Are you interested in learning more about the science of the brain, or psychology? Take your interest to the next level with a course from the Open University. All of the courses on offer can be viewed on the OU courses page.
(D317) Social Psychology: Personal Lives, Social Worlds
Have you ever puzzled over how to understand yourself and other people as social beings? This course uses social psychological theories and approaches to explore complex issues about personal lives and social worlds. It encourages an appreciation of theories and research in social psychology by promoting an understanding of the social behaviour and experience of others and the self. You will develop skills in evaluating theories and using evidence appropriately in constructing an argument and in independent research. The course should also contribute to your personal development by encouraging you to reflect on your life in the light of social psychological evidence.
(DS871) Exploring Cognition: Damaged Brains and Neural Networks
This course in our master's programme in the social sciences can also be studied on its own. Cognitive neuropsychology (the study of damaged brains) and connectionist modelling (the construction of neural nets) are at the forefront of research, shedding new light on the brain mechanisms of human cognitive processes. Cognitive neuropsychology examines the complex patterns of impairment that result from brain damage, inferring from them the organization and sequence of cognitive processes. Connectionist models simulate the performance of normal and brain-damaged people performing tasks like reading and recognizing objects. The models provide detailed information about how the intact brain might work and what goes wrong when it is damaged.
(SD805) Issues in Brain and Behaviour
Contributing to the Frontiers in Medicine strand of the MSc in Science, this module draws on both the biological and the social sciences to investigate addiction and ageing. Addiction considers the definition of addiction, the factors that lead individuals to become addicted and therapies such as behavioural techniques. Ageing looks at what underlies the ageing process by examining the notions of ‘normal' and ‘pathological' neurodegeneration (e.g. Alzheimer's disease) and associations of ageing with memory loss. It explores controversies in ageing such as its genetic basis, the role of nutrition and oxidative processes.
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Content last updated: 01/04/2003
Lecturer: V.S. Ramachandran
This year's Reith lecturer is the noted neuroscientist Vilayanur S. Ramachandran, Director of the Centre for Brain and Cognition at the University of California (San Diego).He originally trained as a doctor and obtained an M.D. from Stanley Medical College, where he was awarded gold medals in pathology and clinical medicine. He also studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was awarded a Ph.D. and was elected a senior Rouse-Ball Scholar.
He has received many honours and awards including a fellowship from All Souls College, Oxford. He is also a fellow of the Neurosciences Institute in La Jolla and a fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Behavioural Sciences at Stanford.
He has lectured widely on art - as well as visual perception and the brain - and is a trustee of the San Diego Museum of Art. He has published over 120 papers in scientific journals, is Editor-in-chief of the Encyclopaedia of Human Behaviour and author of a popular book on neuroscience, Phantoms In The Brain.
Professor Ramachandran's work has concentrated on investigating phenomena such as phantom limbs, anosognosia or denial of paralysis, Capgras syndrome, and anorexia nervosa.
