Course Syllabus

Semester & Location:	Spring 2023- DIS Copenhagen
Type & Credits:	Elective Course - 3 credits
Major Disciplines:	Neuroscience; Psychology
Prerequisite(s):	One semester of neuroscience, physiological psychology, biological psychology, or cognitive psychology at a university level.
Corequisite Course(s):	Cognitive Neuroscience of Consciousness
Faculty Members:	Angela Mastropasqua Nicola Menale (current students please contact via the canvas inbox)
Time & Place:	Monday and Thursday, 14:50-17:45 Classroom: N7-C25
Office Hours	Thursday, 13.00-14.00 (please email me to schedule the meeting)

 

Course Description

Prerequisite: One semester of neuroscience, physiological psychology, biological psychology, or cognitive psychology at a university level.

Co-requisite: Enrollment in Cognitive Neuroscience of Consciousness

A required course for students enrolled in The Cognitive Neuroscience of Consciousness (Core Course). During the course, students will work in groups to design, develop and carry on an experimental study within the field of cognitive neuroscience with specific focus on conscious perception. You will develop experimental designs able to identify and investigate the threshold of conscious perception, in damaged and non-damaged human brains. All studies will be computer-based and aim at collecting quantitative, behavioral data: this will allow students to get well acquainted with experimental paradigms such as E-Prime and PsyScopy. Class work will consist of supervision regarding research activities and selected topics relative to research, e.g. data analysis, methods and methodologies, and ethical aspects of research. Throughout the semester students will present the various stages of their work to the other groups in order to collect feedback and to jointly evaluate the strengths and weakness of their respective projects. All studies will be presented at the scientific symposium that will take place at the end of the semester.

 

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Evaluate the main methods employed in the field of cognitive neuroscience
• Discuss strengths and weakness of different experimental designs on the psychological, behavioral, and cognitive components of consciousness and perception.
• Carry on a small-scale experimental study
• Adequately present, and discuss own experimental data
• Acknowledge the ethical principles at the basis of psychological research

 

Faculty

Angela Mastropasqua: Ph.D. (Cognitive Neuroscience, Graduate School of Systemic Neuroscience, LMU Munich , 2020). M.Sc. (Psychology, University of Turin, 2013). B.A. (Psychological Sciences and Techniques, University of Bari, 2010). Research interest in higher brain functions studied with a multi-techniques approach, in particular combining non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) and neuroimaging. 

Email: angela.mastropasqua@dis.dk

 

Lab Assistant:  

Nicola Menale: Born in Aversa, a small city close to Napoli. Moved to Milan to complete his studies in Economics and Social Sciences at Bocconi University. Moved to Copenhagen in 2013 to work as a Data Analyst in the Marketing department at Oticon A/S. At the end of 2017 was head hunted from Hollister Inc. where he worked as Business Analyst in Finance department for 1.5 years. Senior Business Insights Analyst at Danske Bank since December 2019. With DIS since 2019.

 

Readings

Peer reviewed articles:

