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Higher Cortical Functions

Unit code: HET528

Credit points12.5 Credit Points
Duration1 Semester
Contact hours5 Hours per Week
CampusHawthorn
PrerequisitesHET231 Perception and Motor Systemsor HET226 Sensory Systems
CorequisitesNil

Aims and objectives

  • Review basic techniques in neuroscience research of brain and behaviour.
  • Provide a knowledge of the neurophysiological and behavioural processes of motivation, memory, speech and language.

Teaching methods

Lectures, Tutorials and Seminars

Assessment

Assignments, Class Presentations, Examinations

Content

  • Motivation: mechanisms of eating and drinking behaviours, intracranial self-stimulation studies, nonhomeostatic behaviours.
  • Memory: neuronal plasticity, psychophysiological studies and models, memory pathology and neuropsychology, connectionist models.
  • Speech and language: psychophysiological models, brain laterality and language processes, disorders of speech and language.

Reading materials

Kolb, B & Whishaw, IQ, Fundamentals of Human Neuropsychology, 3rd edn, Freeman, New York, 1990.
Kandel, ER, Schwarz, JH & Jessell, TM, Principles of Neural Science, 3rd edn, Prentice-Hall, London, 1991.