Unit GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY

GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY I FORM

Code	GP003497
CFU	6
Learning activities	Base
Area	Fondamenti della psicologia
Academic discipline	M-PSI/01
Type of study-unit	Opzionale (Optional)

Gruppo GRUPPO A

CFU

6

Teacher

Stefano Federici

Teachers

• Stefano Federici

Hours

• 36 ore - Stefano Federici

Language of instruction

Italian

Contents

1. The matter of the psychology study.
2. The nervous representation of the mental processes.

Reference texts

Compulsory texts: The study of these texts is mandatory for all students – attending, non-attending students and workers; it is recommended to bring a copy of them during the oral examination, during which their consultation might be requested or by the student or by the examiner teacher.
1. Anolli, L., & Legrenzi, P. (2012). Psicologia generale (5a ed.). Il Mulino. (Tutti i capitoli). Oppure in lingua inglese: Nolen-Hoeksema, S., Fredrickson, B., Loftus, G. R., & Lutz, C. (2014). Atkinson & Hilgard’s Introduction to Psychology (16th ed.). Cengage Learning.
2. Foschi, R. (2020). Storia della psicologia e della mente. Mondadori. (Tutti i capitoli).
3. Buss, D. M. (2020). Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind (6th ed.). Pearson. (Chapters: 1-5) Trad. it.: (2020). Psicologia evoluzionistica. Pearson. (Chapters: 1-5).
4. Federici, S. (2024). Slides del corso di Psicologia generale, available online on UNISTUDIUM.

Recommended readings: (Reading of one or more of the following in-depth texts is recommended, the content of which may be discussed during the oral examination. However, the reading of these "recommended" texts remains optional and not mandatory).
1. Blackmore, S. J., & Troscianko, E. (2018). Consciousness: An introduction (3rd ed.). Routledge.
2. Bloom, P. (2010, May 9). The Moral Life of Babies. The New York Time, 44. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/magazine/09babies-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all.
3. Camperio Ciani, A., Corna, F., & Capiluppi, C. (2004). Evidence for maternally inherited factors favouring male homosexuality and promoting female fecundity.Proceeding of the royal Society B, 271(1554), 2217-2221 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2004.2872.
4. Diamond, J. (1999). Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. W. W. Norton & Co. Trad. it.: (2006). Armi, acciaio e malattie. Breve storia del mondo negli ultimi tredicimila anni. Einaudi.
5. Eibl-Eibesfeldt, I. (1989). Human Ethology. Aldine de Gruyter. Trad. it.: (2001). Etologia umana. Le basi biologiche del comportamento. Bollati Boringhieri.
6. Federici, S. (2009). Perché siamo portati a credere in Dio? In L. Proietti (a cura), Il mestiere dello storico: Tra ricerca e impegno civile. Scritti in memoria di Maria Grazia Giuntella (pp. 323-344). Aracne.
7. Federici, S., Stella, A., Dennis, J., & Hünefeldt, T. (2011). West vs. West like East vs. West? A comparison between Italian and US American context sensitivity and Fear of Isolation. Cognitive Processing. Cognitive Processing, 12(2), 203-208. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-010-0374-8.
8. Gazzaniga, M. S. (1998). The Mind’s Past. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Trad. it.: (1999). La mente inventata. Le basi biologiche dell’identità e della coscienza. Guerini.
9. Gazzaniga, M. S. (2013). Shifting Gears: Seeking New Approaches for Mind/Brain Mechanisms. Annual Review of Psychology, 64, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-113011-143817.
10. Gazzaniga, M. S. (2008). Human: The Science Behind What Makes Your Brain Unique. Harper Collins. Trad. it.: (2009). Human: Quel che ci rende unici. Raffaello Cortina.
11. Gazzaniga, M. S. (2012). Who’s in Charge?: Free Will and the Science of the Brain. Constable & Robinson.
12. Gazzaniga, M. S., Ivry, R. B., & Mangun, G. R. (2009). Cognitive Neuroscience: The Biology of The Mind. W.W. Norton. Trad. it.: (2015). Neuroscienze cognitive. Zanichelli.
13. Harris (1998) The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do. Washington, DC: Free Press. Trad. it.: (1999). Non è colpa dei genitori. Mondadori.
14. Benedetti, F. (2012). L’effetto placebo. Breve viaggio tra mente e corpo. Carocci.
15. Kandel, E. R. (2000). The Brain and Behavior. In E. R. Kandel, J. H. Schwartz & T. M. Jessell (Eds.), Principles of Neural Science (4th ed., pp. 5-18). McGraw-Hill. Trad. it.: (2003). Cervello e comportamento. In E. R. Kandel, J. H. Schwartz & T. M. Jessell (Eds.), Principi di neuroscienze (3a ed., pp. 5-19). CEA.
16. Kandel, E. R. (2000). From Nerve Cells to Cognition: The Internal Cellular Representation Required for Perception and Action. In E. R. Kandel, J. H. Schwartz & T. M. Jessell (Eds.), Principles of Neural Science (4th ed., pp. 381-403). McGraw-Hill. Trad. it.: (2003). Dalle cellule nervose ai processi cognitivi: la rappresentazione interna a livello cellulare necessaria per la percezione e per l’azione. In E. R. Kandel, J. H. Schwartz & T. M. Jessell (Eds.), Principi di neuroscienze (3° ed., pp. 377-399). CEA.
17. Newberg, A. B., d’Aquili, E. G., & Rause, V. (2001). Why God won’t go away: brain science and the biology of belief. Ballantine Books. Trad. it.: (2001). Dio nel cervello. La prova biologica della fede. Mondadori.
18. Pinker, S. (2002). The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature. Penguin Books. Trad. it.: (2006). Tabula rasa. Perché non è vero che gli uomini nascono tutti uguali. Mondadori.
19. Plotkin, H. (1997). Evolution in mind: An introduction to evolutionary psychology. London, UK: Allen Lane & Penguin. Trad. it.: (2002). Introduzione alla psicologia evoluzionistica. Astrolabio.
20. Premack, D. (2007). Human and animal cognition: Continuity and discontinuity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104(35), 13861–13867. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0706147104.
21. Ramachandran, V. S. (2011). The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Quest for What Makes Us Human. W. W. Norton. Trad. it.: (2012). L’uomo che credeva di essere morto. Mondadori.
22. Federici, S. (2024). Let’s Spit on Freud. International Journal on Neuropsychology and Behavioural Sciences, 5(1), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.51626/ijnbs.2024.05.00051
23. Lear, J. (2015). Freud (2nd ed.). Routledge.
24. Sapolsky, R. M. (2023). Determinato. Vita senza libero arbitrio. The Bodley Head London.

