Syllabus

Instructor: Dr. Senqi Hu.

Office: 116B HGH,

Phone No: (707) 826-5262

Office Hours: TR: 12:30-2:30

Location: HGH 217

Time: Monday 16:00-18:50

Required textbook:

John L. Andreassi: Psychophysiology: Human Behavior and Physiological Responses, 2001, 4th edition. LEA.

Course Objective:

The objective of this course is to learn current development and techniques in psychophysiological research. To reach that goal, students are required to familiar fundamental background information for studying psychophysiology, to know the techniques in recording physiological signals in humans, and to develop a research proposal for an application of psychophysiology.

Grading procedures:

Course grade will be based on classroom attendence (total 100 points, 7 points for each class attendence), a research proposal (total 100 points, including a presentation of the proposal). The research proposal should be an experiment in which one dependable variable must be a physiological measure, such heart rate, skin conductance, EEG, etc. It should be written in APA style. The class discussion should help the presenter finalize her or his paper. Your paper need not be completed for the presentation. However, it should be more than merely an idea or a topic you would like to explore. Thus, the class could help you decide whether your hypotheses make sense or decide whether the method you have chosen will sufficiently test your hypotheses.

The paper will be graded in the following fashion:

90-100 points: The theoretical foundation for your study is soundly laid, the review of previous research is adequate, and the questions you have proposed for test are interesting and important.

80-90 points: There are problems and inadequacies in your review of previous research in the area, your logic in deriving your hypotheses from theory and/or from previous study is unclear or confused, but with some work and revision, your experiment might possible make a contribution to the area.

70-80 points: In addition to the flaws above, the paper has more than 10 grammar errors.

Your course grade will be based on:

A = 186-200, A- = 180-185,

B+ = 174-179, B = 168-173, B- = 160-167

C+ = 154-159, C = 148-153

Tentative Class Schedules

Each student is required to give a lecture on the assigned chapter(s) which will be decided in the first meeting of the class.

Jan. 28 - Ch. 1: Introduction to psychophysiology

Feb. 4 - Ch. 2: The nervous system and measurements of its activity

Feb. 11 - Ch. 3: The EEG and behavior: motor and mental activity

Ch. 4: The EEG and behavior: sensation, attention, perception, conditioning, and sleep

Feb. 18 - Ch. 5: Event-related brain potentials and behavior: measurement, motor activity, hemispheric asymmetries, and sleep - Ch. 6: Event-related brain potentials and behavior: mental, sensory, attentional, and perceptual activities

Feb. 25 - Ch. 7: Event-related slow brain potentials and behavior

Mar. 4 - Ch. 8: Muscle activity and behavior

Mar. 11 - Ch. 9: Electrodermal activity and behavior

Mar. 25 - Ch. 10: Pupillary response and behavior - Ch. 11: Eye movements, eye blinks and behavior -

Apr. 8 - Ch. 12: Heart activity and behavior: developmental factors, motor and mental activities, perception, attention, and orienting responses

Ch. 13: Heart activity and behavior: stress, emotions, motivation, personality, social factors, brain interactions, and conditioning

Ch. 14: Blood pressure, blood volume, and behavior

Apr. 15 - Ch. 15: Applied psychophysiology: detection of deception, ...

Ch. 16: Applied Psychophysiology: Auditory ...

Ch. 17: Clinical applications of biofeedback

Apr. 22 - Ch. 18: Concepts in psychophysiology

Ch. 19: Environmental psychophysiology

Apr 29 - Student proposal presentations

May 6 - Student proposal presentations

May 13 - Paper due