General properties of the nervous system. Neural networks. Somatic sensibility. Vision. Extension and organization of the visual cortex, specialization of visual cortices of higher order. Organization levels of motor control. Voluntary movements and reflexes. Motor control of the gaze and control of voluntary movement. The cerebellum. Cognitive processes, memory, attention and effect of emotions.
- E.R. Kandel, J.H. Schwartz, T.M. Jessel. Principles of Neural Science. Mc Graw Hill.
- E. D’Angelo e A. Peres. Fisiologia (tomo II). Edi-Ermes
-D. Purves, E. M. Brannon, R. Cabezza, S. A. Huettel, K. S. LaBar, M. L. Platt e M.G. Woldorff. Neuroscienze e Neuroscienze cognitive. Zanichelli
Learning Objectives
Knowledge acquired. Control by the nervous system of organism-environment interactions, and the control of behaviour, the memory.
Competence acquired. To know the mechanisms of nerve cell communication and interconnection and the mechanisms that generate perceptual and motor acts.
Skills acquired (at the end of the course).
Ability to identify the mechanismsof the nervous system activated by external signals.
Ability to analyse the elements implied in the voluntary movement. Understanding the progress in study of superior functions of the brain
Prerequisites
Physiology, Biochemistry, Human anatomy
Teaching Methods
Total hours of the course (including the time spent in attending lectures, seminars, private study, examinations, etc...): 48
Hours reserved to private study and other indivual formative activities: 50
Contact hours for: Lectures (hours): 48
Contact hours for: Laboratory (hours): 0
Contact hours for: Laboratory-field/practice (hours): 0
Seminars (hours): 0
Stages: 0
Intermediate examinations: 0
Further information
Frequency of lectures, practice and lab:
Recommended
Office hours:
Friday (9:00-12:00)
Type of Assessment
Oral examination
Course program
Anatomy-functional organization of the nervous system. Operations of the nervous system at various organizational levels. Major cell types and their function. Probabilistic nature of information and the signal encryption. Neural networks. Sensitivity somatic: Sensory receptors, stimuli and events of the sensory transduction, general properties of the somatic sensitivity, dermatomes and their distribution. Discrimination of the spatial and temporal intensity, Receptors of the tactile sensibility, their response and distribution of receptive fields. Articular receptors and their response. Muscle receptors. Central pathways of tactile sensitivity and proprioceptive, areas of the primary and secondary somatosensory cortex. Subcortical processing, functional properties of somatosensory cortices. Vision: anatomy of the eye. Photoreceptors, response to light in rods and cones. Enzymatic cascade in the photo-transduction. Structure and function of conopsine, kinetics of responses in the rods and cones. Encoding synaptic of the photoresponse, horizontal cells and bipolar cells. Triads, dyads. Retinal processing in retinal foveal and peripheral circuits. Extent and organization of the visual cortex, functional specialization of the visual cortices of higher order, modular organization of the visual cortices of higher order. Projection to the lateral geniculate body and primary visual cortex (V1). Anatomy-functional organization of V1, properties of neurons in V1, Interblob and Blob. Higher visual cortical areas. Processing of visual information: via the ventral and dorsal path. Binding. Motor control: organization levels of motor control. Voluntary movements and reflexes, how the nervous system plans the trajectory, velocity and acceleration. The processes involved in the generation of motion control systems, Feedback and feedforward. Control of the movement and the areas involved in motor processes. Signal coding, recruitment of motor units. Reflex circuit direct, inverse reflex, combination of direct and inverse reflex, reflex cutaneous, regulation of spinal reflexes. Motor control of the gaze system: saccadic movement, slow motion tracking system, combining of saccadic tracking and slow motion in humans. Movements of vergence and accommodation. Extrinsic eye muscles and their innervations. Motor nuclei of the extrinsic muscles. Circuits for controlling saccadic movements. Cortical control of saccadic movements. Control of the slow movement of pursuit. Coordination of movements of the head and eyes. Control of voluntary movement: The primary motor cortex. Representation of the muscles at the primary cortex. Afferents-efferents of the premotor areas. Afferents from the motor areas. Plasticity of the somatotopic organization. The activity of neurons in the primary cortex and the relationship with the force generated by the muscle. Activities of corticospinal neurons. Direct relationship between force and the frequency of the discharge of the neurons. The direction of movement and activity of the neurons in the motor cortex. Activity of the cell in the moto-neuronal cortex. Function of supplementary areas in learning of sequences of movements. Function of lateral premotor areas in the selection of actions to follow. How the ventral lateral premotor area affects in the precision movements and in the process of the size of an object into motor signals. The cerebellum: anatomical organization, the main input-output, fractured somatotopy, advance and regulation of motor activity, control of brainstem centres, functional modulus of the cerebellar cortex and three-dimensional structure, Purkinje cells, motor learning.
Cognitive processes: The effects of attention on the elaboration of stimuli. The memory at cell level, at the level of brain systems, and connection between the cellular and systemic memory. Attention and cognitive function. Influence of emotions on cognitive function.