Course Syllabus

Jump to Today

The Developing Brain

 DIS Logo

developing_brain_picture.png

Semester & Location:

Spring 2024 - DIS Stockholm
Type & Credits:

Elective Course - 3 credits
Major Disciplines:

Human Development, Neuroscience, Psychology 
Faculty Members:

Carlos Tirado (current students please use the Canvas Inbox)
Program Contact:

Department email address psy.cns@dis.dk
Academic support:

academics@disstockholm.se 
Time & Place:

Tuesdays & Fridays, 11.40 - 13.00

Classroom: 1E-510

 

Course Description

Prerequisite: one semester of neuroscience, physiological psychology, or biological psychology at the university level.

This course uses a cognitive, behavioral and neuroscience perspectives to explore the typical development of the child, from prenatal, infancy to adolescence. We cover among others perception, attention, language, learning, memory, executive function, emotion and social cognition. Brain structures and functions supporting these developmental processes, such as neuroplasticity and critical/sensitive periods will be considered, as will the implications of culture and the social context.  Scandinavian perspectives will be explored.

 

Learning Objectives

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

  1. Describe the main theoretical perspectives in developmental neuroscience.
  2. Describe common research methods, and their uses, in developmental neuroscience.
  3. Read and summarize scientific papers within the field of developmental neuroscience.
  4. Conduct observations of atypical and typical child behavior, and connect to theories of neurological development.
  5. Identify milestones of typical development, behavioral and neurological (and identify delays): both through observation of behavior and measures of neurological functioning.
  6. Describe cultural differences (especially comparing Scandinavia to North America) that might affect neurological development and behavioral repertoires.
  7. Describe implications of neurodevelopmental disorders on the brain and behavior level.

 

Faculty

Tirado.jpeg

Carlos Tirado is a postdoctoral researcher in cognitive sciences at Linköping University, holding a PhD in experimental psychology from Stockholm University. His expertise lies in auditory perception, perceptual training, working memory, attention, and embodied cognition. In his work, he focuses in employing novel psychophysical and statistical methods.

 

 

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

  1. 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
  2. Aral, N., & Sağlam, M. (2016). Sensory development in infants. Current advances in education. In, 264-277.
  3. Adolph, K.E, Berger, S.E., Leo, A.J. (2011). Developmental continuity? Crawling, cruising and walking, Develop- mental Science, 14(2), 306-318.
  4. Anderson, V., Spencer-Smith, M., & Wood, A. (2011). Do children really recover better? Neurobehavioural plas- ticity after early brain insult. Brain. 1-15.
  5. 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.
  6. Carrion‐Castillo, A., Franke, B., & Fisher, S. E. (2013). Molecular genetics of dyslexia: an overview. Dyslexia, 19(4), 214-240.
  7. Decety, J., & Svetlova, M. (2012). Putting together phylogenetic and ontogenetic perspectives on empathy. De- velopmental cognitive neuroscience, 2(1), 1-24.
  8. Ekblad, M., Korkeila, J., & Lehtonen, L. (2015). Smoking during pregnancy affects foetal brain development. Acta Paediatrica, 104(1), 12-18.
  9. 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.
  10. Hepper, P. (2015). Behavior During the Prenatal Period: Adaptive for Development and Survival. Child Develop- ment Perspectives, 9(1), 38-43
  11. 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.
  12. 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
  13. Kandel (2000): Principles of Neural Science, Chapter 1 and 2
  14. Klingberg, T. (2014). Childhood cognitive development as a skill. Trends in cognitive sciences, 18(11), 573-579
  15. 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.
  16. Kolb, B., Mychasiuk, R., & Gibb, R. (2014). Brain development, experience, and behavior. Pediatric blood & can- cer, 61(10), 1720-1723.
  17. Lacquaniti, F., Ivanenko, Y.P., Zago, M., (2012) Development of human locomotion, Current Opinion in Neurobi- ology, 22(5), 822-828.
  18. Lagercrantz, H., Changeux, JP. The Emergence of Human Consciousness: From Fetal to Neonatal Life. Pediatr Res 65, 255–260 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1203/PDR.0b013e3181973b0d
  19. 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
  20. 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.
  21. Newcombe, N. S. (2013). Cognitive development: changing views of cognitive change. Wiley Interdisciplinary Re- views: Cognitive Science, 4(5), 479-491.
  22. Petersen, S. E., & Posner, M. I. (2012). The attention system of the human brain: 20 years after. Annual review of neuroscience, 35, 73.
  23. 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.
  24. Rapin, I., (2016). Dyscalculia and the calculating brain, Pediatric Neurology, 61, 11-20.
  25. 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
  26. Trevarthen, C., & Reddy, V. (2017). Consciousness in infants. The Blackwell companion to consciousness, 43-62.
  27. 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.
  28. 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.
  29. 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.
  30. 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
  31. Ward, J. (2013). Synesthesia. Annual review of psychology, 64, 49-75.
  32. Webb, A. R., Heller, H. T., Benson, C. B., & Lahav, A. (2015). Mother’s voice and heartbeat sounds elicit auditory plasticity in the human brain before full gestation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(10), 3152-3157.
  33. 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
  34. 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

Please see course calendar for the details.
Field studies might include visit of a school dedicated to children having suffered from traumatic injuries, testing live toddlers, preschoolers and kids from different ages or visiting a remediation center for kids with mental illnesses.

