PSYCHOBIOLOGY
Academic year and teacher
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- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2018/2019
- Teacher
- LAILA CRAIGHERO
- Credits
- 6
- Didactic period
- Secondo Semestre
- SSD
- M-PSI/02
Training objectives
- The course aims to address the psychobiology with particular regard to the contribution more closely related to physical education.
The main goal of the course consists in providing the knowledge of the relationship between the motor system and the cognitive functions in order to apply this knowledge to the different areas of work of the exercise scientist.
We will describe the neurophysiological substrate relative to perception, motor behavior and cognitive functions related to the ability of motor planning according to the intrinsic properties of the objects, the representation of peripersonal and extrapersonal space, the recognition of others' actions and the ability to anticipate outcomes of the actions of others based on personal motor experience. Prerequisites
- Knowledge of the physiology and anatomy of the nervous system.
Course programme
- The course includes 48 hours of classroom lessons during which the teacher will bring practical examples of application of theoretical knowledge by simulating experiments and by showing videos.
Brief History of Psychology, History of the study of the brain and birth of Neuroscience (14 hours)
Neuropsychological method. The method of the double dissociation. The mental chronometry method. Basics of sensory processing. Eloquent areas and not eloquent areas. Multisensory integration. Psychophysics. Techniques to identify the relationship between cognitive functions and neural substrate.
Language (2 hours). Attention (2 hours). Learning (2 hours). Memory (4 hours). The motor system (6 hours)
The definition of motor program. Pathologies. Kinematics. Goal directed actions and their appearance in ontogeny. The motor imagery.
Oculomotor circuit LIP-FEF and attention (2 hours)
Peripersonal space circuit VIP-F4 and the relationship between space and action (2 hours)
Grasping circuit AIP-F5 and the ability to recognize the actions of others (14 hours)
Canonical neurons, mirror neurons. Mirror system in humans. Applications of knowledge to rehabilitation and to the learning of the sports-specific actions. Influences of the ability to predict the actions of others in sport. Mirror system and emotions. Didactic methods
- lectures
Learning assessment procedures
- Students will be required to demonstrate that they have achieved the learning outcomes set out by the Dublin Descriptors positively overcoming a written exam lasting 60 minutes consisting of ten questions true / false (1 point per question), 10 multiple choice questions (1 point per question) and 5 short open questions ( max 2 points per question). The questions will be aimed at verifying the ability to identify and describe the known relationship between neural and behavioral correlates.
Reference texts
- Slides presented during the lectures.
Specific topics can be further developed in the following texts:
D. Purves, E.M. Brannon, R. Cabeza, S.A. Huettel, K.S. LaBar, M.L. Platt, M.G. Woldorff, Neuroscienze cognitive, Zanichelli, Edizione II, 2014.
L. Craighero, Neuroni specchio, Il Mulino 2010.
