B008034 - PSYCHOLOGY OF PERCEPTION AND ATTENTION

Italian

Referring to psychology of perception the course will provide the neurophysiological and psychophysical properties of sensory systems humans with particular focus to visual perception in terms of sensitivity to localize in space and time the stimuli.
Referring to Psychology of attention the course will provide a general overview of the field of Attention, particularly to the convergence of neuropsychological and experimental evidence as a crucial aspect of the study of higher mental functions.

Psychology of perception: Sensation and perception (Wolfe J., Kluender K., Levi D.)
Psychology of attention:
There are no textbooks adopted. The instructor will utilize technology such as power point presentations that will be available from the website. Handouts will also be utilized to clarify certain concepts within the topics.

Psychology of perception:
The main goal of the course is to make students aware of state of the art studies about perception and to understand the anatomical and functional differences amongst sensory systems.
Psychology of attention:
The main goal of the course is to help students to familiarize with the basic terms and theories about Attention. Topics include classical theories of selective attention, clinical impairments of attention, and the relationship between attention and space and attention and time.

Psychology of perception:
Explanations of the contents of the Sensation and Perception text book with integrations of the most recent finding on the neuroscience research field about human's perception.
Psychology of attention:
Explanations of various topics to be covered. Students will be help to learn and use a specific language and to develop a critical approach.

written and oral exam

Psychology of perception:
This course will serve as an introduction to the process of perception amongst all sensory modalities. This course will offer both the physiological and the psychophysical approach to understand human perception and will relate the two fields together to create a consistent and complete understanding of the acts of perceiving the external world. For the physiological approach, the course will introduce the areas of lower level processing and focus on properties of the sensory receptors trasducing incoming signals to neuronal spikes. Subsequently the course will focus on the study of higher level processing area concerning their location in brain, the neural connections they have with the receptors in the periphery and in particular their functional properties. In the psychophysical approach, the course will introduce the different psychophysical properties of each single sensory modality in terms of objective estimation of their spatial and temporal resolution.
Psychology of attention:
Introduction to Attention. Research Methods
How to study Attention. Behavioural Methods. Neuropshychological and electrophysiological approach. Morpho- and functional neuroimaging
Consciousness
Circadian rhythms. Sleep and wake: physiological and pathological patterns. Arousal and performance: Yerkes-Dodson' law. Consciousness and its alterations. Arousal and awareness. Coma and brain death. Vegetative state. Minimal consciousness state. Locked-in Syndrome
Selective Attention
What Attention is. The cocktail party effect. Shadowing task and dichotic listening. Split-span procedure: report ear by ear vs. pair by pair. Early vs. late selection. Feature Integration Theory. Pop-out effect. Visual Search:Serial and parallel analysis Stroop Effect. Navon Effect: global and local analysis; divided attention, selective attention. Flanker effect. Simon effect. Positive and negative priming.
Space and Attention: Orienting of Attention
Posner's Paradigm. Automatic and voluntary Cue. Facilitation and Inhibition of Return.
Time and Attention: Attentional Blink. Change blindness
Neuropsychological Syndromes
Neglect Syndrome. Simultagnosia. Gerstmann's Syndrome. Balint's Syndrome. Evidence of an implicit processing of neglected information by brain-damaged patients