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Advanced Cognitive Neuroscience: Spatial Cognition (2026/2027: Semester 2 – Spring)
Cursusdoel
After completing this course students are able to:
- elaborate on issues related to human cognition, research technologies, and experimental facilities while emphasizing the spatial aspect.
- examine human cognition from a theoretical perspective.
- Students acquire knowledge about cognitive research skills needed in running neurocognitive experiments.
- Learn to think about how to develop relevant experiments and how to report about them scientifically.
- interpret the data from a given examination in terms of functional conclusions.
Vakinhoudelijk
The central theme of this course is how humans deal with the spatial world. How do we process spatial information, and which brain circuits are involved? Processing of spatial information is crucial for our daily functioning and survival. By establishing where things are, by relating them to our own position, and by keeping this information available over time in memory, we display many types of behavior in which space is crucial. For example, when we place our bike in a bicycle stand in our street, we need to displace the bike relative to ourselves and other bikes until it fits in the stand, and most importantly, we need to remember and find it back the following day, or even a week later.
The course will give a general introduction and overview of spatially guided behavior; different types of subspaces will be distinguished; and the important role of vision for building up spatial representations will be highlighted. Interaction with an object in space requires the involvement of attention, either to become aware of that object, to memorize its location, or to perform an action concerning that object. A well-known neurological disorder that underlines the crucial role of attention for spatial cognition is spatial neglect. Patients suffering from this disorder completely ignore stimuli at one side of their body, even though perception of these stimuli is normal. Directing attention towards stimuli in the environment also induces side effects with regard to the selection of simple actions in space. Vision seems the most important modality to sample space. But what about the other senses and what about individuals without vision (i.e. blind persons)? How does the brain weigh and integrate the spatial signals from the various modalities? Other topics concern the build-up of a representation of outer space based on verbal descriptions and the maintenance of spatial relations between objects in spatial memory. How do we store representations of the spatial characteristics of our environment in memory? Are there multiple different ways to code this information? In all these domains the question is which crucial parts of the brain are involved. Ultimately, the goal is to end with an inclusive model of the neurocognitive basis of space in the human brain.
The course will give a general introduction and overview of spatially guided behavior; different types of subspaces will be distinguished; and the important role of vision for building up spatial representations will be highlighted. Interaction with an object in space requires the involvement of attention, either to become aware of that object, to memorize its location, or to perform an action concerning that object. A well-known neurological disorder that underlines the crucial role of attention for spatial cognition is spatial neglect. Patients suffering from this disorder completely ignore stimuli at one side of their body, even though perception of these stimuli is normal. Directing attention towards stimuli in the environment also induces side effects with regard to the selection of simple actions in space. Vision seems the most important modality to sample space. But what about the other senses and what about individuals without vision (i.e. blind persons)? How does the brain weigh and integrate the spatial signals from the various modalities? Other topics concern the build-up of a representation of outer space based on verbal descriptions and the maintenance of spatial relations between objects in spatial memory. How do we store representations of the spatial characteristics of our environment in memory? Are there multiple different ways to code this information? In all these domains the question is which crucial parts of the brain are involved. Ultimately, the goal is to end with an inclusive model of the neurocognitive basis of space in the human brain.
Format
The 2027 edition of the Spatial Cognition course is special because it aims to lay the foundations for a new Neurocognition of Space book. Students will collaborate with senior researchers (PIs) to develop new chapters on subtopics within the domain of spatial cognitive neuroscience. This will require both individual and group work.Werkvormen
UCU sci 3 course
Toetsing
Individual contribution and portfolio
Verplicht | Weging 30% | ECTS 2,25
Individual review of other group’s draft chapter
Verplicht | Weging 10% | ECTS 0,75
Chapter draft by group
Verplicht | Weging 30% | ECTS 2,25
Individual research proposal
Verplicht | Weging 20% | ECTS 1,5
Group presentation
Verplicht | Weging 10% | ECTS 0,75
*midterm FEEDBACK*
Niet verplicht
Ingangseisen en voorkennis
Ingangseisen
Er moet voldaan zijn aan de cursus:
Voorkennis
Er is geen informatie over benodigde voorkennis bekend.
Voertalen
- Engels
Cursusmomenten
Gerelateerde studies
Tentamens
Er is geen tentamenrooster beschikbaar voor deze cursus
Verplicht materiaal
-
BOEKPostma, Albert, & van der Ham, Ineke J. M. (Eds.) (2017). Neuropsychology of Space. Spatial Functions of the human brain. San Diego: Academic Press. isbn-9780128016381
Aanbevolen materiaal
Er is geen informatie over de aanbevolen literatuur bekend
Coördinator
| prof. dr. A. Postma | A.Postma@uu.nl |
Docenten
| prof. dr. A. Postma | A.Postma@uu.nl |
Inschrijving
Let op: deze cursus is niet toegankelijk voor studenten van andere faculteiten, bijvakkers mogen zich dus niet inschrijven.
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