Course Syllabus
The Developing Brain |
 |
| Semester & Location: |
Spring 2020 - DIS Stockholm |
| Type & Credits: |
Elective Course - 3 credits |
| Major Disciplines: |
Human Development, Neuroscience, Psychology |
| Faculty Members: |
Élodie Cauvet - eca@disstockholm.se Monica Siqueiros - |
| Program Director: |
Lars Rossen - lro@dis.dk |
| Time & Place: |
Tuesdays & Fridays, 11.40 - 13.00 Classroom 1E510 |
Description of Course
Prerequisite: one semester of neuroscience, physiological psychology, or biological psychology at the university level.
A cognitive behavioral neuroscience perspective will be used to explore the normal development of the child, from prenatal, infancy to adolescence with regards to perception, attention, language, learning, memory, executive function, emotion and social cognition. Brain structures and functions that support these processes developmentally, such as neuroplasticity and critical/sensitive periods will be considered, as will the implications of culture and the social context. Scandinavian perspectives will be addressed.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this course, students should be able to:
- Describe the main theoretical perspectives in developmental neuroscience.
- Describe common research methods, and their uses, in developmental neuroscience.
- Read and summarize scientific papers within the field of developmental neuroscience.
- Conduct observations of atypical and typical child behavior, and connect to theories of neurological development.
- Identify milestones of typical development, behavioral and neurological (and identify delays): both through observation of behavior and measures of neurological functioning.
- Describe cultural differences (especially comparing Scandinavia to North America) that might affect neurological development and behavioral repertoires
- Describe implications of neurodevelopmental disorders on the brain- and behavior level.
Faculty
Élodie Cauvet obtained her PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience, from Pierre & Marie Curie University in Paris (France). Her research interest started with language acquisition in infants leading to the study of the cerebral processing of language and music in adults. She became interested in neurodevelopmental disorders starting with developmental dyslexia then expending into autism spectrum disorders as well as ADHD. She is using techniques from psychology as well as neuroimaging in her research, this includes MRI (anatomical and functional) as well as EEG and eye tracking. She has been conducting her latest research at Karolinska Institutet Center for Neurodevelopmental Disorders (KIND). Her interests include social cognitive skills, empathy and emotion processing within the whole spectrum of functioning from typicality till disorders such as ASD. With DIS since 2016.
Monica Siqueiros is a psychologist and a PhD student at the Center for Neurodevelopmental Disorders at Karolinska Institutet. In her PhD research, she aims to investigate the contribution of genetic and environmental factors to individual differences in cognitive measures associated to Autism Spectrum Disorders and Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder in children and infants combining eye-tracking, EEG and a twin design.
Readings
Required Textbook
Johnson, H. & de Haan, M. (2015). Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience: An Introduction (4th Edition). New York: Wiley-Blackwell.
Articles and Other Media on Canvas
Adolph, K. E., Cole, W. G., Komati, M., Garciaguirre, J. S., Badaly, D., Lingeman, J. M., ... & Sotsky, R. B. (2012). How do you learn to walk? Thousands of steps and dozens of falls per day. Psychological science, 23(11), 1387-1394.
Adolph, K.E, Berger, S.E., Leo, A.J. (2011). Developmental continuity? Crawling, cruising and walking, Develop- mental Science, 14(2), 306-318.
Anderson, V., Spencer-Smith, M., & Wood, A. (2011). Do children really recover better? Neurobehavioural plas- ticity after early brain insult. Brain. 1-15.
Brouwer, R.M., Koenis, M.M.G., Schnack, H.G, van Baal, G.C., van Soelen, I.L.C, Hulshoff Pol, H.E., (2015) Lon- gitudinal development of hormone levels and grey matter density in 9 and 12-year-old twins, Behavior Ge- netics, 45(5), 313 – 323.
Carrion‐Castillo, A., Franke, B., & Fisher, S. E. (2013). Molecular genetics of dyslexia: an overview. Dyslexia, 19(4), 214-240.
Decety, J., & Svetlova, M. (2012). Putting together phylogenetic and ontogenetic perspectives on empathy. De- velopmental cognitive neuroscience, 2(1), 1-24.
Ekblad, M., Korkeila, J., & Lehtonen, L. (2015). Smoking during pregnancy affects foetal brain development. Acta Paediatrica, 104(1), 12-18.
Goddings, A-L. (2014). The Role of puberty in human adolescent brain development, Chapter from Brain Crosstalk in Puberty and Adolescence, Ed: Bourguignon, J-P., Carel, J-C., Christen, Y., Springer International Pub- lishing. 75 – 83.
