This document provides an overview of topics that could be covered in a cognitive psychology course. It includes lists of potential topics from previous semesters as well as the current semester. Some of the suggested topics are understanding adolescent cognition, the effects of brain damage on cognition, and cognitive psychology in literature. It also shares several external resources on subjects like neuroscience techniques, brain anatomy, and neurotransmitters.

1. Cognitive Psychology
Lesson 2 - Spring 2020
Introducing the brain
Professor Valentina Bazzarin, PhD
USAC Reggio Emilia

2. Possible
Topics
(SPRING19)
- Social aspects of psychology
- Mnemonics
- How cognition changes and develops
throughout the lifespan
- Development
- Decision making
- Fine and gross motor skills and how
they relate to the physiology of the
brain
- Intuition “gut feeling”
- Monogamy and brain chemistry
- Child development
- Stress
- Foreign language acquisition
- Muscles’ memory
- Prefrontal cortex (in depth)
- How our brain perceives things using
other senses

3. Possible
Topics
(SPRING20)
- Understand the cognition of
adolescents
- Why some people have better
memory than others?
- How does cognitive psychology play
into alcoholics?
- External factors influencing cognition
(such as economic and
environmental)
- Emotions
- Brain damage effects on cognition (eg
seizures)
- Multitasking (listening music while
studying)
- False memories in children
- Mirror neurons and empathy
- Motivation and emotions
- Attraction, emotions and processing
- Diseases and mental illnesses
- Brain anatomy
- Dreaming
- Cognitive psych in uterus (cognitive
disorders caused in utero)

4. Possible
Topics
(SPRING20)
- Educational psychology and cognitive
psychology
- How accurate is acting in movies?
(comparing good acting and bad
acting using cognitive lenses)
- The studies of Paul Ekman about
“face reading”
- Theories of emotion
- Long and short term memory
- Child development and its connection
to cognitive psychology
- Cognitive psychology and different
career in psychology world
- Different stages of development of
cognitive processes
- How damage to the brain affects
cognitive function
- Cognitive psychology in Sherlock
Holmes
- Cognitive psychology in Kafka

5. https://youtu.be/9b3KM2p1nHs
https://youtu.be/NIdq5kIhrYg

6. Meditation and complaining can affect the
brain
Source: https://youtu.be/q0DMYs4b2Yw

7. Suggested
reading
Optogenetics is a technique for genetically modifying
cells – neurons in this case – in living animals so that
their function can be turned on and off with light.
CLARITY is a remarkable feat of chemical engineering
in which the fatty, opaque tissues that constitute an
intact, non-living brain are removed, leaving behind a
transparent physical structure with all of its parts and
wiring exactly in place.
Source: https://news.stanford.edu/2016/05/26/stanford-research-shows-different-brain-cells-process-positive-negative-experiences/

8. Climbing: motor and emotions control
Source: https://sparkjournal.arts.ac.uk/index.php/spark/article/view/85

9. https://medium.com/scope-stanford-medicine/learning-neuroscience-by-rock-climbing-4bdf7fa2c36a

10. Resilience
Source:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BR9dbjubfuU

11. The brain initiative

12. Why is The BRAIN Initiative
needed?
With nearly 100 billion neurons and 100
trillion connections, the human brain
remains one of the greatest mysteries in
science and one of the greatest challenges
in medicine. Neurological and psychiatric
disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease,
Parkinson’s disease, autism, epilepsy,
schizophrenia, depression, and traumatic
brain injury, exact a tremendous toll on
individuals, families, and society.
Despite the many advances in
neuroscience in recent years, the
underlying causes of most of neurological
and psychiatric conditions remain largely
unknown, due to the vast complexity of the
human brain. If we are ever to develop
effective ways of helping people suffering
from these devastating conditions,
researchers will first need a more complete
arsenal of tools and information for
understanding how the brain functions
both in health and disease.

