- Docente: Maria Ida Gobbini
- Credits: 4
- SSD: M-PSI/01
- Language: Italian
- Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
- Campus: Bologna
- Corso: Single cycle degree programme (LMCU) in School of Dentistry (cod. 8204)
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from Mar 08, 2023 to May 04, 2023
Learning outcomes
Students will have specific knowledge of main cognitive functions (i.e. attention, memory, learning, thinking, language) and emotional processes involved in human information processing and behavior.
Moreover, students will know 1. the main features of stressful events and the psychophysiological reactions to the stressors; 2. The different types of social influence: 3. Prevention and empowerment strategies.
Course contents
LEARNING AND MEMORY: Associative learning (classical/pavlovian and instrumental/operant conditioning). Rewards and punishments. Motivation and learning. Non-associative learning. Sensory registers, short-term memory, long-term memory. The organization of information in memory. Episodic and semantic memory, declarative and procedural memories.
INTELLIGENCE: Contemporary theories of intelligence. The assessment of cognitive abilities. The intelligence tests. IQ and specific abilities. Mental retardation.
ATTENTION: Attentional systems: arousal and sustained attention; selective attention; executive functions.
EMOTION: Biological basis of emotion. Theories of emotion. Subcomponents of emotional responses. Primary emotions (basic) and secondary. Characteristics of basic emotions. Expression and emotion recognition.
STRESS : The stress response. Acute and chronic stress; physiological and psychological reactions to stress; coping strategies.
MECHANISM OF PAIN PERCEPTION: Ascending pathway: first, second and third order neurons. From the periphery to the somatosensory cortex. Descending pathway for pain modulation. Gate control theory of pain. Endogenous opioids.
HEALTH COMMUNICATION: risk factors and prevention in the individual and collective health; The different types of social influence: verbal and non-verbal communication; Prevention and empowerment strategies.
Readings/Bibliography
A pdf of the powerpoint presentation will be available on "Insegnamenti Online" after each lecture. Pdfs of the powerpoint presentations of the lectures will be the material to be reviewed for the written exam.
The following readings are recommended if you want to explore further the topics covered in class but they will not be part of the written exam.
Feldman R.S. (2008), PSICOLOGIA GENERALE. McGraw-Hill
Benedetti, F (2013). Placebo and the new physiology of the doctor-patient relationship. Physiol Rev, 93:1207-46 (alternatively: Benedetti, F (2012). L’effetto Placebo. Breve viaggio tra mente e corpo. Carocci Editore)Teaching methods
Lectures with slides. At the end of each lecture a pdf with the powerpoint presentation will be distributed to students. Pdfs with the powerpoint presentations of the lectures will be the material to be reviewed for the written exam at the end of the course. Several examples of the concepts covered during the lectures will be shown.
Assessment methods
Exam with multiple choice questions.
The test consists of 4-choice questions on the topics covered during the lectures. Only one answer is correct. There are no penalties for wrong or blank answers.
The test consists of 31 questions and must be completed in 25 minutes. The score for each correct answer is +1 and 0 for wrong/no answer.
Grade acceptance/refusal: After the grades are communicated to the students, students can refuse the grade within 5 days with an email sent to the instructor (mariaida.gobbini@unibo.it).
Teaching tools
The handouts of lectures slides will be provided by the teacher on the online platform (iol.unibo).
Office hours
See the website of Maria Ida Gobbini