PSYC409-25S2 (C) Semester Two 2025

Special Topic: Neurobiology of Higher Cognition

15 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 14 July 2025
End Date: Sunday, 9 November 2025
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Sunday, 27 July 2025
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Sunday, 28 September 2025

Description

This will study how our brain develops and changes over the lifespan and what brain areas contribute to ways that we learn and update information, navigate in our environment, generate goals, make decisions, and produce actions. It will consider how personality, hormones, physiology, and genetics influence the brain. Learn about how brain areas are affected during healthy ageing throughout the lifespan and in some brain disorders that cause cognitive deficits, for example, affective disorders (e.g., schizophrenia) and dementias (e.g., behavioural variant frontotemporal dementias). Throughout the course, students will also reflect on the impact of environmental factors on the brain.

Additionally, students will learn about the regulations governing welfare and ethics when working with humans and animal models in neuroscience and bicultural perspectives and the Māori worldview on neurobiology. We will also learn how neuroscience and neurobiology contribute to research and development of biomedical technologies, e.g., drug treatments, medical devices and artificial intelligence.

Learning Outcomes

  • The objectives of the course are to:

  • Evaluate and reflect upon the regulations that govern the ethical treatment and welfare of humans and animals participating in neuroscience research
  • Identify and explain how neural networks contribute to our cognitive and behavioural processes
  • Identify and infer (based on evidence) how individual differences and environment factors impact on neural systems and our cognitive functioning throughout the lifespan
  • Interpret and synthesize technical scientific primary literature
  • Develop the ability to extrapolate in-depth knowledge from human and animal models in relation to human endeavours that can advance biomedical strategies, treatments, technology, and artificial intelligence

Prerequisites

Subject to approval of the Head of Department.

Timetable 2025

Students must attend one activity from each section.

Lecture A
Activity Day Time Location Weeks
01 Wednesday 15:00 - 17:00 Beatrice Tinsley 111
14 Jul - 24 Aug
8 Sep - 19 Oct

Course Coordinator

Anna Mitchell

Assessment

Assessment Due Date Percentage  Description
Attendance and Class work 10% Attendance in classes and completing up to four questions on handout
Human and animal ethics and welfare assignment 12% Human and animal ethics and welfare assignment (1,200 words)
Weekly quizzes 10% Weekly quizzes on lecture content on LEARN - 5 quizzes (2% each)
Individual seminar presentation 25% Individual seminar presentation to the class
Seminar report 18% Seminar report (about 1,800 words)
Essay 25% Essay (about 2,500 words)

Textbooks / Resources

Recommended Reading

Carlson NR, & Birkett MA; Physiology of Behavior ; 12th; (The course is not built around any textbook. However, Carlson and Birkett textbook may be helpful for background information about neuroscience and the brain. Physiology of Behavior (12th edition) available online via UC Library (or 13th edition)).

There are no required textbooks for this course. Assigned readings for lectures/labs will be provided online via LEARN.

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $1,176.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

For further information see School of Psychology, Speech and Hearing .

All PSYC409 Occurrences

  • PSYC409-25S2 (C) Semester Two 2025