Educational objectives

At the end of the course the student should be able to know how to define the nature, biological basis and evolutionary origins of psychology and critically describe the cognitive functions. It must also be able to critically discuss the most recent assumptions in cognitive neuroscience.

Prerequisites

Knowledge of the Italian language, level B2. Good receptive and productive language skills and competences. Critical thinking skills. Ability to summarize and process content. Analytical comprehension and reasoning skills. Good general culture.

Teaching methods

Face-to-face

Other information

Students with disabilities or with DSA will be able to make use of assistive and compensatory tools according to ministerial and university regulations. It is therefore recommended that students book a student reception with Prof. Stefano Federici so that the arrangements can be defined verbally.

Learning verification modality

The exam is both written and oral. A questionnaire (quiz) with 30 multiple-choice questions (+1 = correct answer // -0.25 = wrong answer // 0 = answer not given), taken from the contents of the compulsory examination materials (see below: "Compulsory Texts"), will be administered online to the student who have enrolled in the SOL at least 7 days before the examination date. The questionnaire can be completed online through SEB using a PC, tablet or smartphone owned by the student and connected to the UNIPG Wi-Fi network (if the student does not have his or her own device, he or she must reserve a PC station at LIDU). Access to the UNIPG Wi-Fi service is possible after authentication by entering the unique credentials of the university. Only the student who has booked the SOL will have access to the classroom designated for the exam, equipped with his or her device. After taking a seat in the classroom, the student will have to access the course page on UNISTUDIUM and wait for the teacher present in the classroom to give him/her the password to access the written test. Once the password has been entered, the student will have 30 minutes (40 minutes for students with compensatory measures) to complete the pre-selection written test. Only one attempt is allowed.
Candidates who have passed the pre-selection test (with a minimum score of 18) will take the oral test on the same day (unless otherwise specified).
Candidates who, having passed the pre-selection test, do not take the oral test immediately after the written pre-selection test will have to repeat the written pre-selection test, even if they have obtained a positive score (= 18).
Candidates who pass the written test but fail the oral test must also retake the pre-selection written test at a later date.
Candidates who fail either the written or the oral test may retake it at any other session (including the one immediately following). It is possible to take both the preselection written test and the oral test at any session.

