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Course Syllabus

Master 2020/2021

Research Seminar "Cognitive Sciences"

Type: Elective course (Cognitive Sciences and Technologies: From Neuron to Cognition)
Area of studies: Psychology
Delivered by: School of Psychology
Where: Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience
When: 1 year, 1-4 module
Mode of studies: offline
Open to: students of one campus
Instructors: Marie Arsalidou, Valentina Bachurina, Victoria Moiseeva, Mikhail Pokhoday
Master’s programme: Cognitive Sciences and Technologies: From Neuron to Cognition
Language: English
ECTS credits: 8
Contact hours: 100

Course Syllabus

Full SyllabusAsk Question

Abstract

The present program establishes minimum demands of students’ knowledge and skills, and determines content of the course. The present syllabus is aimed at the department teaching the course, the teaching assistants, and students of the Master of Science program 37.04.01 «Cognitive sciences and technologies: from neuron to cognition». This syllabus meets the standards required by: Educational standards of National Research University Higher School of Economics; Educational program «Psychology» of Master’s Degree Program 37.04.01; University curriculum of the Master’s program «Cognitive sciences and technologies: from neuron to cognition» in psychology (37.04.01).
Learning Objectives

Learning Objectives

  • This course aims to teach students fundamental steps of the scientific method with practical applications that the students can use with their own thesis topics. For example, writing an abstract about their thesis topic, developing their data analyses plan and preparing a presentation for the thesis project. This course will offer students the opportunity to study how research examines how the mind works. This endeavour requires knowledge drawn from multiple perspectives. The lecturer will employ perspectives from psychology and neuroscience to explore the nature of mental processes. Students will have the opportunity to discuss how their own thesis project can contribute to the literature.
  • Research methods and experimental design are fundamental aspects for properly prepared scientific projects focusing on practical aspects. The lecturer will present on hypotheses development, various methodologies and tools used to answer different questions in cognitive science and psychological meta-subjective task analyses.
  • Lectures will focus on brain areas and related functional properties. Students will engage in practical activities that target cortical and sub-cortical regions. Practical activities will include historical understanding and current findings related to specific brain areas.
  • The lecturer will overview fundamental practices in data collection, highlight the importance of hypothesis appropriate statistical analyses and introduce tools for analyzing data.
  • Knowledge translation is key for communicating research findings. Academic writing may vary from short abstracts to long monographs. The lecturer will present on various writing techniques and give tips for academic writing focusing on research reports for peer-reviewed scientific journals. Practical activities will include preparing text for knowledge translation such as writing conference abstract.
  • The last weeks of this course will focus on skills and techniques for orally presenting scientific findings. The lecturer will overview the dos and don'ts of poster and paper oral presentations.
  • The aim is to help students choose a supervisor, a laboratory, better variant for research project and methods
Expected Learning Outcomes

Expected Learning Outcomes

  • The students will engage in discussion and activities associated how we study the brain and mental processes using the scientific method.
  • The students will think critically about experimental methodology related to their own experiment. They will complete a freely available research ethics course that covers ethical contact for research involving humans.
  • Students will learn about the brain by actively participating in presentations on historical and contemporary knowledge on brain areas of interest.
  • The students will learn about good practices on data collection, analyses and software tools and have the opportunity to discuss practical aspects in preparing their own research projects.
  • Students will learn write conference abstracts, the first and subsequent paragraphs of an introduction and how to structure the content of a scientific paper.
  • Students will present their own thesis projects with an oral presentation and learn how to give and receive constructive feedback on their work.
  • Students will choose a supervisor for scientific work, a laboratory, research methods.
Course Contents

