This course provides an advanced study of the physiological bases of learning, memory, and behaviour. It follows on, and assumes knowledge, from PSYC2081 Learning and Physiological Psychology. This course is complementary to PSYC3241 Psychobiology of Memory and Motivation in the sense that both courses provide an advanced perspective on issues in biological psychology. There is a focus on contemporary theories around the function and coding of neuronal systems and the mechanisms by which they support learning and behaviour, animal models of learning and behaviour and related psychopathologies, and methodological approaches to the study of these fundamental mechanisms. Broad topics to be covered include: the role of appetitive and aversive motivation in learning, behaviour, and psychopathology; how the brain encodes associations between stimuli, events, actions, and outcomes; higher-order associative processes; how goals are represented and how they drive behaviour; the development of habitual and compulsive behaviours; how animal models of human psychopathologies inform treatment and drug development. Learning activities include face-to-face lectures and laboratory practicals, self-paced online learning modules, readings and revision exercises. The laboratory component of the course provides hands-on experience in various aspects of research in physiological psychology. As such, a significant component of the course will involve handling and experimentation on animal subjects (rats).
Please note: Neuroscience major (NEURS1) students are exempt from the prerequisite of PSYC2001 Research Methods 2 as long as they have completed NEUR2201 Neuroscience Fundamentals. Note, however, that this condition does not apply to any students who are undertaking a Psychology major (PSYCA1 or PSYCB1) in addition to a Neuroscience major.