• Boddy, J. (2016). Energy pulses reveal possible new state of memory. Science, 354(6316), 1089–1089. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.354.6316.1089
• Carhart-Harris, R. L., Muthukumaraswamy, S., Roseman, L., Kaelen, M., Droog, W., Murphy, K., Tagliazucchi, E., Schenberg, E. E., Nest, T., Orban, C., Leech, R., Williams, L. T., Williams, T. M., Bolstridge, M., Sessa, B., McGonigle, J., Sereno, M. I., Nichols, D., Hellyer, P. J., … Nutt, D. J. (2016). Neural correlates of the LSD experience revealed by multimodal neuroimaging. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(17), 4853–4858. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1518377113
• Fuchs, T. (2006). Ethical issues in neuroscience. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 19(6), 600–607. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.yco.0000245752.75879.26
• Gosseries, O., Vanhaudenhuyse, A., Bruno, M.-A., Demertzi, A., Schnakers, C., Boly, M. M., Maudoux, A., Moonen, G., & Laureys, S. (2011). Disorders of Consciousness: Coma, Vegetative and Minimally Conscious States. In D. Cvetkovic & I. Cosic (Eds.), States of Consciousness (pp. 29–55). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-18047-7_2
• Guo, X., Jiang, S., Wang, H., Zhu, L., Tang, J., Dienes, Z., & Yang, Z. (2013). Unconsciously learning task-irrelevant perceptual sequences. Consciousness and Cognition, 22(1), 203–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2012.12.001
• Hesselmann, G., & Moors, P. (2015). Definitely maybe: Can unconscious processes perform the same functions as conscious processes? Frontiers in Psychology, 6. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00584
• Illes, J., & Bird, S. J. (2006). Neuroethics: A modern context for ethics in neuroscience. Trends in Neurosciences, 29(9), 511–517. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2006.07.002
• King, J.-R., Pescetelli, N., & Dehaene, S. (2016). Brain Mechanisms Underlying the Brief Maintenance of Seen and Unseen Sensory Information. Neuron, 92(5), 1122–1134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2016.10.051
• Kondziella, D., Bender, A., Diserens, K., van Erp, W., Estraneo, A., Formisano, R., Laureys, S., Naccache, L., Ozturk, S., Rohaut, B., Sitt, J. D., Stender, J., Tiainen, M., Rossetti, A. O., Gosseries, O., Chatelle, C., & the EAN Panel on Coma, D. of C. (2020). European Academy of Neurology guideline on the diagnosis of coma and other disorders of consciousness. European Journal of Neurology, 27(5), 741–756. https://doi.org/10.1111/ene.14151
• Koster, E. H. W., Crombez, G., Van Damme, S., Verschuere, B., & De Houwer, J. (2004). Does Imminent Threat Capture and Hold Attention? Emotion, 4(3), 312–317. https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.4.3.312
• Krakauer, J. W., Ghazanfar, A. A., Gomez-Marin, A., MacIver, M. A., & Poeppel, D. (2017). Neuroscience Needs Behavior: Correcting a Reductionist Bias. Neuron, 93(3), 480–490. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2016.12.041
• Mousikou, P., Coltheart, M., Finkbeiner, M., & Saunders, S. (2010). Can the dual-route cascaded computational model of reading offer a valid account of the masked onset priming effect? Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 63(5), 984–1003. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470210903156586
• Newell, B. R., & Shanks, D. R. (2014). Unconscious influences on decision making: A critical review. Behavioral And Brain Sciences, 37(1), 1–19.
• Overgaard, M. (2009). How can we know if patients in coma, vegetative state or minimally conscious state are conscious? Progress in Brain Research, 177, 11–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0079-6123(09)17702-6
• Ro, T., Singhal, N. S., Breitmeyer, B. G., & Garcia, J. O. (2009). Unconscious processing of color and form in metacontrast masking. Perception & Psychophysics, 71(1), 95–103. https://doi.org/10.3758/APP.71.1.95
• Romei, V., Chiappini, E., Hibbard, P. B., & Avenanti, A. (2016). Empowering Reentrant Projections from V5 to V1 Boosts Sensitivity to Motion. Current Biology, 26(16), 2155–2160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2016.06.009
• Schaadt, A. K., Reinhart, S., Keller, I., Hildebrandt, H., Kerkhoff, G., & Utz, K. S. (2016). The effect of rotating random dot motion on visuospatial line orientation in patients with right-sided stroke. Neuropsychologia, 92, 167–173. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2016.05.030
• Sklar, A. Y., Levy, N., Goldstein, A., Mandel, R., Maril, A., & Hassin, R. R. (2012). Reading and doing arithmetic nonconsciously. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109(48), 19614–19619. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1211645109
• Smith, R., & Lane, R. D. (2016). Unconscious emotion: A cognitive neuroscientific perspective. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 69, 216–238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.08.013
• Soto, D. (2017). How Do We Keep Information ‘Online’? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 21(2), 63–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2016.12.009
• Tapia, E., Breitmeyer, B. G., & Shooner, C. R. (2010). Role of task-directed attention in nonconscious and conscious response priming by form and color. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 36(1), 74–87. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017166
• Students will select 10 articles of additional literature during the course (literature list will have to be approved by course instructor, see Course Schedule for due date).

 

Approach to Teaching

Class work will consist of supervision (both individual groups and in plenum), peer-feedback meetings and lectures. During lectures, all topics relative to the research carried on at the lab (e.g. ethics, methods, and methodologies in consciousness studies) will be thoroughly examined.

This course focuses on students’ research activities, class room discussions and critical reflection, data analysis and interpretation of results. More so, students will be presenting and assessing own research projects in the classroom: plenum discussions and peer-feedback will constitute an important learning platform. The instructor is responsible for encouraging connections between theory and practice as well as facilitating critical reflection throughout the process from early methodological design considerations to the finished product.

