Postgraduate Course: Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology (PSYL11048)

Course Outline
School	School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences	College	College of Humanities and Social Science
Credit level (Normal year taken)	SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate)	Availability	Not available to visiting students
SCQF Credits	10	ECTS Credits	5
Summary	This course will provide an introduction to Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology. Cognitive ageing individual differences and experimental psychology approaches will be included. A wide range of determinants of cognitive ageing will be considered, informed by genetic and brain imaging studies and including medical (including endocrine), lifestyle and social effects. Relevant animal studies are considered. Cognitive epidemiology addresses the association between early life intelligence and morbidity and mortality. Topics included are: Week 1 Course overview and cognitive ageing from an individual differences approach Week 2 Human cognitive ageing: human cognitive neuroscience in normal and pathological ageing Week 3 An introduction to cognitive epidemiology Week 4 Mechanisms of cognitive ageing: human/translation work and animal models Week 5 Methodological underpinnings of the work in cognitive ageing and cognitive epidemiology Week 6 Feedback event: Assessment preparation/information session
Course description	Not entered

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites		Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations		Other requirements	None

Course Delivery Information

Academic year 2015/16, Not available to visiting students (SS1)		Quota: None
Course Start	Block 1 (Sem 1)
Timetable	Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Total Hours: 100 ( Lecture Hours 10, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 88 )
Assessment (Further Info)	Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment)	1) Critique of a published paper (1500 words). Students will select from a list of 8 published research papers provided by course lecturers, and produce a written critique. Further instructions will be given on structure and content of the critique. 2) Research proposal (1500 words). Students will be asked to write part of a research proposal suitable for an application for research funding. This will be based on a topic within one of the lectures and can be for either a new study or secondary analysis of an existing dataset. Assignment deadline: Thursday 27th November 2014, 12 noon Word limit: 10% leeway on the word limit Return deadline: 19th December 2014
Feedback	Not entered
No Exam Information

Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course students will be able to: 1. Demonstrate an advanced understanding of the phenomena of cognitive ageing and cognitive epidemiology. 2. Critically evaluate studies examining the determinants of cognitive ageing in humans and animals. 3. Critically evaluate studies in the field of cognitive epidemiology. 4. Understand and apply the research methods of psychology (including individual differences and experimental psychology) and epidemiology to cognitive ageing and cognitive epidemiology. 4. Consider pursuing a topic in cognitive ageing and cognitive epidemiology in more detail for the course essay.