PS4108
Animal Models in Psychology and Neuroscience
2023-2024
15
7
SCQF level 10
1
Academic year(s): 2023-2024
SCOTCAT credits : 15
ECTS credits : 7
Level : SCQF level 10
Semester: 1
Availability restrictions: Available only to students in the second year of the Honours programme and MSc students.
Planned timetable:
Have you ever wondered why animals are used in psychology and neuroscience? Why do we study primate behaviour to better understand human behaviour? Why are zebra finches used to grasp how human language is learnt? What use are invertebrates for understanding human (a vertebrate) locomotion? In this module, you will learn about the animals frequently used in psychology and neuroscience research (e.g. chimpanzees, rats, and zebra finches). We will discuss key physiological and behavioural characteristics of the animals, and explain why these characteristics make them good models for certain areas of research, while also explaining how these behavioural and physiological characteristics must be accounted for when designing your experiment(s) (e.g. rats are nocturnal, so probably wouldn’t be wise to investigate search behaviour in the middle of the day).
Weekly contact: 1 lectures (x10 weeks), 1 seminar (x10 weeks), 2 practical (x1 week)
Scheduled learning hours: 37
Guided independent study hours: 115
As used by St Andrews: Coursework = 100%
Re-assessment: Coursework = 100%
Module coordinator: Dr S C Edwards
Module teaching staff: Dr Sophie Edwards
Module coordinator email se30@st-andrews.ac.uk