Neuroscience

• To familiarize the students with core concepts and central issues in the neuroscience of cognition
• To familiarize the students with experimental techniques used in neuroscientific research
• To place the study of language, and in particular its neurolinguistic aspects, in the broader context of neurosience of cognition

There are no formal prerequisites for this course. The course is related to other courses in the Linguistics track, in particular to Neurolinguistics.

The course provides an introduction to the basics of neuroscience, focusing on the study of cognition. It starts with a brief overview of the human nervous system, followed by an overview of the methods and techniques used in cognitive neuroscience research (imaging, stimulation, behavioral). The course then explores the neurophysiological bases that underlie central functions of human cognition, such as long-term memory, working memory, learning, perception, attention, decision making, executive functions, language. Evidence is adduced both from healthy populations as well as from individuals with various types of neurological disorders.

At the end of the course, the students will:
• have a basic understanding of various cognitive processes in terms of their neuroanatomical and neurophysiological background
• be able to approach cognitive neuroscience phenomena from different perspectives (neuroanatomical, neurophysiological, behavioral)
• be able to form valid research questions in cognitive neuroscience
• be acquainted with the various experimental techniques used to study cognitive processes and the brain

• Kandel, Eric R. et al. 2013. Principles of Neural Science. Fifth edition. New York: McGraw-Hill.
• Purves, Dale et al. 2013. Principles of Cognitive Neuroscience. Second edition. Sunderland, Mass.: Sinauer Associates.
• Gazzaniga, Michael et al. 2013. Cognitive Neuroscience. The Biology of the Mind. 4th edition. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
• Ward, Jamie. 2010. The Student's Guide to Cognitive Neuroscience, 2nd edition. Hove: Psychology Press.
• Baars, Bernard & Nicole Gage. 2010. Cognition, Brain, and Consciousness. Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
• Roche, Richard & Sean Commins (eds.) 2009. Pioneering Studies in Cognitive Neuroscience. New York: McGraw-Hill.

• Recent topical journal articles
• Class notes

Written exam or final project (70%), assignments and quizes (30%).

Assist. prof. dr. Christina Manouilidou lectures and conducts research in psycho- and neurolinguistics in the Linguistics Division of the Department of Philology of the University of Patras, Greece. Recently, her research has focused on the following areas: (1) cognitive and linguistic impairments in aging populations with chronic neurodegenerative diseases, especially Alzheimer's disease, Semantic Dementia, Primary Progressive Aphasia and related dementias; (2) Lexical access and representation of derived words, compound words and pseudo-words; (3) investigation of the role of Broca's area in language and memory by looking at behavioral and electrophysiological data from healthy and brain-damaged populations.

Selection of articles:
Fyndanis, V., Manouilidou, C., Koufou, E., Tsapakis E-M. (2013). Agrammatic patterns in Alzheimer’s disease: evidence from Tense, Agreement and Aspect. Aphasiology 27(2): 178-200.

Manouilidou, C. & de Almeida, R.G. (2013). Processing correlates of verb typologies: investigating internal structure and argument realization. Linguistics 51(4): 767-792.

Marjanovic, K., Manouilidou, C. & Marvin, T. (2013). Word-Formation Rules in Slovenian Agentive Deverbal Nominalization: A Psycholinguistic Study Based on Pseudo-Words. Slovene Linguistic Studies 9: 93-109.

Ferstl, E.C., Garnham, A. & C. Manouilidou (2011). Implicit Causality Bias in English: A corpus of 300 verbs. Behavior Research Methods 43(1): 124-135.

Manouilidou, C., de Almeida, R.G., Schwartz, G., & NPV Nair (2009). Thematic Roles in Alzheimer’s Disease: Hierarchy Violations in Psychological Predicates. Journal of Neurolinguistics 22(2): 167-186.