SUBJECT

Title

Introduction to Neuroscience

Type of instruction

lecture

Faculty

Faculty of Education and Psychology

Part of degree program

Psychology BA

Typically offered in

Autumn/spring semester

Course description

Aim of the course:
The main objective of the course is to give an overview on the basic methods, shared disciplinary
concepts and current theoretical models of Neuroscience, as a timely and developing
mulidisciplinary approach in understanding our brain.

Learning outcome, competences
knowledge:

Psychopysiological, Neuroscience and Neuroanatomy concepts
Current methods and main objectives in Neuroscience
Basics in Neuroanatomy

attitude:

Utilisation of knowledge in scientific communication, presentation

skills:

Skills af applying main methods
Skills of identifying related neurological and neuroanatomical structures of psychological functions

Content of the course
Topics of the course
In modular structure, covering the following fields of research
Psychophysiology
Dr. Molnár Márk,
5x3 hours

Methods in neuroscience 6 hours
Psychopharmacology 3 hours
Wakefulness, sleeping and attention regulation 2 hours
Affetive processes, stress 2 hours
Learning and memory 2 hours

15 hours
The neuroscience of main psychological functions
Dr. Honbolygó Ferenc
3x1,5 hours

Perception
Object perception
Attention

Affective Neuroscience
Dr.Cserjési Renáta
3x 1,5 hours
Physiological needs and brain regulation

Psychology and physiology of Pain
Neuronal basis of social perception and empathy

Introduction to Neurology and Neuroanatomy
Dr. Jakab György
3x3 hours or 6x1,5 hours
Idegtudományi módszerek és a tudatosság
Dr. Nádasdy Zoltán
2x3 óra

Neural coding 1x1,5
Consciousness 1x1,5
Computational methods in neuroscience 1x3

Readings

Psychophysiology:
Mandatory radings:
 Neil R. Carson: Foundations of Physiological Psychology, Allyn and Bacon, 1999
 John T. Cacioppo: Handbook of Psychophysiology, Cambridge Univ Press, 2007
 Jerry W. Rudy: The Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, Sinauer Associates, Inc. Publishers,
2008
 Kenneth Hughdal: Psychophysiology, Harvard Univ. Press, 2001
Consciousness:
Mandatory Reading list:
 Koch C, Massimini M, Boly M, Tononi G. (2016) Neural correlates of consciousness:
progress and problems. Nat Rev Neurosci. 17(5):307-21. doi: 10.1038/nrn.2016.22.
Recommended:
 Cohen MA, Dennett DC (2011) Consciousness cannot be separated from function. Trends
Cogn Sci. 15(8):358-64. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2011.06.008.
Neural coding:
Mandatory Reading list:
 John von Neumann Neumann The Computer and the Brain (The Silliman Memorial
Lectures Series)
Recommended:
 Engel AK, Singer W. (2001) Temporal binding and the neural correlates of sensory

Computational methods in neuroscience
Mandatory Reading list:
Stiefel KM, Ermentrout GB. (2016) NEURONS AS OSCILLATORS. J Neurophysiol.
jn.00525.2015. doi: 10.1152/jn.00525.2015.
Recommended:
 Peter Dayan: Theoretical neuroscience (Computational and Mathematical Modeling of
Neural Systems)
 Rieke F Warland D, van Steveninck R, Bialek W: Spikes: Exploring the Neural Code
(Computational Neuroscience)