Course Details in 2025/26 Session

Module Title	LH Brain Health Across the Lifespan
School	School of Psychology
Department	School of Psychology
Module Code	03 36251
Module Lead	Dr Katrien Segaert
Level	Honours Level
Credits	20
Semester	Semester 1
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites
Restrictions	None
Contact Hours	Lecture-20 hours Seminar-10 hours Guided independent study-170 hours Total: 200 hours
Exclusions
Description	Across the globe our life expectancy is increasing. In the UK, babies born since the year 2000, some who may be students at the University of Birmingham right now, have an average life expectancy of 100 years old. This increased life expectancy poses a real challenge: as we are living longer, there is a widening gap between lifespan (the length of time a person is alive) and health-span (the length of time a person is healthy). So how can we maintain brain health across the lifespan? How do we help older adults to develop and maintain functional ability and cognitive wellbeing? How can evidence from psychological and human neuroscience research inform societal policy, to enable people to be and do what they value throughout their lives? This module will cover: - age-related changes in cognition - structural and functional brain changes - influences of lifestyle factors and interventions - pathological ageing and age-related diseases
Learning Outcomes	By the end of the module students should be able to: Demonstrate a systematic understanding of key aspects of ageing, including acquisition of coherent and detailed knowledge, informed by the latest research in the fields of psychology and human neuroscience Demonstrate the ability to make use of scholarly reviews and refereed research articles in the field of ageing Critically evaluate arguments, assumptions, abstract concepts and data, to make judgements, and to frame appropriate questions to achieve further study on the topic of ageing Demonstrate the following qualities (which are transferable skills) in the grant proposal assessment: - the exercise of initiative, responsibility and decision-making in a complex task - the independent learning needed to undertake appropriate further study and pursue answers to questions in the field of ageing
Assessment	36251-01 : Coursework : Coursework (100%)
Assessment Methods & Exceptions	Assessments: 1. Written coursework portfolio, 2000-4000 words (100% of 20 credit module) Reassessment: 1. Written coursework portfolio, 2000-4000 words (100% of 20 credit module)
Other
Reading List