Guest Lecturers

Karin Nilsson is a postdoctoral researcher at Linköping University and a licensed speech and language pathologist. Her research focuses on reading development in children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities (ID). Her lecture will provide an overview of the development of reading abilities in ID, and reading instruction in compulsory school for students with ID. Aspects of inclusion and participation will also be discussed.

Approach to Teaching

I'm here to guide you through this course with the aim that you'll emerge more knowledgeable than when you started. If that means sparking your curiosity about the intricate dimensions of brain development, then so be it! While I can't guarantee having all the answers right away, I firmly believe that together we can delve into a deep understanding of the subject at hand.

In each class, we'll blend faculty-led lectures with student-led discussions. Our focus will be on exploring and contemplating the development of the brain and its behavior, drawing from both neuroscience and psychology perspectives. The class content hinges on assigned readings, designed to fuel our discussions. While we may not cover every detail in class, any uncertainties raised by your questions will certainly be addressed. I recognize that not everyone participates equally or may even enjoy doing so. Rest assured, I'm committed to encouraging and supporting each of you to find your own way of communicating.

Expectations of the Students

Active participation: 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 can be expressed as such, and scientific sources to discussion points are always rewarded. You are expected to behave professionally and treat each other with empathy. This is a crucial skill that as a teacher I nurture and cherish which greatly helps communication, learning and in general well-being.

Absences: 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.

Preparation to the class: To engage with the class material properly, you are expected to come to class prepared. To this end, you are expected to spend 6 hour per week outside of class time with the different materials. This includes but isn't restricted to:

  • answering online quizzes before the class.
  • read and understand the required readings before class. Think about the crucial points in the reading, what did you find super interesting, what is still unclear. Take your own notes so that we can discuss and answer your questions in class. This will also serve as a start for creating your own study guide.

In class and after: 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 needs to be written down individually by the students. Main discussion will be summarized by the students and transcribed on white board and pictures 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 quiz) - Individual

20%
Scientific paper presentation and evaluation - Group

20%

Prenatal development and Dietary advice: cross cultural comparison - Group

15%

Midterm written Exam - Individual

20%
Final project: Developmental timeline
Preparation, parent magazine and presentation at showcase - Individual

25%
Total

100%

Descriptions of assignments

Active class participation (20%): The student is active in discussions and group work. Active participation and engagement include 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. Absences will be reflected in active participation grades. See Assignments within Canvas for a class participation grading.

 

Scientific paper presentation and evaluation (20%): Group

Each group of students will choose an article from a selected list during the first class and will prepare their presentation at home.

In class: Power point presentation 10 to 15 min per topic. Handing in power point for grading (on top of the physical presentation). Question session (5min) will follow each presentation.

Each student will be graded on its participation to the discussion for 25% of this assignment.

See Assignments within Canvas for a detailed rubric

 

Prenatal development and Dietary advice: cross cultural comparison (15%): Group

Each group of students chooses one dietary element (e.g. alcohol, vitamin A, caffeine, unpasteurized milk, raw meat, sushi ... ) 10 days before the due date. 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 scientifically based 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 the level of scientific evidence supporting 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 (if this is known). Always use scientific articles to support your claims. 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.

See Canvas for a detailed grading rubric

In class, presentation day: Each group will give an oral 10min summary of the main points of their research paper. The goal is that the whole class is informed on the latest research on the impact of the chosen dietary element on the brain development.

 

Midterm written exam (20%): Individual

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). This written exam covers basic neurological concepts, prenatal, perinatal and postnatal development, based on all readings and content so far.

Covered topics include 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 any class content covered up to the date of the exam.

The test will take about 80 minutes, and consists of a mix of short answer and essay questions. The test will be conducted outside of class time at home with no study materials. To relieve the stress pressure, you will be able to take it at any time during one specific dedicated day. This trial won't be graded. The next class we will review the questions together and you will be allowed a second trial for your midterm in the exact same conditions. Again, the point is for you to retain best the information and research has shown that test and retest is the most efficient way. So play following the rules (no study material for both trials) and you will get the best long term outcome!

More information, including a study guide (study_guide1.docx), is available on Canvas.

Developmental timeline: 25% - Individual

       Poster/visual and review other topic (10%)

       Parent magazine (10%)

       Presentation at showcase (5%)

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 work toward building up a comprehensive developmental timeline all course long.

Each "presenting" student will be choosing 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. (5% for the visuals including content)

Each student will write up an essay summarizing their topic written for parents as if in a parent magazine, they should also list their references (scientific articles required). This parent magazine article will be handed in through canvas. (10% of the grade)

Each student will be assigned to a second topic (covered by another). This "review" student will have the task to review the other topic, asking question and engaging in an enlightened discussion with the "presenting" student during the final class (5% of the grade)

Finally, each "presenting" student will hold a 5min presentation in front of the showcase attendance which will be rehearsed on the last day of class. They will explain 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