Hepper, P. (2015). Behavior During the Prenatal Period: Adaptive for Development and Survival. Child Develop- ment Perspectives, 9(1), 38-43
Jardri, R., Houfflin-Debarge, V., Delion, P., Pruvo, J-P., Thomas, P., Pins, D. (2012). Assessing fetal response to maternal speech using a noninvasive functional brain imaging technique. International Journal of Develop- mental Neuroscience, 30, 159-161.
Juárez, S.P., Merlo, J. (2013) The Effect of Swedish Snuff (Snus) on Offspring Birthweight: A Sibling Analysis. PLoS ONE 8(6): e65611. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0065611
Kandel (2000): Principles of Neural Science, Chapter 1 and 2
Klingberg, T. (2014). Childhood cognitive development as a skill. Trends in cognitive sciences, 18(11), 573-579
Kolb, B., & Fantie, B. D. (2009). Development of the child’s brain and behavior. In Handbook of clinical child neuropsychology (pp. 19-46). Springer US.
Kolb, B., Mychasiuk, R., & Gibb, R. (2014). Brain development, experience, and behavior. Pediatric blood & can- cer, 61(10), 1720-1723.
Lacquaniti, F., Ivanenko, Y.P., Zago, M., (2012) Development of human locomotion, Current Opinion in Neurobi- ology, 22(5), 822-828.
Lee, G. Y., & Kisilevsky, B. S. (2014). Fetuses respond to father's voice but prefer mother's voice after birth.
Developmental psychobiology, 56(1), 1-11
Mampe, B., Friederici, A.D., Christophe, A., Wemke K. (2009) Newborns’ cry melody is shaped by their native language, Current Biology, 19(23), 1994-1997.
Newcombe, N. S. (2013). Cognitive development: changing views of cognitive change. Wiley Interdisciplinary Re- views: Cognitive Science, 4(5), 479-491.
Petersen, S. E., & Posner, M. I. (2012). The attention system of the human brain: 20 years after. Annual review of neuroscience, 35, 73.
Quinn, P. C., & Bhatt, R. S. (2009). Perceptual organization in infancy: bottom-up and top-down influences. Op- tometry & Vision Science, 86(6), 589-594.
Rapin, I., (2016). Dyscalculia and the calculating brain, Pediatric Neurology, 61, 11-20.
Reid, V., Dunn, K., Young, R.,Amu, J., Donovan, T. & Reissland, N., (2017). The human fetus preferentially engages with face-like visual stimuli, Current Biology, 27, 1825-1828
Skagerström, J., Alehagen, S., Häggström-Nordin, E., Årestedt, K., & Nilsen, P. (2013). Prevalence of alcohol use before and during pregnancy and predictors of drinking during pregnancy: a cross sectional study in Sweden. BMC public health, 13(1), 1.
Thompson, B. L., Levitt, P., & Stanwood, G. D. (2009). Prenatal exposure to drugs: effects on brain development and implications for policy and education. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 10(4), 303-312.
Vandermosten, M., Hoeft, F., Norton, E.S. (2016) Integrating MRI brain imaging studies of pre-reading children with current theories of developmental dyslexia: a review and quantitative meta-analysis, Current Opinion in Behavioral Science, 10, 155-161.
Ward, J., Hoadley C., Hughes J.E.A., Smith P., Allison C. & Baron-Cohen S., Simner J., (2017) Atypical sensory sensitivity as a shared feature between synaesthesia and autism, Scientific Reports, 7:41155
Ward, J. (2013). Synesthesia. Annual review of psychology, 64, 49-75.
Wells, M. B., & Lang, S. N. (2016). Supporting same‐sex mothers in the Nordic child health field: a systematic literature review and meta‐synthesis of the most gender equal countries. Journal of clinical nursing, 25 (23-24), 3469-3483
Wells; M.B. (2016). Literature review shows that fathers are still not receiving the support they want and need from Swedish child health professionals, Acta Paediatrica, 105, 1014-1023
Field Studies
1) Wednesday, January 22nd 8:30-12:30
Neuromethods tour, visiting the MR Center at Karolinska Hospital and the Center of Neurodevelopmental Disorders at Karolinska Institutet (KIND). KIND is a combined clinic and research institute, working with children with developmental disorders such as ADHD and autism. At KIND, research is conducted using both neuropsychological assessments and neuroimaging, in order to provide evidence based therapy for children and parents.
2) Wednesday, March 25th 13:00 - 17:00
Visit of Alviksstrandsskolan: rehabcenter in a educational setting. The patients all have acquired brain injury and are referred to Alviksstrandsskolan from the neuropediatric unit at Karolinska university hospital. They are offered a 20-30 weeks rehabilitation period. Initially the patients are there all the weekdays (around 9-14), part of the days with schoolwork with focus on metacognitive strategies in the educational setting and part of the days with additional rehabilitation (cognitive training, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and logopedics). One important part of the rehabilitation service is to gradually increase participation in the regular school (and if not possible, help the family find a new, more appropriate school).