Extended program

1. Introduction to Modern Psychology: Psychology as a Science, General Psychology and Neuroscience. History of modern theories on the nature of the brain and mind. The problem of consciousness and free-will. The nature/culture and selection/education question. Elements of the history of modern psychology. [See required texts: 1, 2 and 4; recommended: 1, 14 and 19].
2. Introduction to Neuroscience: Anatomo-physiological foundations of the mind; The lateralization and specialization of the hemispheres; Split-brains and split-brain syndrome; Blindsight or blind vision; Left hemisphere lesions: aphasias and apraxias; Right hemisphere lesions: agnosias; The representation of space. [See required texts: 1, 4; recommended: 8-12, 15-17, 20-21].

Obiettivi Agenda 2030 per lo sviluppo sostenibile

Health and wellness
Quality education
Gender equality

Gruppo GRUPPO B

CFU

6

Teacher

Aldo Stella

Teachers

• Aldo Stella

Hours

• 36 ore - Aldo Stella

Language of instruction

Italian

Contents

1. Introduction to modern psychology
2. The main cognitive functions: from the perceptual-inferential cycle to thought and consciousness

Reference texts

1) P. Legrenzi, Fondamenti di psicologia generale, il Mulino, Bologna 2014.
2) Handout produced from notes taken by students in class and corrected by the teacher
3) A. Stella, Sul riduzionismo (Part two, Chapter two), Aracne, Canterano (RM) 2020, pp. 145-203 (the text will be inserted on UNISTUDIUM).

Educational objectives

The course aims to clarify the fundamental concepts of general psychology. To do this we will propose the distinction between lower level cognitive processes and higher level cognitive processes, to show their mutual dependence. The cognitive unconscious will be distinguished from the affective unconscious and the role and value of consciousness will be specified. The intent will be to show how these processes begin to take shape and what their first development is.

Prerequisites

Nobody.

Teaching methods

Lectures and thematic seminars.

Other information

Regular attendance is recommended. Students will be received on line Thursdays from 09:00 to 10:00. To contact the teacher, you can call the following telephone numbers: 075-690158 (home); 335-7027281 (cell.) Or write to the following e-mail address: aldo.stella@
unistrapg.it or aldo.stella@unipg.it

Learning verification modality

Two types of evaluation will be carried out:
a) The ongoing evaluation, which will be necessary to access the oral exam.
b) The oral exam scheduled on the specifically indicated dates.
The ongoing evaluation will be carried out during the Course and will consist of: 1. Exposition by the student of themes taken from the Manual and which deal with topics indicated in the program; 2. Thematic in-depth theses, concerning either topics covered in class or program topics or, alternatively, collateral topics, but with a strong relevance to the Course program which is indicated in UNISTUDIUM. The essays can be written or oral: students are invited to present them in the classroom, in order to become familiar with public speaking, overcoming unjustified shyness and reluctance. Those who, at the end of the course, do not have an ongoing grade will not be able to take the oral exam. In order to obtain it, therefore, they will have to contact the teacher to arrange a meeting with him in order to obtain it before the oral exam. The teacher can be contacted at the following email address: aldo.stella@unipg.i

Extended program

- Brief history of scientific psychology
- Cellular and molecular bases of cognition
a. Definition of cognition
b. Cells of the nervous system
c. Neuronal signaling
d. Synaptic transmission
- Structural and functional anatomy of cognition
a. Cerebral cortex
b. Limbic system, basal ganglia, hippocampus, hypothalamus and diencephalon
c. Encefalic trunk
d. Cerebellum and Spinal cord
f. Autonomic nervous system
- The classical or symbolic cognitive model and the cognitive neuroscience model
a. The role of representations
b. Symbolic representations and neural representations
c. Causal efficacy
d. Functionalist model and monist model
e. Biological structure and function
- Sensation and perception
a. Psychophysics
b. Theory and laws of psychophysics
- The perceptual-inferential cycle
a. The concepts of distal stimulus and proximal stimulus
b. Dual nature of the stimulus
c. Physical component and biological or neuro-cognitive processes
d. The optic chiasm
e. From the eye and ear to the central nervous system
f. Visual and auditory cortical areas
g. Informational component and cognitive processes
h. Cognitive-classical or symbolic model the Bottom-up process and top-down process
j. The perceptual field and the categorization of the percept
k. Inductive process and deductive process (the syllogism)
l. The organization of the perceptual field according to the Gestalt model
- The communication process
a. Human-environment communication
b. Mathematical theory of communications
c. Model by Roman Jakobson
d. Communication process and second law of thermodynamics: quantitative information theory
e. Binary code and the alternative; the bit
f. The mind/computer analogy
g. Informational, representational and computational mind
h. Inter-subjective communication
i. The Informative, persuasive and suggestive communication
j. Rhetorical arguments and logical arguments
k. Verbal and non-verbal language
l. Intra-subjective communication: the soliloquy; consciousness/unconscious communication according to the psychoanalytic model and mind/body communication according to the psychosomatic model

