Course Catalogue

Memory: From Synapses to Systems 4H PSYCH4108

  • Academic Session: 2026-27
  • School: School of Psychology and Neuroscience
  • Credits: 20
  • Level: Level 4 (SCQF level 10)
  • Typically Offered: Semester 2
  • Available to Visiting Students: Yes
  • Collaborative Online International Learning: No
  • Curriculum For Life: No

Short Description

"Memory: from Synapses to Systems" explores how memories are formed, stored, transformed, remembered, and sometimes forgotten. The course connects discoveries from animal behavioural neuroscience with insights from cognitive psychology and human neuroscience.

Timetable

20 hours of teaching across 10 weeks

Requirements of Entry

Successful completion of level 3H psychology or level 3H neuroscience single honours.

Excluded Courses

None

Co-requisites

None

Assessment

70% examination

30% Set Exercise: Students will complete a set exercise which will focus on critically evaluating a recently published empirical work on memory research and how to communicate this research to diverse audiences.

Main Assessment In: April/May

Course Aims

This aims of this course are:

■ To provide students with advanced conceptual and methodological knowledge of contemporary memory research

■ To cultivate skills for synthesising scientific evidence across human and animal experiments

■ To develop knowledge and practical skills for interpreting neuroscience data and communicating scientific findings effectively

Intended Learning Outcomes of Course

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ Evaluate theories and empirical evidence from human and animal memory research, demonstrating an understanding of how findings across specifies contribute to current models of memory mechanisms

■ Critically assess contemporary scientific publications and identify future directions for memory research

■ Interpret and draw conclusions from human and animal neuroscience and behavioural data, recognising constraints and limitations, and the implications these have for cross-species inference

■ Communicate complex scientific ideas to diverse audiences

Minimum Requirement for Award of Credits

No exceptions