The Neurobiology of Sensitive Periods

This course covers Professor Panksepp's early life and outlines how his career was shaped. It also describes his aspirations for neuroscience. This course offers wonderful insights into Professor Panksepp's early life including the historical and academic contexts in which he was raised. It also outlines his hopes and ideas for future research endeavours within the neurosciences in relation to the fundamental findings of field of affective neuroscience - particularly with respect to the primary processes.

This course introduces the fascinating field of affective neuroscience and is designed to provide a general overview. Comprising thirteen engaging chapters, it covers central topics in explaining why the field is so fundamental to modern neuroscientific enquiry. These topics include, the subjective experiences of animals, describing the commonalities between the human brain and those of other animals, elucidating the methodology adopted in order to study the basic emotions, giving perspectives on what is meant by consciousness and the self, explaining the links with the field of psychoanalysis, and outlining behaviourism. This course also explains the contributions that affective neuroscience can make to the field of psychiatry.

In this course Professor Jaak Panksepp provides an introductory account of the seven basic emotion systems that are critical to understanding the brain. The course outlines the prototypical behaviours associated with each system, and explains how the basic emotion systems are activated. Professor Panksepp also explains the function of the classic neurotransmitters and key hormones and peptides that mediate the basic emotion systems.

This course addresses the complex question of whether animal minds exist. In doing so, it covers the neuroscience of animal minds, offering fascinating insights into this very topical subject.

This course covers both historical and contemporary views of the self from the perspectives of psychoanalysis and cognitive neuroscience. It provides rich accounts of how the self has been studied and promotes a second-person perspective approach to understanding the self.

This course highlights the value of psychodynamic approaches for the treatment of depression by reviewing psychoanalytic models of depression and considers various psychoanalysts' theories. It examines psychological research on defence mechanisms and parental perceptions in patients with depression in order to identify core dynamic factors that contribute to the onset and persistence of depression. It also offers an overview of a focused psychodynamic approach to treating depression with reference to a clinical case.

This course provides fascinating and clinically relevant insights into current neuroscientific understandings of memory processes and how these are relevant to psychotherapeutic work with patients. It outlines the different types of memory processes, while focussing particularly on the functioning of the medial temporal lobes. Professor Alberini draws on her vast knowledge in explaining concepts such as consolidation, reconsolidation, extinction and infantile amnesia in relation to findings from rodent studies.

This course details how the body is represented in the mind according to current neuroscientific understandings as well as Freudian theory.

Points covered will include the relationship of repression with memory, effects of therapy, can repression and defence be psychologically measured and which occur only in the clinical situation? what are the conscious and unconscious contributory factors in repression and defence? where in development does repression start? is repression different from conscious suppression? repressed desires, conflicts, trauma are central sources for the dynamic unconscious does repression relate to other defence mechanisms, and more.

This course offers fascinating insights into the key discoveries and research methods that have shaped our understandings of dreams. It also provides an overview of Freudian dream theory in relation to current neuroscientific knowledge.

In this course Professor Manos Tsakiris offers a comprehensive and enlightening overview of current neuroscientific thinking regarding the complex topic of selfhood.

This course provides a broad and thorough explanation of The Psychoanalytic Model of the Mind. It explains what the model is, how it works, and what it contributes to mind science. This course also looks into the history of the model. The overall goal of the course is to demonstrate how The Psychoanalytic Model of the Mind works and show what it can contribute to the understanding and care of patients with mental suffering.

This course provides a comprehensive overview of how the brain functions in both health and in psychopathology. It also explains the effectiveness of psychoanalytic treatment and what it aims to achieve.

This course offers an overarching understanding of the brain by outlining its fundamental three-layered structure, the primary, secondary and tertiary processes. It explains what is meant by emotion, and it outlines the distinction between emotion, affect and feelings. The course also discusses the human brain in relation to those of other mammals, and offers additional insights into the functioning of the cortex and how it is programmable.

This course provides an essential overview of how the brain functions. It explains how metabolic and neuronal firing rates varying between the cortex and the subcortical structures, and why these brain regions have differing energy requirements. Such understandings are important in order to contextual the brain's functions in evoluntionary terms.