 

Expectations of the Students

Class attendance is mandatory. Students are expected to have done the reading for each class and to come with notes and questions for the teacher and for the other students. This will give additional material to generate classroom conversation on topics and issues of specific relevance to the ongoing experimental projects. It is also expected that during classes the students are able to discuss and to present topics, to respond questions and to scientifically support their points. Finally, it is expected that students hand in their assignment on time (late papers will not be accepted) and that they contribute significantly to planned group activities.

 

Assignments and Evaluation

Assignments	How Evaluated	Percentage of Grade
Participation and Attendance (includes contributions during peer-feedback)	Individual	25%
Outline of Project Plan	Group based	5%
Progress reports and relevant material (based on research log book and research design documents)	Individual	4 X 10% = 40%
Final Manuscript	Individual	30%
Total		100%

 

Participation and Attendance (25%)

Since class participation is a major component of the course, you will need to be present and participating to receive full credit. Class participation is to be understood as:

• critically evaluating research designs and hypotheses
• asking relevant questions that show understanding of the material – with tentative considerations/conclusions
• being prepared for class and be ready to answer questions when asked
• discussing implications as regards practical application and/or future research considerations
• contributing to class activities

 

Outline of Project Plan (5%)

The group will produce a short but clear delineation of the topic for their research project, stating which methods will be applied, why each method is chosen, how it will contribute to the project as a whole as well as an outline of how the data driven research process will allow the team to work towards a paper abstract containing a motivated hypothesis.

 

Progress Reports (4 x 10% = 40%)

The group will produce an overviews of how, when and where the methods were applied, what the findings were as well as how these relate to the overarching research hypothesis. The final progress will also contain the data driven, motivated hypothesis.

The progress reports are bundled with any relevant documents or products that may highlight the research process, i.e. minds maps, flow charts, drafts for questionnaires, finished questionnaires etc.

 

Final Manuscript (30%)

Using the lay out and content of an academic publication the paper will – in brief - present the applied methods and their application, but mainly focus on the initial research question and the data that relates to the motivated hypothesis, presenting findings and offering critical discussion and reflection on the actual findings. Each group member will clearly delineate own contribution to the whole for individual grade.

 

To be eligible for a passing grade in this class all of the assigned work must be completed.

In addition to the academic content of the written assignments(s), focus will also be placed on the structure, use of appropriate academic language, and writing skills.

 

Policies

Attendance: You are expected to attend all DIS classes when scheduled.  If you miss a class for any reason, please contact the faculty no later than the day of the missed class. If you miss multiple classes the Director of Teaching and Learning, and the Director of Student Affairs will be notified and they will follow-up with you to make sure that all is well.  Absences will jeopardize your grade and your standing at DIS.  Allowances will be made in cases of illness or religious holidays, but in the case of multiple absences you will need to provide a doctor’s note.

 

Academic Honesty, Plagiarism, and Violating the Rules of an Assignment: DIS expects that students abide by the highest standards of intellectual honesty in all academic work. DIS assumes that all students do their own work and credit all work or thought taken from others.  Academic dishonesty will result in a final course grade of “F” and can result in dismissal. The students’ home universities will be notified. DIS reserves the right to request that written student assignments be turned in electronic form for submission to plagiarism detection software. See the Academic Handbook for more information, or ask your instructor if you have questions.

 

Policy on Late Papers: Late essays will be accepted for up to 3 days after the deadline, but for each day late, excluding the weekends, a 5% penalty will be applied. 

Extensions: You may request an extension for an assignment, but you must ask more than 1 day before the assignment is due. Extension requests on the due date, without an excusable reason, will not be considered.

 

Policy for Students Who Arrive Late to Class: Please come to classes on time as it is disturbing for the lecturer and other students. Repeated lateness will result in a referral to the head of the Teaching and Learning department.

 

Use of Laptops or Phones in Class: Computers and iPhones are allowed in class PURELY for academic purposes (e.g. note taking, literature searching, data handling purposes). In case of other private uses such as Facebook, emails or internet surfing, it will have a very negative impact on your participation grade. The use of cell phones during class is strictly forbidden.

 

Academic Regulations 

Please make sure to read the Academic Regulations on the DIS website. There you will find regulations on:

• Course Enrollment and Grading
• Academic Expectations and Honor Code

 

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