13. Introducing the brain
The brain is the organ that makes
possible our mental life.
Neuron is a type of cell that makes up
the nervous system and support the
cognitive functions. All the neurons
have the same structure.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuron

14. Neurotransmitters
Neurotransmitters are the chemical signals
that are released by one neuron and affect
the properties of other neurons.
Source:
http://ib.bioninja.com.au/options/option-a-neurobi
ology-and/a5-neuropharmacology/types-of-neurot
ransmitters.html

15. Excitatory
and
inhibitory
activity of
neurotransmitters
Neurotransmitters may be either
excitatory or inhibitory in their effect
(some may be both depending on the
receptor they bind to):
■ Excitatory neurotransmitters trigger
depolarisation, increasing the
likelihood of a response
■ Inhibitory neurotransmitters trigger
hyperpolarisation, decreasing the
likelihood of a response

16. The human brain and Einstein’s intelligence
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE53EkxKWpwSource: https://youtu.be/BE53EkxKWpw

17. Electrical signal and the action potential
Myelin is a fatty substance that is deposited around
the axon of some neurons and it speeds the
conduction.
Destruction of myelin is found in a number of
pathologies, notably multiple sclerosis
Source:
https://sites.psu.edu/psych256sp15
/2015/01/31/multiple-sclerosis/

18. How do neuron code information?
Source: https://youtu.be/ExvSvUlZuck

19. Grey and white
matter and the
cerebrospinal fluid
Grey matter: neuronal cell bodies
White matter: axons and support cells
(glia)
CSF (CerebroSpinal Fluid): it fills the
ventricles and it serves some
functions (carries waste, transfers
signals), albeit non-cognitive.
Source:
https://pathologyproject.wordpress.com/2012/04
/10/meningitis/

20. CNS is organised hierarchically
Source:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/201411231809
29-4078391-how-the-brain-works-and-why-you-
should-know/

21. Terms of reference and section
http://www.thinksciencemaurer.com/anatomical-position
-directional-terms-planes/

22. The cerebral
cortex Gyri: the raised folds of the cortex
Sulci: the buried grooves of the cortex
The cortex is only around 3mm thick
and is organized into different layers
that can be seen when viewed in cross
section.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_cortex

23. Labelling the
regions of the
cortex
By:
- Pattern of gyri and sulci
- Cytoarchitecture (cell types) as
Brodmann’s
- Function (only primary sensory
and motor areas)
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brodmann_a
rea

24. Subcortex
Basal ganglia: regions of the
subcortical grey matter involved in
aspects of motor control and skill
learning: they consist of structures
such as the caudate nucleus, putamen
and globus pallidus.
Disorders of the basal ganglia can be
characterized as hypokinetic (poverty
of movements - Parkinson’s) or
hyperkinetic (excess of movement -
Huntington’s)
Source: https://youtu.be/JL9Y3P870jU

25. The limbic
system
Present and previous experience
Is a region of the subcortex involved in
relating the organism to its present
and its past environment. The limbic
structure includes amygdala,
hippocampus, cingulate cortex and
mammillary bodies.
Detects and expresses emotional
responses
Relation with the olfactory bulbs
Source: https://youtu.be/JVvMSwsOXPw

26. Diencephalon,
Thalamus and
hypothalamus
The diencephalon of the brain consists of
structures that are lateral to the third ventricle,
and includes the thalamus, the hypothalamus,
the epithalamus and the subthalamus.
The diencephalon is one of the main vesicles of
the brain formed during embryogenesis. During
the third week of development a neural tube is
created from the ectoderm, one of the three
primary germ layers. The tube forms three main
vesicles during the third week of development:
the prosencephalon, the mesencephalon and the
rhombencephalon. The prosencephlon gradually
divides into the telencephalon and the
diencephalon.
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diencephalon

27. The midbrain
and the
hindbrain
The midbrain or mesencephalon is a
portion of the central nervous system
associated with vision, hearing, motor
control, sleep/wake, arousal (alertness),
and temperature regulation.
The hindbrain or rhombencephalon is
a developmental categorization of
portions of the central nervous system in
vertebrates. It includes the medulla,
pons, and cerebellum. Together they
support vital bodily processes
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midbrain