SYLLABUS
CPS 8350
BIOPSYCHOLOGY AND MEDICATION
SPRING SEMESTER 2009
INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Scott L. Decker
982 COE
404-651-4856
EMAIL: sdecker@gsu.edu
WEB: http://education.gsu.edu/sdecker/
HOURS: By appointment
CLASS: Mon 4:30-7:00 pm
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
The purpose of this course is to explore psychological topics from the perspective of a biopsychologist/neuropsychologist, which involves an understanding of how biology contributes to cognition, emotion, learning, social and other behavioral events. The course involves an extensive review of neurology and the functional working of the human nervous system. This course is designed to meet two specific curriculum needs. It is a combination of the material contained under the quarter system in CPS 8240- Advanced Developmental III-Neuropsychological Development and under the semester system CPS 9350- Biopsychology and Medication. Course content will involve information and research findings about a) sensory, motor and neurological development and b) biopsychology and medications associated with major clinical syndromes, such as depression, schizophrenia, impulse control disorders (including attention deficit disorder), and anxiety disorders.
The seminar format will require that students prepare and read assigned text material before each class discussion. Reading assignments are extensive. Students will be expected to read, synthesize, summarize, analyze, and form conclusions/professional opinions that might underlie future practice.
The content knowledge from CPS 8540 is seen as a prerequisite.
Course Accommodations
If you need any accommodations for this course, please see the instructor as soon as possible.
TEXT ASSIGNMENTS:
Required:
Carlson, N.R. (1998) Physiology of behavior, 9th Ed. Allyn and Bacon: Boston.
Supplemental:
Charles Darwin. Voyage of the Beagle, Descent of Man.
Wright, R. The Moral Animal: Why we are the way we are. Amazon Link
GRADES:
Formal knowledge acquired in this course will be assessed through tests, exams, and projects. Because the amount of information in the textbook is considerable and cumulative, tests will be conducted after every 2 or 3 chapters. Throughout the course, assessment procedures for functional neuroanatomy will be presented. Students will be expected to competently administer a neuropsychological test (Dean-Woodcock Sensory-Motor Battery) as part of the requirements for this course. Additionally, to enhance knowledge of psychopharmacology, students will work in pairs to develop a website on using psychopharamcological treatments with disorders typically identified in childhood. Students may use a presentation on their genome project in place of a website project.
|
Requirement |
Points |
Total Points |
|
7 Tests |
20 |
140 |
|
Exam |
50 |
50 |
|
DW Comp |
Pass/Fail |
Pass/Fail |
|
|
|
|
|
Website Project/Genome |
30 |
30 |
|
Total |
|
220 |
Grades in this class will come from four sources.
| Points | Grade | Points | Grade |
| 205-220 | A | 170-175 | C+ |
| 198-204 | A- | 161-169 | C |
| 192-197 | B+ | 154-160 | C- |
| 183-191 | B | 132-153 | D |
| 176-182 | B- | 131 | F |
COURSE CONTEXT INFORMATION-
This course/seminar linked by content, activities, text materials, instructor presented information, student presented information, and overall course goals to the following:
School Psychology Program Assumptions #1, 2, 4, 5, and 6.
Unit Student Learning Outcomes #1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.
PEF Assumptions # 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7.
PSC Requirements #5, 8, 11, and 12.
POLICY ON ACADEMIC HONESTY
Students in all courses at Georgia State University are expected to demonstrate the highest degree of academic honesty. For explicit coverage of this policy students are advised to read the section on academic honesty in the general catalog for the University. This policy discusses plagiarism, cheating on examinations, unauthorized collaboration, falsification, and multiple submissions of material for credit without permission. All work submitted to fulfill requirements for this course is assumed to be created for the purpose of this course. Work completed for other projects or assignments in other courses may not be used in this course.
STATEMENT OF DEPARTMENT POLICY
The Counseling and Psychological Services Department values diversity and is committed to fostering and maintaining an educational environment which appreciates individual difference (s) in all areas of departmental operation including selection and admissions, hiring, classroom instruction, texts and materials, clinical practice and supervision, research, departmental administration and policy formation.
To this end, CPS will not tolerate or condone any actions, practices, or processes by any CPS faculty member, staff person, or student which discriminates against or is prejudicial toward any person or group based on race, sex, age, religion, ethnicity, nationality, disability, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status.
The course content will be aimed toward providing explanations of human behavior from a perspective that incorporates the biological structure of the organism. Biological explanations can have a variety of interpretations. A biological explanation is more realistically described as a chain of explanatory variables that begin biology but may end with cognitive or cultural explanations.
Schedule
|
Date |
Module |
Topic |
Readings (C=Carlson Chapters) |
Assignments |
Lecture |
Assessment DW=Dean-Woodcock |
| Jan 7 | Intro | C 1, 5 | Pretest | Genome (Genetics & Atlas Human History) | ||
| Jan 14 |
Evolution and Behavior |
|
|
Evolution |
|
|
|
Jan 21 |
A: Unit of
Nervous System |
Neurons and Nervous System |
C 2, 3 |
Test 1 |
Neurons/NS
|
|
|
Jan 28 |
Psychopharmacology
|
C 4, 18 |
|
Psychopharm |
|
|
|
Feb 4 |
B: Cortical |
Posterior Cortical Functions: Vision |
C 6 |
Test 2 |
Visual Processing |
DW 2, 3, |
|
Feb 11 |
Posterior Cortical Functions: Auditory, body sense, chemical |
C 7 |
|
Auditory Processing & somatosensory |
DW 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 |
|
|
Feb 18 |
Frontal Cortical Functions: Motor Control |
C 8 |
Test 3 |
Frontal Lobes |
DW 10, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18 |
|
|
Feb 25 |
Frontal Lobes |
c8 |
|
|
||
|
March 4 |
Spring Break
|
|
|
|||
|
March 11 |
C: Subcortical |
Emotion |
C 11 |
Emotion |
|
|
|
March 18 |
D: Functions |
Learning & Memory |
C 13 |
Test 4 |
Learning |
DW 12, WJ-III Cog |
|
March 25 |
Human communication and language |
C 14 |
Test 5 |
|
DW 7, 17 |
|
|
April 1 |
Neurological Disorders |
C 15 |
|
Language |
DWNAS |
|
|
April 8 |
E: Dysfunction |
Psychopharmacology Psychiatric Disorders/Neuropsych Testing |
C 4/18 C 16 |
Test 6 |
Psycho Evo |
DW Comp Exam |
|
April 15 |
Presentation |
C17 |
Test 7 |
DW Comp Exam |
||
|
April 22 |
Summary |
|
||||
| April 29 |
Finals |
|
Final Exam |
|||
|
|
|