Guest Lecturers
Michael Wells is an American who moved to Sweden after completing his Masters degree in Human Development and Family Science. He has a PhD from Uppsala University in Women’s and Children’s Health. He currently works as postdoctoral researcher at Karolinska Institutet where his focus is on the implementation and evaluation of intervention studies: one focusing on creating equality for fathers in the Swedish child health field and another on helping high school dropouts gain employment. He is an expert on parenting and how it is influenced by the child health field and via Swedish family policies.
Janina Neufeld is an assistant professor at Karolinska Institutet. She has a PhD from Hannover Medical School, and received her Post Doctorate at University of Reading in the field of Human Neuroscience. She is currently working at KIND, using neuroimaging to research neural and behavioral markers for autism. Other interests are synesthesia, perception, empathy and reward processing.
Approach to Teaching
As enthusiastic teachers, we try to make all classes interactive and interesting. Classes include both lectures by the teacher and discussions led by the students. Both are mixed during each class.
It is very important that the content is clear for all students. So you are encouraged to ask questions and talk to us if you feel that there are still unclear zones after the classes.
Expectations of the Students
Students are expected to participate actively in class. This includes taking part in the discussions, asking or answering questions. There are no stupid questions and I encourage and reward student expression. Opinions should be expressed, especially when they refer to scientific content. Students have to inform the teacher in advance in case they cannot attend a class. Missing a class unexcused will affect the active participation grade.
Students are expected to answer the quiz online before the class.
Students are expected to read the required readings before class.
Students are responsible for their learning. This implies taking the notes from the lecture, summarizing the content of both lectures and discussions.
Slides include graphs, pictures and illustrations necessary to understand the class. Students are expected to take notes complementing and explaining the slides. Slides are a support and should be treated as such and not as the main source of info required. Class content delivered by the teachers need to be written down individually by the students.
Main discussion will be summarized by the students and transcribed on white board and picture of these will be available on Canvas in respective classes.
Evaluation
The course consists of lectures, discussions and assignments at home and in class. Students attendance of the classes and their active participation in the discussions are taken into account in the evaluation. In discussions and assignments, students are required to demonstrate that they read the literature for the classes and that they are able to apply their knowledge. Showing independent and critical thinking is also subject to evaluation.
Grading
Detailed assignment descriptions and grading rubrics for each assignment are available on canvas.
| Assignment |
Percent |
| Active class participation (including quizz) - Individual |
15% |
| Scientific paper presentation and evaluation - Group |
15% |
|
Prenatal development and Dietary advice: cross cultural comparison - Individual |
15% |
|
Midterm written Exam - Individual |
20% |
|
Typical and atypical child behavior: presentation and discussion - Group |
15% |
| Preparation, paper and presentation of the developmental timeline at showcase - Group |
20% |
| Total |
100% |
Descriptions of assignments
Active class participation (15%): The student is active in discussions and group work. Active participation and engagement includes asking questions related to readings and material presented in the class and taking part in discussions and being active during field trips and guest lectures. Active participation means to contribute on own initiative. See Assignments within Canvas for a class participation grading
Scientific paper presentation and evaluation (15%): Group
Due Date: 18th of February
Each group of two will choose an article from a selected list during the first class and will prepare their presentation at home.
In class: Power point presentation 8 to 10 min per group. Handing in power point for grading (on top of the physical presentation). Another group of students will be assigned to the reviewer role for each presentation and will be responsible (and graded on) asking relevant questions after their fellow presentation (5 min max questions).
Each student will also be graded on its participation to the discussion mostly on its assigned review group.
See Assignments within Canvas for a detailed rubric
Prenatal development and Dietary advice: cross cultural comparison (15%): Individual
Due Date: March 6th at midnight for the essay + presentation on the 6th of March at 11:40am (normal class time)
Each student chooses one dietary element (e.g. alcohol, vitamin A, caffeine, unpasteurized milk, raw meat, sushi ... ) on the 21st of February. Chosen elements have to be reported on a specific discussion thread on canvas to ensure that each student chose a different dietary element. Then, they write an essay describing:
- how pregnancy and future mother might be impacted by the consumption of the element,
- how prenatal development (in particular neurological) is hypothesized to be affected by the product,
- what cognitive/behavioral deficits (attention, perception, executive function, memory, etc.) this might result in after birth.
- The student should also evaluate what level of scientific evidence supports the official governmental advice.
- A discussion about the effect of culture on the consumption of this dietary element must be included comparing at least 2 different countries/cultures (UK, USA or Australia do not count as different cultural background). It should include how/if the recommendation differ depending on country, and how/if the difference in recommendation affect the child population (it this is known). Check the chosen countries/cultures with the teacher to be sure that they are considered as culturally far enough for the purpose of this exercise.
