The course aims to provide students with a knowledge of the main topics of social and cognitive neurosciences, with a particular focus on the potential of the various available methodologies and of the translational impact of research in this field (clinical aspects, educational aspects, etc). Students will gain a thorough understanding of the intellectual issues that drive the field of cognitive and social neuroscience, and will learn to apply the acquired knowledge to design and carry out empirical studies, to select the relevant literature in the available scientific databases, and to present small projects related to the research field.
A basic knowledge of psychobiology and cognitive neuroscience is needed.
Teaching will be conducted through both frontal and interactive lectures with the help of video/web resources, group and individual activities (such as group presentations, literature research for small projects, etc). Non-attending students must contact the course teacher before the beginning of the course. In case of a mixed or remote teaching mode, changes may be introduced with respect to what is stated in the Syllabus to allow the course and the exams to be attended also in these modalities.
Students’ evaluation will be based on both the various activities performed during the course (not-attending students will have to perform different activities to be decided with the professor before the beginning of the course) and a final written exam consisting of 30 multiple choices questions and an open question. The questions aim at ascertaining the effective acquisition of both theoretical knowledge and the ability to connect different aspects of social cognitive neuroscience. The answer to the open question will be evaluated in terms of correctness of the answer, argumentative capacity, and analytical discussion of the topics of the course.
Foundational principles and methods of social cognitive neuroscience - Evolutionary origins of social intelligence and culture - Emotion and motivation - Neural bases of face and body processing - Social neuroscience of empathy and the mirror neuron system - Social decision making and neural bases of altruism - The neuroscience of morality and antisocial behavior - Hot topics in cognitive and social neuroscience discussed in recently published scientific articles
