to students presenting scientific articles. Each student is expected to give an oral presentation to the class of a scientific paper in the journal club format. The article will be chosen from a selection provided by the professor during the course. Students are encouraged to use electronic presentations. The presentation is mandatory.
The list of papers will be available during the course.

Theoretical lectures and workgroups

Scientific papers, web links, and pdfs of lectures will be provided during the course and can be downloaded from the course website on MS Teams.
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Any changes, necessary to ensure the application of the safety protocols related to the COVID19 emergency, will be communicated on the Course website.

EXAMINATION:
The oral part consists of an oral presentation of a short scientific article to the class. The list of articles and instructions on how to prepare the presentation will be provided during the course. The grade (0 to 2 points) is in addition to the grade for the written part.
The written part consists of 5 open-ended questions to be completed within one hour. Each answer will be scored on a scale of 0 to 6 points, and the total score will be determined by the sum of the individual scores. A minimum score of 18/30 is required to pass the exam.

This course explores topics closely related to three goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDGs), when it informs about the physiological and pathological functioning of the nervous system (3-Salute e benessere) suggesting areas of diagnosis and intervention and when it provides knowledge about cognition and behavior as derived from the study of animal models (14-La vita sott'acqua; 15-La vita sulla terra).