- The language
a. Semiotics
b. Sign, meaning, referent
c. Syntactics, semantics, pragmatics
d. Language and language learning: interpretative models
f. Communication and relationship
g. Morphology and lexicon
h. Language, sentences and sentence types
i. The formalization of statements
j. Thought-language relationship
k. Fodor and the language of the mind
l. Storage of words and concepts: the mental lexicon
m. Perceptual analyzes of linguistic input
n. Word recognition
o. Integration of words
p. Language production
q. From the environment to the mind: a translation of languages?

- Learning
a. The Russian school of reflexology
b. Classical conditioning and operant conditioning
c. External variables and internal or hidden variables
d. Information processing and feedback (cybernetics science)
f. Insight and intuition
g. Productive thinking and reproductive thinking
h. The concept of “representation”

- Reasoning and decision-making processes
a. Induction and deduction
b. Formal logic and logical calculus
c. Classical logic and contemporary logic
d. Categorical and conditional propositions and immediate and mediated inferences
f. The syllogism
g. Classical logic and contemporary logic
h. The difference between reasoning and thinking
i. Problem solving
j. The decision by algorithmic procedure
k. Heuristics
L. Reasoning under conditions of uncertainty
m. Systematic reasoning errors

- The thought
a. Reflective and critical thinking
b. The reflective property
c. Subject thought and object thought
d. Transcendental logic and the principle of non-contradiction
f. Logical rules and natural laws
g. Self-criticism

- Consciousness and attention
a. Consciousness from a philosophical point of view: what is consciousness
b. Consciousness from a psychological point of view: how consciousness is formed and what are its biological correlates
c. Consciousness and self-consciousness
d. Consciousness: knowing that you know and knowing what knowing is
e. Attention
f. The search and selection of stimuli
g. Early selection and late selection hypotheses
h. Focused attention and divided attention
i. Attention and perception
- Knowledge
a. Scientific knowledge
b. Knowledge by trial and error and by conjecture and disproof
c. Verification and falsification
d. Categories and concepts
e. Intension and extension of a concept
f. Types of categories
g. The prototypes
h. Procedural knowledge and tacit or implicit knowledge
i. Mental representations of knowledge
j. Knowledge and storage
k. Imagery and propositional knowledge
l. Double coding
- The memory
a. Memory concept
b. The theory of Platonic reminiscence
c. Theories about memory
d. Sensory memory and short-term memory
e. Models of short-term memory
f. Long-term memory and corresponding models
g. Explicit memory and implicit memory
h. The coding process
i. The concept of code
j. Memory and brain
k. Animal models of memory
- The motivation
a. Maslow's pyramid
b. Instincts, drives, needs
c. Motivations and stages of maturation (Freud) or psycho-cognitive development (Piaget)
d. The need for recognition
e. The need for success
f. The need for consensus
- Emotions
a. The main emotions
b. The cognitive model of emotions
c. The emotional stimulus
d. Peripheral and central theories of emotions
e. The psychoanalytic model
f. Affects and libidinal investments
g. The biological correlates of emotions
- The action
a. Motor structures
b. Muscles, motor neurons and spinal cord
c. Subcortical motor structures
d. Cortical regions involved in motor control
e. Organization of motor areas
f. Computational aspects of motor control
g. Peripheral movement control and role of feedback
h. Representation of movement programs
i. Comparison between movement planning and execution

Gruppo GRUPPO C

CFU

6

Teacher

Alessandro Lepri

Teachers

• Alessandro Lepri

Hours

• 36 ore - Alessandro Lepri

GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY II FORM

Code	GP003498
CFU	6
Learning activities	Base
Area	Fondamenti della psicologia
Academic discipline	M-PSI/01
Type of study-unit	Opzionale (Optional)

