Postgraduate Course: Multisensory Integration (PSYL11066)

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 aims to provide an overview on how the senses work together to create a stable and coherent representation of the body and the external world. Covering a variety of methodologies, this course will describe and evaluate the results of recent research on multisensory integration. First, the neural mechanisms underlying multisensory integration will be outlined. We will then examine the perception of multisensory events, the advantages afforded by the ability to combine different sensory modalities and the key determinants of intersensory interactions. Another key question addressed will be how multisensory interactions are linked to and modulated by attention. We will specifically consider the latest evidence assessing the role of exogenous and endogenous attentional mechanisms on crossmodal processes. In addition, we will also focus on recent research concerning how multisensory information is used to create multiple spatial representations of our body parts and of the spaces within which they can act. We will see how these representations that are used by the brain to guide body movements through space show a considerable degree of plasticity. Finally, we will consider how the cortical system for perception may become radically reorganized after sensory deprivation or crossmodal rerouting of sensory projections and evaluate this surprising degree of cross-modal plasticity that characterize cortical processing. Formative feedback event; - feedback day in which students will have the possibility to discuss their coursework during one to one meetings
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 3 (Sem 2)
Timetable	Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info)	Total Hours: 100 ( Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 98 )
Assessment (Further Info)	Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment)	3000 word essay: Essays may be no longer than 2500 words of text. The word limitation includes cover page and abstract but excludes references Assessment Deadline: Thursday 26th March 2015, 12 noon Return Date: 17th April 2015
Feedback	Not entered
No Exam Information

Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this course, students will be able to demonstrate knowledge of: * the brain mechanisms underlying multisensory integration * the perceptual and behavioural consequences of multisensory integration and the key determinants of these intersensory bindings * the role of attention on crossmodal perception and multisensory integration * the multisensory brain's representation of the body and of peripersonal space * Cortical plasticity across sensory modalities and the effects of sensory deprivation