Module PSYC2111: BRAIN PROCESSES OF COGNITION AND PERCEPTION

Department: PSYCHOLOGY

PSYC2111: BRAIN PROCESSES OF COGNITION AND PERCEPTION

Prerequisites

• Either (i) or (ii). (i) Introduction to Psychology 1: How the mind and how the brain works and what happens when it all goes wrong (PSYC1071) OR (ii) Introduction to Psychology 2: Understanding development, social interaction, and mental illness (PSYC1081) AND Introduction to Psychological Research (PSYC1062).

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To develop an understanding of theoretical, methodological and empirical approaches in cognitive neuroscience, with particular emphasis on visual neuroscience and visual cognition.

Content

• The module will cover a broad range of topics including a survey of methods used in studying brain and behaviour, a critical evaluation of their application in an area of psychology such as learning, and coverage of a range of topics in vision and visual cognition, including the perception of colour, form, motion and depth and their development, together with higher-level functions such as face, scene and object recognition, visually-controlled action and visual attention.
• The module will build on the introductory coverage given in these topics in the Level One module Introduction to Psychology (I).

Learning Outcomes

• A broad knowledge base relating to the core areas of psychology and in-depth knowledge of some specialist sub-areas of psychology

• Understanding the relationship between theory and data, including the ability to evaluate theories and concepts
• Ability to formulate research questions and hypotheses

• Competent in written communication skills
• Competent IT skills in word processing and data presentation
• Effective retrieval and organisation of material
• Locate, read and review a body of research evidence
• Critical evaluation of the quality of evidence and arguments
• Ability to adopt different theoretical positions and see relationships between them

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Student acquisition of knowledge relating to the relationship between brain and behaviour, and to vision and visual cognition is guided by lectures and supplemented by reading.
• This knowledge will be assessed in the formative and summative assessments, and the written examination.
• These assessments will be essay-based, providing students with the opportunities to demonstrate their abilities to organise, review and evaluate evidence and theory, to provide critical appraisal, and to contrast theoretical positions.
• Feedback on progress in acquiring knowledge in the module is provided in the formative assessment.
• Understanding of the relationship between theory and evidence is supported directly by the lecture content and workshop activities that encourage students to interpret evidence theoretically, and to compare competing theoretical accounts.
• The development of students' skills in this domain is assessed in the formative and summative essays, and in the examination.
• Abilities to reason scientifically and to effectively retrieve, locate, organise and use information is facilitated by the preparation for workshops and assessment activities, and by the feedback from the formative assessment.
• Scientific reasoning and organisation of written material is assessed in the formative and summative essays, and in the examination.
• The skills involved in preparing scientific reports to a satisfactory standard are supported by workshop activities and feedback from the formative assessment.
• A key component in the preparation of formative essays is the acquisition of adequate word processing skills.
• Feedback is provided regarding the adequacy of these skills where necessary.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

1500 word essay due in Michaelmas term. No collections required.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University