Gruppo GRUPPO A

CFU

6

Teacher

Stefano Federici

Teachers

• Stefano Federici

Hours

• 36 ore - Stefano Federici

Language of instruction

Italian

Contents

3. The mind as an evolutionary product.
4. The mental functions.

Reference texts

Compulsory texts: The study of these texts is mandatory for all students – attending, non-attending students and workers; it is recommended to bring a copy of them during the oral examination, during which their consultation might be requested or by the student or by the examiner teacher.
1. Anolli, L., & Legrenzi, P. (2012). Psicologia generale (5a ed.). Il Mulino. (Tutti i capitoli). Oppure in lingua inglese: Nolen-Hoeksema, S., Fredrickson, B., Loftus, G. R., & Lutz, C. (2014). Atkinson & Hilgard’s Introduction to Psychology (16th ed.). Cengage Learning.
2. Foschi, R. (2020). Storia della psicologia e della mente. Mondadori. (Tutti i capitoli).
3. Buss, D. M. (2020). Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind (6th ed.). Pearson. (Chapters: 1-5) Trad. it.: (2020). Psicologia evoluzionistica. Pearson. (Chapters: 1-5).
4. Federici, S. (2024). Slides del corso di Psicologia generale, available online on UNISTUDIUM.

Recommended readings: Reading of one or more of the following in-depth texts is recommended, the content of which may be discussed during the oral examination. However, the reading of these "recommended" texts remains optional and not mandatory.
1. Blackmore, S. J., & Troscianko, E. (2018). Consciousness: An introduction (3rd ed.). Routledge.
2. Bloom, P. (2010, May 9). The Moral Life of Babies. The New York Time, 44. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/magazine/09babies-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all.
3. Camperio Ciani, A., Corna, F., & Capiluppi, C. (2004). Evidence for maternally inherited factors favouring male homosexuality and promoting female fecundity.Proceeding of the royal Society B, 271(1554), 2217-2221 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2004.2872.
4. Diamond, J. (1999). Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. W. W. Norton & Co. Trad. it.: (2006). Armi, acciaio e malattie. Breve storia del mondo negli ultimi tredicimila anni. Einaudi.
5. Eibl-Eibesfeldt, I. (1989). Human Ethology. Aldine de Gruyter. Trad. it.: (2001). Etologia umana. Le basi biologiche del comportamento. Bollati Boringhieri.
6. Federici, S. (2009). Perché siamo portati a credere in Dio? In L. Proietti (a cura), Il mestiere dello storico: Tra ricerca e impegno civile. Scritti in memoria di Maria Grazia Giuntella (pp. 323-344). Aracne.
7. Federici, S., Stella, A., Dennis, J., & Hünefeldt, T. (2011). West vs. West like East vs. West? A comparison between Italian and US American context sensitivity and Fear of Isolation. Cognitive Processing. Cognitive Processing, 12(2), 203-208. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10339-010-0374-8.
8. Gazzaniga, M. S. (1998). The Mind’s Past. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Trad. it.: (1999). La mente inventata. Le basi biologiche dell’identità e della coscienza. Guerini.
9. Gazzaniga, M. S. (2013). Shifting Gears: Seeking New Approaches for Mind/Brain Mechanisms. Annual Review of Psychology, 64, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-113011-143817.
10. Gazzaniga, M. S. (2008). Human: The Science Behind What Makes Your Brain Unique. Harper Collins. Trad. it.: (2009). Human: Quel che ci rende unici. Raffaello Cortina.
11. Gazzaniga, M. S. (2012). Who’s in Charge?: Free Will and the Science of the Brain. Constable & Robinson.
12. Gazzaniga, M. S., Ivry, R. B., & Mangun, G. R. (2009). Cognitive Neuroscience: The Biology of The Mind. W.W. Norton. Trad. it.: (2015). Neuroscienze cognitive. Zanichelli.
13. Harris (1998) The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do. Washington, DC: Free Press. Trad. it.: (1999). Non è colpa dei genitori. Mondadori.
14. Benedetti, F. (2012). L’effetto placebo. Breve viaggio tra mente e corpo. Carocci.
15. Kandel, E. R. (2000). The Brain and Behavior. In E. R. Kandel, J. H. Schwartz & T. M. Jessell (Eds.), Principles of Neural Science (4th ed., pp. 5-18). McGraw-Hill. Trad. it.: (2003). Cervello e comportamento. In E. R. Kandel, J. H. Schwartz & T. M. Jessell (Eds.), Principi di neuroscienze (3a ed., pp. 5-19). CEA.
16. Kandel, E. R. (2000). From Nerve Cells to Cognition: The Internal Cellular Representation Required for Perception and Action. In E. R. Kandel, J. H. Schwartz & T. M. Jessell (Eds.), Principles of Neural Science (4th ed., pp. 381-403). McGraw-Hill. Trad. it.: (2003). Dalle cellule nervose ai processi cognitivi: la rappresentazione interna a livello cellulare necessaria per la percezione e per l’azione. In E. R. Kandel, J. H. Schwartz & T. M. Jessell (Eds.), Principi di neuroscienze (3° ed., pp. 377-399). CEA.
17. Newberg, A. B., d’Aquili, E. G., & Rause, V. (2001). Why God won’t go away: brain science and the biology of belief. Ballantine Books. Trad. it.: (2001). Dio nel cervello. La prova biologica della fede. Mondadori.
18. Pinker, S. (2002). The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature. Penguin Books. Trad. it.: (2006). Tabula rasa. Perché non è vero che gli uomini nascono tutti uguali. Mondadori.
19. Plotkin, H. (1997). Evolution in mind: An introduction to evolutionary psychology. London, UK: Allen Lane & Penguin. Trad. it.: (2002). Introduzione alla psicologia evoluzionistica. Astrolabio.
20. Premack, D. (2007). Human and animal cognition: Continuity and discontinuity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 104(35), 13861–13867. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0706147104.
21. Ramachandran, V. S. (2011). The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist’s Quest for What Makes Us Human. W. W. Norton. Trad. it.: (2012). L’uomo che credeva di essere morto. Mondadori.
22. Federici, S. (2024). Let’s Spit on Freud. International Journal on Neuropsychology and Behavioural Sciences, 5(1), 1–5. https://doi.org/10.51626/ijnbs.2024.05.00051
23. Lear, J. (2015). Freud (2nd ed.). Routledge.
24. Sapolsky, R. M. (2023). Determinato. Vita senza libero arbitrio. The Bodley Head London.

