Philosophy, Politics and Economics of Health (PHIL0059)

This module examines some central ethical ethical, economic and political problems facing health policy in the UK and abroad, especially in relation to social justice. Topics covered include: how to allocate healthcare resources (e.g. should the NHS cover all new drug treatments, regardless of how expensive they are? Who should decide?); the appropriate role of the state in protecting and promoting health (e.g. should smoking be banned?); when inequalities in health and life expectancy are unfair; and special challenges posed by infectious diseases.

Reading list:

http://readinglists.ucl.ac.uk/modules/phil0059.html

Philosophy Area B

This is the dissertation module for the MSc Psychology of Education.

Dissertation on the Psychology of Education (PHDE0033)

HABILITATION DISABILITIES|OF|SIGHT SPECIAL|EDUCATIONAL|NEEDS INCLUSIVE|PRACTICE VISION|IMPAIRMENT

Habilitation and the practical strategies needed to support children&#039;s visual needs form a core element of this module. Habilitation specialists also need...

Policy and Practice in Habilitation Studies (PHDE0009)

Habilitation and the practical strategies needed to support children's visual needs form a core element of this module. Habilitation specialists also need to develop an understanding of best practice and how this differs from research and evidence-based practice.  It focuses on the devolved nations of the UK and where habilitation legislation and policy exists, and that of other countries outside the UK. It sets the more generic issues in the specialism of habilitation studies into context as they apply to children and young people with visual impairments (CYPVI).

This lecture-based module examines how behaviour results from the properties of neurons and synapses in the brain. Some simple computational models of how...

Neural Computation: Models of Brain Function (NEUR0016)

This lecture-based module examines how behaviour results from the properties of neurons and synapses in the brain. Some simple computational models of how networks of neurons can be used to perform useful functions are introduced and applied to help understand several examples of the neural bases of behaviour in humans and animals. Topics covered will include the role of synaptic plasticity in learning and memory, the coding of information by the firing rate and time of firing of neurons, the neural bases of memory, coordination of action, audition, olfaction and conscious awareness. Neural systems studies will include the motor, parietal and frontal cortices, the hippocampus, cerebellum and the spinal cord.

The module is an option for MSci/BSc Neuroscience student and for students on other degree programmes with a strong Neuroscience background and at least A level maths.

Indicative lecture list:

Introduction to artificial neural networks & unsupervised learning.
	The hippocampus and spatial representation
	Artificial neural networks, feedback & simple supervised learning.
	More advanced learning algorithms in artificial neural networks.
	Computational properties of individual neurons
	Neural bases of sensory decision making.
	Hippocampal and striatal navigation.
	Hippocampus and associative memory
	Path integration, continuous attractors and grid cells
	Reinforcement learning.
	Models of prefrontal cortex
	Learning, performing and remembering serially ordered actions.
	Spatial processing in the spine and motor cortex.
	Temporal processing in audition and olfaction.
	Filtering and normalization in sensory systems.
	Theories of the cerebellum.
	Computing with spike timing and delays; course review.
“Fundamentals of Computational Neuroscience” by Thomas Trappenberg (OUP) gives a general overview of the field.