Undergraduate - UnitPSY3280 - The neuronal basis of consciousness

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2013 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL

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Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
Organisational Unit	School of Psychology and Psychiatry
Offered	Not offered in 2013
Coordinator(s)	A/Prof Naotsugtu Tsuchiya

Synopsis

The neural basis of consciousness focuses on the empirical neuroscientific studies of consciousness. In particular, we will focus on the neuronal correlates of visual consciousness.

The unit will equip the students with necessary knowledge to think about the problem of consciousness from the neuroscientific point of views; anatomy and physiology of the primate visual system, the relationship between attention and consciousness, and decision-making and freewill and its modulation by neuromodulatory drugs

Outcomes

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

Understand the theoretical issues for current debate on the neuronal basis of consciousness. In particular, students will be equipped with necessary knowledge of

a.Neuroanatomy

b.Basic working of the primate visual system

c.Exemplar approaches to find neuronal correlates of consciousness

d.Relationship between attention and consciousness

e.Freewill and decision-making and its modulation by neuronmodulatory drugs.

Critically evaluate the contribution of contemporary research findings and theories in key areas of neuroscience.
Describe the use of a range of research tools and paradigms used within different domains of neuroscientific research.
Design a creative and empirical idea to study certain aspects of consciousness. In the course of developing a new idea for experiments, initial proposal outline will be peer reviewed by other students and receive constructive feedback. This aligns with the faculty/university's objective of education in preparing students for professional scientists where peer review is a critical component in developing ideas.

Assessment

Presentation at the discussion class (30%)
1 proposal outline and 1 evaluation of the initial proposal by peers (hurdle requirement)
1 mock grant proposal and 2 evaluations of the final proposal by peers (40%)
Examination (MCQ) (30%)