Online Neuropsychology Course

Cognitive neuropsychology is the area of psychology that studies brain-damaged patients to understand the workings of our brain. Our brain is constructed of two hemispheres which are responsible for different facets of human personality and behaviour. Despite some essential differences in some functions, these hemispheres communicate through inter-hemispheric neural connections, most through the corpus callosum. This communication allows the brain to integrate different elements to produce coordinated, apparently seamless action and a unified personality

Our behaviour, personality and thought processes are affected by neurobiological processes and can be altered by any damage to our nervous system. Study Neuropsychology to gain an understanding of how psychology in a person can be affected by their own anatomical and psychological characteristics.

There are 10 lessons in this course:

1. Foundations of Neuropsychology
   • What is neuropsychology?
   • The Information Processing Approach
   • Studying the human mind
   • Techniques used
   • Brain scans
   • Animal studies
   • Methods of investigating the brain
   • Psychological tests
   • Stroop test.
2. Neurophysiology
   • Neurons
   • Parts of a neuron
   • Neurotransmitters
   • Effects of neurotransmitters
   • Neurotransmitters and their effects
   • Endorphins
   • Disorders associated with neurotransmitters
   • Glia cells
   • Schwann cells
   • Nerve impulse
   • Synaptic transmission
   • Nerve impulse
   • Neuromuscular transmission.
3. Neuroanatomy
   • The nervous system
   • Parts of the central nervous system
   • The brain
   • The spinal cord
   • Spinal nerves
   • Blood brain barrier
   • Peripheral nervous system
   • Autonomic nervous system
   • Sensory somatic nervous system
   • Spinal nerves
   • Cranial nerves
   • How the nervous system works (a summary)
   • Problems with brain functioning
   • Cerebral palsy
   • Brain tumours
   • Injuries to the head
   • Epilepsy
   • Headaches
   • Mental illness
   • Meningitis and encephalitis.
4. Laterality and Callosal Syndromes
   • Brain lateralisation
   • Left handedness
   • Cognitive neuropsychology
   • Callosal syndrome
   • Complete severance
   • Split brain
   • Complete severance
   • Split brain syndrome
   • Lobotomy
   • Psychosurgery
   • Dual brain theory
5. Cognition, Personality and Emotion
   • Brain damage
   • Emotion and moods
   • Phineas Gage
   • Brain damage and emotion
   • Frontal lobe
   • Higher level functioning
   • The Limbic system
   • Neurotransmitters
   • Neuropsychology
   • Emotions research.
6. Perception Disorders
   • Hemispatial neglect
   • Causes of hemispatial neglect
   • Auditory perceptual disorder
   • Agnosia
   • Visual agnosia
   • Types of visual agnosia
   • Prosopagnosia
   • Simultanagnosia
   • Optic aphasia
   • Hallucinogen persisting perception disorder.
7. Motor Disorders
   • Parkinson’s Disease
   • Motor disorders resulting from traumatic brain injury
   • Non traumatic and/or genetic paediatric movement disorders
   • Cerebral palsy
   • Motor conditions
   • Gerstmann’s Syndrome
   • Apraxia
   • Motor skills disorder
   • Motion dyspraxia
   • Neural transplants and Parkinson’s Disease
   • Gene therapy
   • How does gene therapy work
   • Ethical issues surrounding gene therapy,
8. Language
   • Broca’s area
   • Wernicke’s area
   • Speech
   • Language
   • Speech and language disorders
   • Apraxia
   • Aphasia
   • Stuttering
   • Neurogenic stuttering
   • Troyer syndrome
   • Speech disorders.
9. Dementia
   • Kinds of dementia
   • Alzheimer’s Disease
   • Vascular Dementia
   • Multi-infarct Dementia
   • Parkinson’s Disease
   • Pick’s Disease
   • Dementia with Lewy Bodies
   • Huntingdon’s Disease
   • Pseudo-Dementia
   • Spotting dementia and other conditions,
10. Neurodevelopment
    • Major processes of neurodevelopment
    • Neurogenesis
    • Migration
    • Differentiation
    • Apoptosis
    • Aborisation
    • Synaptogenesis
    • Asperger Syndrome
    • Neuroplasticity and brain damage.

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Aims:

• Describe the relevance of neuropsychology to managing psychological disorders.
• Explain the physiology of the nervous system.
• Describe the anatomy of the nervous system.
• Describe how conditions within the brain affect the way in which a person is physically capable or incapable of performing a variety of different tasks.
• Explain how various aspects of a person’s thought processes may vary according to that person’s neurobiology.
• Describe a variety of perceptual disorders.
• Explain a variety of motor disorders.
• Explain the neuropsychology of language.
• Differentiate between different dementias.
• Explain aspects of development in neuropsychological terms.

For more information on this course, please request your free course information pack.