Cognitive neuroscience at the 100 and 200 level covers a broad overview of the diverse range of cognitive neuroscience topics. This course will discuss current state-of-the-art research techniques with a special focus on human neuroimaging, in particular functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). These techniques will be discussed in a broad range of cognitive domains, such as perception, memory and consciousness.

The last decade has seen a rapid development of neuroimaging techniques. These techniques allow detailed views inside the living human brain, and are a very popular and much discussed research tool.

The implications of the neuroimaging techniques are many, ranging from basic science to clinical applications, from law to economics. The field of neuroimaging is inherently multidisciplinary covering basic physics, physiology, psychology, and computational principles.

 

Format
The first part of the course will start with a review of the neurophysiological properties of the brain and various invasive procedures applied in animals. Next, we will review the most popular surface-based and tomographic-based neuroimaging techniques, as well as stimulation and connectivity approaches to study the function of human brain. The central idea is that one has to know how these techniques work and what information they can and cannot provide in order to design the experiments and interpret the results.

The second part of the course will focus on the most recently developed – and the most popular – technique: functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). After an introduction of the basics, we look into the applications of this technique for investigating the organization of the brain and its underlying neural processes; applications for medical assessment (like addiction); and the use of brain activity for brain-computer interaction or interfaces.