The essay should be 4 to 5 page long (not counting title page and references) - between 7500 and 8500 characters including spaces, APA style (1.5 line spacing) and handed in through Canvas on March 6th.
See Canvas for a detailed grading rubric
For the 6th of March at class time 11:40-13:00:
Each student prepares a brief presentation for class (5 minutes), to be presented October 4th. Note that each student must choose a different food product.
Midterm written exam (15%): Individual
Due Date: 20th of March
Written exam covering basic neurological concepts, prenatal, perinatal and postnatal development, based on all readings and content so far.
Covered topics are types of neurons, principles of electric and chemical functions of neurons, general architecture of the adult brain, and the most widely used research methods for neuroscience, (e.g. fMRI, EEG, lesions), basic genetic concept as well as
The test will take about 70 minutes, and consists of 13 short answer questions and 2 essay questions. The test will be conducted during class time, and no study materials will be allowed during the test. The purpose of midterm exam is to ensure a common ground of basic knowledge, and assimilation of the learning objectives of the classes so far (prenatal development, development of physical and cognitive skills).
More information, including a study guide (study_guide1.docx), is available on Canvas.
Typical and atypical child behavior (15%): Group
Due Date: April 21st
Assignment #4
Before class:
The students watch two video clips picturing typically developing children and the developmental milestones acquired at both specific ages (18 months and 3 years). They also watch 5 video clips picturing atypical behaviors from children of similar ages. They shall take short notes.
In class of the 21th of April:
Whole class: Videos of atypical development are watched with the guidance of the teacher. Discussion in class around developing skills and their atypicalities will give example on how the presentations should be conducted for the group presentation.
In groups of 2: Each group gets assigned to one specific video of atypical kid. They watch it together once. Then each group of students chooses one cognitive/behavioral skill in which the toddlers differ. This skill will constitute their topic. The group then watches the video a couple of times paying specific attention the chosen skill.
Then each group discusses the chosen skills and how it relates to the video. Questions will guide the discussion. 15min.
Group presentation and discussion on the 21st of April:
Using course literature but also scientific literature search (at least 5 scientific papers no older than 10 years, additionally you can include more and older research papers), each group of students shall prepare a 12min presentation followed by a group discussion covering:
- how this skill typically develops through infancy/childhood (including milestone and ages)
- what neurological development (regions, networks, physiological mechanisms) can be linked to this skill.
- cover the atypicality of the chosen skill based on the video example
- include explicit references to atypical behaviors (in relation to your chosen skill) observed in the assigned video video.
- mention/speculate from your research what brain mechanism, which brain regions/networks might be impaired in your chosen case.
The goal of this presentation and discussion is for students to integrate their knowledge of the development of a specific skill with literature findings and discuss these using a concrete example.
Examples of chosen topics can be a specific language skill (naming activities or objects, or responding to requests from parents), interacting with objects and the environment, attention, social skills or decision making. Quality of the presentation, as well as the discussion will be graded.
Each student group is responsible for and graded on opening up the topic with 2 discussion points. Students from the other groups will be graded on their participation to the discussion.
Students will hand in their presentation which should include a slide with their bibliography, through canvas.
See Assignments within Canvas for a detailed grading rubric.
Developmental timeline: Paper and review other group (10% + 5%) and presentation at showcase (5%): Group
Due Date: Paper 28th of April, short presentation in class + review of other group 28th of April, presentation at Showcase 5th of May,
Students will integrate the content of all classes to realize a timeline depicting the development of the brain from prenatal period to early adulthood in terms of neurological, psychological and cognitive processes. This visual representation will include the different descriptive levels studied in class from cellular level, to cognitive and psychological constructs, cerebral regions and networks.
Students will be paired at the beginning of the course and will work toward building up a comprehensive developmental timeline all course long. Each "presenting" group will be assigned one skill and have the task to map this skill development onto a class common visual timeline. This should include all the descriptive levels mentioned before, the milestones from prenatal period to adulthood and the interaction with the other developmental skills.
Each group of students will write up an essay summarizing their topic including a list of used references (scientific articles) which will be handed in through canvas on the 28th of April. (10% of the grade)
Each group will be assigned to a second topic (covered by another group). This "review" group will have the task to review the other topic, asking question and engaging in an enlightened discussion with the "presenting" group (5% of the grade). This will happen the 28th of April (final class).
Finally, each "presenting" group will hold a 5min presentation in front of the showcase attendance, explaining to their peers and other teachers how their assigned skill is developing from prenatal to adulthood and answer the attendance questions. (5% of the grade)
Academic Regulations
Please make sure to read the Academic Regulations on the DIS website. There you will find regulations on:
DIS - Study Abroad in Scandinavia - www.DISabroad.org
Course Summary:
| Date | Details | Due |
|---|---|---|