Neurobiology

This course has two general teaching goals. The first one is to foster in students an advanced and up-to-date knowledge and understanding of the relationship between mind development and brain plasticity in the course of lifetime. The second is to foster in the student the ability to search, understand, report, and utilize information offered by scientific papers from the field of behavioral neurosciences. More specifically, a student that successfully passes final examination in Developmental Psychobiology has: 1. advanced knowledge of the processes and mechanisms of brain maturation from embryonal state to early adulthood [Knowledge and understanding]; 2. the ability to read up on and master current scientific research developments and have knowledge of current scientific developments within the field of Developmental Psychobiology [Knowledge and understanding]. 3. advanced knowledge of the translational value of specific findings from basic and preclinical research on dysfunctional brain plasticity and psychopathology as basis or opportunity for originality in developing and/or applying ideas in the clinical and research contexts [Knowledge and understanding; applying of knowledge and understanding]; 4. the skills to analyze and interpret psychobiological patterns and processes in both a qualitative and quantitative sense [Applying of knowledge and understanding]; 5. the analyzing, problem-solving and synthesizing abilities in order to deal with current scientific knowledge on how the interplay between brain maturation and experience shape cognitive and affec-tive development during early postnatal years, adolescence and early adulthood, and apply this knowledge in new and continuously changing practical situations, also in broader, multidisciplinary contexts [Applying knowledge and understanding];