Educational objectives

At the end of the course the student should be able to know how to define the nature, biological basis and evolutionary origins of psychology and critically describe the cognitive functions. It must also be able to critically discuss the most recent assumptions in cognitive neuroscience.

Prerequisites

Knowledge of the contents of the first General Psychology module. Knowledge of the Italian language, level B2. Good receptive and productive language skills and competences. Critical thinking skills. Ability to summarize and process content. Analytical comprehension and reasoning skills. Good general culture.

Teaching methods

Face-to-face

Other information

Students with disabilities or with DSA will be able to make use of assistive and compensatory tools according to ministerial and university regulations. It is therefore recommended that students book a student reception with Prof. Stefano Federici so that the arrangements can be defined verbally.

Learning verification modality

The exam is both written and oral. A questionnaire (quiz) with 30 multiple-choice questions (+1 = correct answer // -0.25 = wrong answer // 0 = answer not given), taken from the contents of the compulsory examination materials (see below: "Compulsory Texts"), will be administered online to the student who have enrolled in the SOL at least 7 days before the examination date. The questionnaire can be completed online through SEB using a PC, tablet or smartphone owned by the student and connected to the UNIPG Wi-Fi network (if the student does not have his or her own device, he or she must reserve a PC station at LIDU). Access to the UNIPG Wi-Fi service is possible after authentication by entering the unique credentials of the university. Only the student who has booked the SOL will have access to the classroom designated for the exam, equipped with his or her device. After taking a seat in the classroom, the student will have to access the course page on UNISTUDIUM and wait for the teacher present in the classroom to give him/her the password to access the written test. Once the password has been entered, the student will have 30 minutes (40 minutes for students with compensatory measures) to complete the pre-selection written test. Only one attempt is allowed.
Candidates who have passed the pre-selection test (with a minimum score of 18) will take the oral test on the same day (unless otherwise specified).
Candidates who, having passed the pre-selection test, do not take the oral test immediately after the written pre-selection test will have to repeat the written pre-selection test, even if they have obtained a positive score (= 18).
Candidates who pass the written test but fail the oral test must also retake the pre-selection written test at a later date.
Candidates who fail either the written or the oral test may retake it at any other session (including the one immediately following). It is possible to take both the preselection written test and the oral test at any session.

