PSY3071

Human neuropsychology and its evolutionary perspectives

Professor John Bradshaw

6 points - Three 1-hour lectures and one two-hour tutorial per week - Second semester - Clayton - Prerequisites: PSY2011 and PSY2022

Objectives On completion of this course, students will have an advanced level of understanding of clinical and experimental techniques in the study of brain mechanisms governing behaviour in normality and pathology; a knowledge of the major causes of perceptual, attentional, motor, cognitive and emotional dysfunction in humans; a knowledge of the consequences of stroke, tumour, penetrating injury and neurotransmitter dysfunction in such disorders as aphasia, acquired alexia, agnosia, hemineglect, amnesia, dementia, Parkinson's, Huntington's and Alzheimer's diseases, Tourette's syndrome, obsessive-compulsive and attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder, schizophrenia, autism and depression; exposure to still and video demonstrations of such disorders and case histories, many from research carried out here at Monash in the Neuropsychology Research Unit; an understanding of the evolutionary directions and selective pressures which have culminated in human behaviour as currently understood, from the first appearance of life, via vertebrates, mammals, primates, hominoids and hominids; a knowledge of the morphology and origin of anatomically modern Homo sapiens sapiens, as derived from palaeontological, archaeological, molecular-biological, anthropological and comparative-linguistic studies; a knowledge of the current theoretical positions with respect to the evolution of art, culture, language, praxis, tool use and intellect (including social) from the Upper Paleolithic; exposure to relevant still, audio and video demonstrations of human and extant-primate behaviour, and illustrative material from the palaeontological and archaeological record; an understanding of how behavioural neurology and human evolution can combine, as disciplines, to explain much of what is uniquely human; experience of presentation, in seminars, to peers and academics, of often controversial issues, viewpoints and theories.

Synopsis This course, of integrated lectures (three per week), tutorials (one per week) and considerable preparation/private study time, will address abnormal function as a result of injury to or dysfunction of critical brain areas, circuits or systems, how such such studies can contribute to our understanding of the function of the normal brain, and how such essentially human behaviours or functions may originally have evolved. It consists therefore of two parts: neuropsychology and the breakdown of normal behaviour (language, object recognition, praxis, memory, thought and consciousness), and the evolution of such behaviours (in particular, language, tool use, aesthetics, thought and consciousness). Lecture material will be copiously illustrated with slide material, videos and illustrative case histories. In the tutorials, students (in groups of about three) will orally present, to the class, short papers from recently published findings on key topics.

Assessment Examination: 50% Tutorial presentation and essay (1500 words): 25% Tutorial test: 25%

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