Course Contents

  • Multiple perspectives of cognitive science
    This course will offer students the opportunity to study how research examines how the mind works. This endeavour requires knowledge drawn from multiple perspectives. The lecturer will employ perspectives from psychology and neuroscience to explore the nature of mental processes. Students will have the opportunity to discuss how their own thesis project can contribute to the literature.
  • Research methods & Experimental design
    Research methods and experimental design are fundamental aspects for properly prepared scientific projects focusing on practical aspects. The lecturer will present on hypotheses development, various methodologies and tools used to answer different questions in cognitive science and psychological meta-subjective task analyses.
  • Brain and cognitive function
    Lectures will focus on brain areas and related functional properties. Students will engage in practical activities that target cortical and sub-cortical regions. Practical activities will include historical understanding and current findings related to specific brain areas.
  • Data collection and analyses
    The lecturer will overview fundamental practices in data collection, highlight the importance of hypothesis appropriate statistical analyses and introduce tools for analyzing data.
  • Academic writing I and II
    Knowledge translation is key for communicating research findings. Academic writing may vary from short abstracts to long monographs. The lecturer will present on various writing techniques and give tips for academic writing focusing on research reports for peer-reviewed scientific journals. Practical activities will include preparing text for knowledge translation such as writing conference abstract.
  • Thesis topic presentations
    The last weeks of this course will focus on skills and techniques for orally presenting scientific findings. The lecturer will overview the dos and don'ts of poster and paper oral presentations.
  • Acquaintance with future research fields
    Invited representatives of Master’s program partners present the fields of cognitive science they are working in
Assessment Elements

Assessment Elements

  • non-blocking Participation - formula code Ga
    Participation scores is based the quality and quantity of answers and in-class assignments. There will be at least one in-class activity every week. In class assignments are mainly practical activities related to the students own research project. For example, writing the first paragraph of the introduction, writing a conference abstract, writing references in APA style for an article, chapter and book; preparing a peer-review evaluation; presenting on a preselected brain area; presenting on a preselected founding figure in neuroscience.
  • non-blocking two essays
    For each essay maximal grade can be 10. Criteria are: relevance of the content to the topic; literacy; originality and independence; ability to express one’s own position; argumentation.
  • non-blocking Presentation - formula code Gp
    Oral presentation associated with the students own thesis research project.
  • non-blocking Mid-term test- last week of Module 3 - formula code Ge
    The mid-term test/exam will be take home and the due date will be announced to the students.
  • non-blocking Final exam - Take home - Module 4 - formula code Gf
    Final exam given during the final week of Module 4. This is a take home exam focusing on potential impact of the student's research project in their perspective field, cognitive science and society. The due date of the final exam will be announced to the students.
  • non-blocking Participation
Interim Assessment

Interim Assessment

  • Interim assessment (4 module)
    G1 = 0.3*(0.3*Ga + 0.7* Ge) + 0.7*(0.2*Ga + 0.2*Ge + 0.3*Gp + 0.3*Gf )
Bibliography

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

  • Arsalidou, M., Pascual-Leone, J., Johnson, J., Morris, D., & Taylor, M. J. (2013). A balancing act of the brain: activations and deactivations driven by cognitive load. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.F7423818
  • Denes Szucs, & John P. A. Ioannidis. (2017). When Null Hypothesis Significance Testing Is Unsuitable for Research: A Reassessment. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00390/full
  • Erren, T. C., & Bourne, P. E. (2007). Ten Simple Rules for a Good Poster Presentation. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.F5A2A648
  • Fusar-Poli, P., Placentino, A., Carletti, F., Landi, P., Allen, P., Surguladze, S., … Politi, P. (2009). Functional atlas of emotional faces processing: a voxel-based meta-analysis of 105 functional magnetic resonance imaging studies. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.7A7D8169
  • Marie Arsalidou, Matthew Pawliw-Levac, Mahsa Sadeghi, & Juan Pascual-Leone. (2018). Brain areas associated with numbers and calculations in children: Meta-analyses of fMRI studies. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, (239–250), 239. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2017.08.002
  • Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Jeong-Yeon Lee, & Podsakoff, N. P. (2003). Common Method Biases in Behavioral Research: A Critical Review of the Literature and Recommended Remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5), 879. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.88.5.879
  • Satterthwaite, T. D., Elliott, M. A., Ruparel, K., Loughead, J., Prabhakaran, K., Calkins, M. E., … Gur, R. E. (2013). Neuroimaging of the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.A81FED49
  • Yaple, Z., & Arsalidou, M. (2018). N-back Working Memory Task: Meta-analysis of Normative fMRI Studies With Children. Child Development, 89(6), 2010–2022. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13080

Recommended Additional Bibliography

  • Loevenbruck, H., Grandchamp, R., Rapin, L., Nalborczyk, L., Dohen, M., Perrier, P., … Perrone-Bertolotti, M. (2018). A cognitive neuroscience view of inner language: to predict and to hear, see, feel. France, Europe: HAL CCSD. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.59322547