Extended program

3. Introduction to evolutionary psychology: How the mind works; Evidence for innate and specific mechanisms of cognition; The evolution of the mind; Milestones in the history of evolutionary thought. Problems of human survival. Male and female strategies in partner choice. Epigenetics and methylation. The functions of the nucleus accumbens [See required texts: 3 and 4; recommended: 2-5, 8, 10-13, 17-19]
4. The functions of the mind: Sensorial processes and perception; Consciousness; Learning and Conditioning; Memory: processes, models and amnesia; The thought and language; Motivation; Emotions; Intelligence [View required texts: 1 and 4; recommended: 5-13, 18, 19-21]

Obiettivi Agenda 2030 per lo sviluppo sostenibile

Health and wellness
Quality education
Gender equality

Gruppo GRUPPO B

CFU

6

Teacher

Aldo Stella

Teachers

• Aldo Stella

Hours

• 36 ore - Aldo Stella

Language of instruction

Italian

Contents

1. Introduction to modern psychology
2. The main cognitive functions: from the perceptual-inferential cycle to thought and consciousness

Reference texts

Mandatory texts
1) P. Legrenzi, Fondamenti di psicologia generale, il Mulino, Bologna 2014.
2) Handout produced from notes taken by students in class and corrected by the teacher
3) A. Stella, Sul riduzionismo (Part two, Chapter two), Aracne, Canterano (RM) 2020, pp. 145-203 (the text will be inserted on UNISTUDIUM).

Educational objectives

The course aims to clarify the fundamental concepts of general psychology. To do this we will propose the distinction between lower level cognitive processes and higher level cognitive processes, to show their mutual dependence. The cognitive unconscious will be distinguished from the affective unconscious and the role and value of consciousness will be specified. The intent will be to show how these processes begin to take shape and what their first development is.

Prerequisites

Nobody.

Teaching methods

Lectures and thematic seminars.

Other information

Regular attendance is recommended. Students will be received on line Thursdays from 09:00 to 10:00. To contact the teacher, you can call the following telephone numbers: 075-690158 (home); 335-7027281 (cell.) Or write to the following e-mail address: aldo.stella@
unistrapg.it or aldo.stella@unipg.it

Learning verification modality

Two types of evaluation will be carried out:
a) The ongoing evaluation, which will be necessary to access the oral exam.
b) The oral exam scheduled on the specifically indicated dates.
The ongoing evaluation will be carried out during the Course and will consist of: 1. Exposition by the student of themes taken from the Manual and which deal with topics indicated in the program; 2. Thematic in-depth theses, concerning either topics covered in class or program topics or, alternatively, collateral topics, but with a strong relevance to the Course program which is indicated in UNISTUDIUM. The essays can be written or oral: students are invited to present them in the classroom, in order to become familiar with public speaking, overcoming unjustified shyness and reluctance. Those who, at the end of the course, do not have an ongoing grade will not be able to take the oral exam. In order to obtain it, therefore, they will have to contact the teacher to arrange a meeting with him in order to obtain it before the oral exam. The teacher can be contacted at the following email address: aldo.stella@unipg.it .

Extended program

Plan
- Brief history of scientific psychology
- Cellular and molecular bases of cognition
a. Definition of cognition
b. Cells of the nervous system
c. Neuronal signaling
d. Synaptic transmission
- Structural and functional anatomy of cognition
a. Cerebral cortex
b. Limbic system, basal ganglia, hippocampus, hypothalamus and diencephalon
c. Encefalic trunk
d. Cerebellum and Spinal cord
f. Autonomic nervous system
- The classical or symbolic cognitive model and the cognitive neuroscience model
a. The role of representations
b. Symbolic representations and neural representations
c. Causal efficacy
d. Functionalist model and monist model
e. Biological structure and function
- Sensation and perception
a. Psychophysics
b. Theory and laws of psychophysics
- The perceptual-inferential cycle
a. The concepts of distal stimulus and proximal stimulus
b. Dual nature of the stimulus
c. Physical component and biological or neuro-cognitive processes
d. The optic chiasm
e. From the eye and ear to the central nervous system
f. Visual and auditory cortical areas
g. Informational component and cognitive processes
h. Cognitive-classical or symbolic model the Bottom-up process and top-down process
j. The perceptual field and the categorization of the percept
k. Inductive process and deductive process (the syllogism)
l. The organization of the perceptual field according to the Gestalt model
- The communication process
a. Human-environment communication
b. Mathematical theory of communications
c. Model by Roman Jakobson
d. Communication process and second law of thermodynamics: quantitative information theory
e. Binary code and the alternative; the bit
f. The mind/computer analogy
g. Informational, representational and computational mind
h. Inter-subjective communication
i. The Informative, persuasive and suggestive communication
j. Rhetorical arguments and logical arguments
k. Verbal and non-verbal language
l. Intra-subjective communication: the soliloquy; consciousness/unconscious communication according to the psychoanalytic model and mind/body communication according to the psychosomatic model

