Cognitive Neuroscience: Research Practice

Learning objectives: 

Students independently explore and assess research paradigms and current research results in the fundamental disciplines of the neurocognitive sciences in order to use them in their own research and future professional activities. They engage in in-depth exploration of content from current research and method development techniques across various applied fields , including fields related to the cognitive neurosciences (e.g., general psychology, biopsychology, social neuroscience, affective neuroscience, developmental psychology, developmental neuroscience, practical implementation of good scientific practice, and open science). They are capable of assigning basic scientific constructs, paradigms, and neuroscientific research methods to different applied fields of cognitive neuroscience and can evaluate their relevance. The students are able to place research results within a theoretical framework. They are capable of assessing whether empirical findings and observations can contribute toward validating theoretical models.

Attendance of the course provides students with the skills they need to apply basic approaches such as cognitive psychology, developmental and developmental psychopathological, and neuropsychological approaches to concrete aspects of practice, and to derive consequences for the design of appropriate applied fields (e.g., computational psychiatry, clinical psychology, data sciences). This means that they are capable of bridging the gap between basic research and applied fields.

Content:

The module supports students in learning to classify the content of the modules Cognitive “Neuroscience: Perception, Attention, Action and Cognitive Control,” “Cognitive Neuroscience: Memory, Emotion, Language and Consciousness,” and “Neurocognitive Methods and Data Analysis” within a theoretical framework and to evaluate these at a fundamental scientific level. Specifically, the basics of neuroanatomy and current research on the structure of the nervous system are covered in terms of their application. Techniques of good scientific practice, scientific ethics, open science, and scientific writing and presentation of results are addressed. The research approaches that are particularly relevant to practice and their suitability for testing specific hypotheses are critically discussed. Practice sessions allow for the validation of theoretical models, as well as the interconnections between research approaches, to be critically discussed. The specific content of this module will be adapted to reflect the latest developments in current research. Expert lectures on current research findings will be prepared and critically reflected upon based on research reports, for example, from the fields of cognitive neuropsychology, computational neuroscience, theoretical neuroscience, social and affective neuroscience, as well as methodological developments in analysis methods and areas of application focused on data science.