Cognitive neuroscience - Neuroscienze cognitive

The course provides an overview of the application of brain imaging methods to study human cognitive and sensorimotor processes and to identify neural architectures underlying normal and abnormal cognitive functioning. The main foundational and methodological issues, listed below, will be introduced and critically discussed during lectures, together with the presentation of typical findings and applications, with particular emphasis on the field of visual cognition: 1) Introduction: history of cognitive neuroscience and of neuroimaging techniques; basic conceptual foundations of cognitive neuroimaging. 2) Technological and physiological foundations of neuroimaging: cerebral metabolism, blood flow and oxygenation; positron emission tomography; (functional) magnetic resonance imaging; electro- and magneto-encephalography. 3) Experimental design in functional neuroimaging: cognitive subtraction; categorical, parametric, and factorial designs; block and event-related designs. 4) Data analysis in functional neuroimaging: preprocessing; general linear model; statistical inference; voxel- and ROI-based approaches; data-driven approaches. 5) Conceptual issues in neuroimaging: functional specialization vs. integration; relationship with computational models of mind functioning. 6) Structural neuroimaging: morphometry, structural connectivity, lesion-symptom mapping. 7) Advanced fMRI-based methods: adaptation and priming, pattern analysis, decoding, machine learning. 8) Connectomics: resting-state networks, psychophysiological interactions, dynamic causal modelling. The laboratory activities consist in: (1) guided practical experience in visualizing, manipulating, and analyzing brain images, using MATLAB and widely used tools such as SPM and MRIcro, including: analysis of sample PET data; complete preprocessing and analyzing of a true single-subject fMRI dataset; analysis of lesional, morphometric and functional connectivity data; writing simple MATLAB scripts to automate processing steps; (2) preparing a research project in the field of cognitive neuroimaging, to be developed in a group, following specific steps, and to be presented by the end of the class. The instructor will explain the working methods and introduce the topics on which the groups will work. The topics and reference papers are available on the e-learning site of the course.

Students should be familiar with the gross neuroanatomy of the cerebral cortex (lobes, gyri, sulci, sensory and motor systems), and with basic neurophysiological concepts (neurons, synapses, circuits). Students should be also familiar with basic parametric statistics (t-test, ANOVA, regression).

Russell Poldrack: "The new mind readers" Tor Wager and Martin Lindquist: "Principles of fMRI" Further teaching material is available on the course site on the Sapienza e-learning platform, and consists of slides, online resources, and scientific papers which either are publicly accessible or can be downloaded via the Sapienza digital library.

Lectures, active discussions, and laboratory sessions will be regularly alternated during the course. Lectures will present historical, theoretical, and methodological issues, and discussion of significant papers in the neuroimaging literature.

Attendance is required.

The final evaluation will be based on three main scores: 1) an evaluation of the final products presented by the student at the end of the class (quality of the final version of the project, artefacts produced during the laboratory sessions): up to 15/30; 2) an evaluation of the personal contribution of the student during the course (project presentations, discussion of others' projects, participation to laboratory activities): up to 5 bonus points; 3) final exam: up to 15/30. The final exam will consist in an oral interview about the student's project and all the material studied in the textbooks and presented during the lectures, also evaluating the ability to apply learned concepts and methodologies to real research situations.

Lectures, active discussions, and practical laboratory sessions will be regularly alternated on each day. Lectures will present historical, theoretical, and methodological issues, and discussion of significant papers in the neuroimaging literature. Practical experience with brain images require each student to work on his/her laptop using software tools provided by the instructor.