The PhD in Behavioral Neuroscience is characterized by a high level of interdisciplinarity to train highly qualified young scholars in all the levels of interest in the neurosciences of normal and pathological behavior, starting from cellular and molecular and neurotransmitters level, to that of the neurophysiological, neuropsychological and neurocognitive bases of higher functions and of the highest levels of integration of cognitive functions. The PhDs trained in this course will have a solid theoretical and methodological preparation useful for their subsequent placement not only in academic or research institutes, but also in the field of neurorehabilitation, clinical psychology, neuropsychology and in the emerging fields of neuroimaging diagnostics and neural control of artificial prostheses.
The doctorate includes 4 curricula that differ for the methodological approach. In addition to interdisciplinary training, each curriculum offers specific training, which in the "Psychobiology and Psychopharmacology" curriculum concerns the methodological framework and experimental investigation techniques for the study of normal and pathological behavior in murine models, the biological basis of behavior, the use of drugs active on the nervous system to investigate the function of nervous structures or nuclei. In the "Neurophysiology of Behavior" curriculum it concerns the knowledge of the methods of recording nervous activity from non-human primates during the execution of cognitive tasks, the multiscale analysis of neuronal processes in decision tasks, the spatio-temporal organization of cortical efferent systems and th relative b b rain cortical dynamic, the dynamic properties of parietal and frontal cortical efferent neurons in non-human primates. The "Cognitive Neuroscience" curriculum covers experimental approaches and psychophysical and psychophysiological techniques related to the study of the complexity of human behavior in its cognitive and affective-emotional aspects, the evolution of cognitive functions over the life span, methods for the development of investigative tools experimental or clinical-diagnostic and programs for cognitive enhancement. The "Neuropsychology" curriculum covers the planning and design of experimental and clinical research in the neuropsychological field, the skills necessary for the use of behavioural, neuropsychological, psychophysiological and neuroimaging techniques for the study of human cognitive activity and the underlying brain mechanisms, the in-depth analysis of recent neurocognitive and neuropsychological models of cognitive functions.
Particular attention is paid among the curricula to the interdisciplinarity stimulated by periodic meetings between doctoral students and the solicitation of collaboration in research on topics common to the various curricula. |