- The language
a. Semiotics
b. Sign, meaning, referent
c. Syntactics, semantics, pragmatics
d. Language and language learning: interpretative models
f. Communication and relationship
g. Morphology and lexicon
h. Language, sentences and sentence types
i. The formalization of statements
j. Thought-language relationship
k. Fodor and the language of the mind
l. Storage of words and concepts: the mental lexicon
m. Perceptual analyzes of linguistic input
n. Word recognition
o. Integration of words
p. Language production
q. From the environment to the mind: a translation of languages?

- Learning
a. The Russian school of reflexology
b. Classical conditioning and operant conditioning
c. External variables and internal or hidden variables
d. Information processing and feedback (cybernetics science)
f. Insight and intuition
g. Productive thinking and reproductive thinking
h. The concept of “representation”

- Reasoning and decision-making processes
a. Induction and deduction
b. Formal logic and logical calculus
c. Classical logic and contemporary logic
d. Categorical and conditional propositions and immediate and mediated inferences
f. The syllogism
g. Classical logic and contemporary logic
h. The difference between reasoning and thinking
i. Problem solving
j. The decision by algorithmic procedure
k. Heuristics
L. Reasoning under conditions of uncertainty
m. Systematic reasoning errors

- The thought
a. Reflective and critical thinking
b. The reflective property
c. Subject thought and object thought
d. Transcendental logic and the principle of non-contradiction
f. Logical rules and natural laws
g. Self-criticism

- Consciousness and attention
a. Consciousness from a philosophical point of view: what is consciousness
b. Consciousness from a psychological point of view: how consciousness is formed and what are its biological correlates
c. Consciousness and self-consciousness
d. Consciousness: knowing that you know and knowing what knowing is
e. Attention
f. The search and selection of stimuli
g. Early selection and late selection hypotheses
h. Focused attention and divided attention
i. Attention and perception
- Knowledge
a. Scientific knowledge
b. Knowledge by trial and error and by conjecture and disproof
c. Verification and falsification
d. Categories and concepts
e. Intension and extension of a concept
f. Types of categories
g. The prototypes
h. Procedural knowledge and tacit or implicit knowledge
i. Mental representations of knowledge
j. Knowledge and storage
k. Imagery and propositional knowledge
l. Double coding
- The memory
a. Memory concept
b. The theory of Platonic reminiscence
c. Theories about memory
d. Sensory memory and short-term memory
e. Models of short-term memory
f. Long-term memory and corresponding models
g. Explicit memory and implicit memory
h. The coding process
i. The concept of code
j. Memory and brain
k. Animal models of memory
- The motivation
a. Maslow's pyramid
b. Instincts, drives, needs
c. Motivations and stages of maturation (Freud) or psycho-cognitive development (Piaget)
d. The need for recognition
e. The need for success
f. The need for consensus
- Emotions
a. The main emotions
b. The cognitive model of emotions
c. The emotional stimulus
d. Peripheral and central theories of emotions
e. The psychoanalytic model
f. Affects and libidinal investments
g. The biological correlates of emotions
- The action
a. Motor structures
b. Muscles, motor neurons and spinal cord
c. Subcortical motor structures
d. Cortical regions involved in motor control
e. Organization of motor areas
f. Computational aspects of motor control
g. Peripheral movement control and role of feedback
h. Representation of movement programs
i. Comparison between movement planning and execution

Gruppo GRUPPO C

CFU

6

Teacher

Alessandro Lepri

Teachers

• Alessandro Lepri

Hours

• 36 ore - Alessandro Lepri