Brain & Behavior

label Diverse autorenew 2025-09-29, 17:01 history_edu Ioana Dinescu
We live in the era of the brain. Cognitive neuroscience unravels at great velocity how people perceive, think, and feel. Until recently, such functions could only be described in terms of psychological or philosophical constructs, but nowadays they can be described to an increasing extent in terms of brain anatomy and physiological processes. There are huge consequences for the way in which we think about various aspects in society, from criminal law to mental health care. For instance, criminal law is based on the idea of free will, but what if behavior (partly) depends on chemical processes and pre-programmed schemes? In mental health care, can progressive diseases such as Alzheimer's dementia be eventually cured or slowed down so that patients may prolong the use of their mental abilities?This course is an introduction to topics related to brain and behavior. It starts with an overview of human brain anatomy and physiology, followed by basic knowledge of experimental psychology and human psychological functions. This part of the course will be organized in the form of lectures and interactive seminars. The course as a whole has an emphasis on methods of investigation, and their benefits and limitations. Hands-on experience will be provided with some of the current behavioral and psychophysiological methods, in order to fully appreciate those benefits and limitations. In order to provide participants with this hands-on experience, we will organize seminars and practical sessions in which the participants learn to design and execute basic behavioral experiments.At the end of this intensive course, the participants will be able to follow, and participate in, discussions on topics in brain and behavior in society-at-large.

Period
14-07-2014 - 25-07-2014 (2 weeks)

Target group
Academic level; no specific knowledge or experience required

Course aim
- Acquire basic knowledge about human brain anatomy and physiology, as it relates to behavior.- Acquire basic knowledge about experimental psychology of perception, learning, memory, language, attention, and thinking.- Acquire basic insight into research methods, both behavioral (experiments) and neurophysiological (imaging).- Acquire some hands-on experience in designing and conducting behavioral and psychophysiological experiments.



Credits
3.0 ECTS credits

Course fee
EUR 980[Convert to USD]Including all additional teaching materials, excluding accommodation, travel costs and the cost for the social program.

Course leader
dr. G.J.M. van Boxtel & prof. dr. J.H.M. Vroomen

Tilburg University International Office
Address: PO Box 90153 International Office P 2.219
Postal code: 5000LE
City: Tilburg
Country: Netherlands
Website: http://tilburguniversity.nl/summerschool
E-mail: summerschool@tilburguniversity.nl
Phone: 0031134663743 (or 8911)