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Module Title Neural Basis of Movement
SchoolSchool of Psychology
Department School of Psychology
Module Code 03 21574
Module Lead
Level Intermediate Level
Credits 10
Semester Semester 2
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites
Restrictions None
Contact Hours Lecture-10 hours
Seminar-2 hours
Tutorial-11 hours
Practical Classes and workshops-4 hours
Guided independent study-86 hours
Total: 113 hours
Exclusions
Description

Topics to be covered:

  • Intro to sensory-motor systems and neural recording methods
  • Spinal reflexes & proprioception
  • Cortical motor systems
  • Oculomotor systems
  • Basal ganglia, sequence learning & reinforcement learning
  • Associative learning in simple systems
  • Hippocampus, LTP and spatial memory
  • Cerebellum, LTD, VOR, eye-blink conditioning
  • Neural coding
  • Cognitive motor control
Learning Outcomes

On completion of this module the student will be able to:

  • Demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the neural basis of human movement by synthesising a well-reasoned argument, based on their own knowledge of the topic.
  • Demonstrate a breadth of knowledge on the topic that spans the course content.
  • Describe the major neural systems contributing to human motor control.
  • Describe spinal reflex pathways and the control of posture.
  • Understand the structure and connections of major motor systems in the brain.
  • Describe the function of motor cortical areas, basal ganglia and cerebellum.
  • Show an understanding of neural codes and neural activity patterns.
  • Show an understanding of the neural basis of learning.
  • Discuss cognitive aspects of motor planning and motor memory.
  • Evaluate methods for testing theories of human movement.
Assessment 21574-01 : Examination Paper : Exam (Centrally Timetabled) - Written Unseen (75%)
21574-03 : Workshop Report : Coursework (25%)
Assessment Methods & Exceptions Assessments:
Examination paper 1 hour [75%] – the exam format allows selection of some topics to be studied in depth, with assessment of written essays, while the breath of the course knowledge is assessed with short note answers.
Workshop report [25%] - the workshop introduces a small project, to be completed out of contact hours and assessed by a lab report (750 word).

Reassessment:
Sits/resits of similar exam; plus reassessment of workshop report for students failing both components.
Other
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