Maastricht University - Center for European Studies

This course takes a purely biological view of a set of interconnected topics in the field of learning and memory. All learning and memory formation is dependent on changes in functional connections between neurons. The course starts with seminal findings illustrating this principle in Aplysia. These findings are then compared with mechanisms of Long-Term Potentiation (LTP). In a number of papers, and accompanying lectures, students gain insight into molecular mechanisms to manipulate intra-cellular processes contributing to LTP and neural plasticity, at the genomic, RNA, and protein levels. In parallel, students learn about some landmark neurophysiological findings that have been crucial in our current understanding of memory formation. With this background in mind, students read studies in which molecular tools are used to modulate memory formation and their neurophysiological correlates. The course focuses mainly on two forms of learning, namely episodic memory and skill learning. Most of the papers focus on animal models of learning, using molecular and neurophysiological approaches, but there are also papers on human and non-human primate learning. The lectures provide crucial background to understand the papers, and in a broad sense could provide topics for exam questions. The course is challenging, and so a background or strong interest in neuroscience and/or (cellular) biology is very strongly recommended for this course. Further, students must have a genuine interest in biological approaches of learning and memory.

The first part of this course studies the theoretical background of language processing and how it received empirical support from psycholinguistics – mainly based on behavioral experiments. More recent insights are added from cognitive neuroscience, with a focus on information transfer within the language network. During reading and open discussion, students consider the following: problems that need to be solved by the cognitive language system; how the brain solves problems; the consequences if the network is not functioning well – as in Aphasia after stroke, or in developmental dyslexia. Papers covered in the course bring answers using methods such as RT, EEG, fMRI, and analysis teaching techniques. From the readings, each participant selects the topic of interest for the proposal, extracts open questions, formulates research questions, presents the ideas to peers, and writes the proposals on how to investigate this selected topic of interest.

This course reviews the interrelationships among hormones, the brain, and behavior. Basic endocrine (hormone) system physiology is introduced and the different approaches that researchers take to address questions of hormone-behavior relationships are discussed. The focus is on three large classes of hormones: stress (cortisol), social (oxytocin, vasopressin), and sex hormones (testosterone, estradiol, progesterone). Those hormones are linked to normal behavioral processes such as memory and social behavior as well as to psychiatric conditions such as depression/anxiety and autism spectrum disorder. At the end of this course, students have developed an understanding of a selection of topics related to behavioral neuroendocrinology.

This course encourages students to consider if, when, and how ethical considerations can or must play a role in the practice of the medical profession. Students are schooled in philosophical techniques that form the basis of sound ethical reasoning, become aware that the health sciences do not operate in a moral or philosophical vacuum, and that a good knowledge of both the older and recent ethical and philosophical debates is of the greatest significance. There are philosophical lectures, ethical discussions, and the study of practical cases that reflect the most important problems and topics that make up the moral and philosophical challenges of the medical discipline of today. Topics addressed include euthanasia, embryo research, HIV and Aids, imperiled newborns, gene therapy and cloning, involuntary psychiatric treatment, and allocation of limited medical resources.

This biologically-oriented course gives students an introduction to generally applicable stages in learning and memory, namely encoding, storage, and retrieval. In addition, students are exposed to the different brain areas and structures that contribute to the different types of memory, and to the contribution of individual neurons to forming short- and long-term memory traces. This course aims to significantly deepen the students' concepts of working memory, episodic memory, different forms of conditioning, and skill learning, emotional learning, and learning by example. Insights into how memory works may help enhance memory and learning in many daily activities, educational contexts, and clinical contexts that involve revalidation after physical or emotional trauma, neurological disease, brain lesions, or aging. The course stimulates students to make the link between theoretical insights and applications. The corresponding practicals for this course are: Measuring Cognitive Functions 1, Measuring Cognitive Functions 2, Cognitive Disorders in Practice

This version of the Dutch Art History course includes an Independent Study Project (ISP) done under the direction of the instructor. The ISP is 10-12 pages and counts for 1/3 of the overall grade for the course. The course is about Dutch art – with an emphasis on painting. Since the Middle Ages, the Netherlands has played a pivotal role in the history of European art and culture. Dutch and Flemish artists were the first to use oil paints, the first to visually document the lives and cultures of ordinary people, and the first to produce art for a free market. Painters such as Van Eyck, Brueghel, Bosch, Rubens, Vermeer, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, and Mondrian are counted among the great masters of history. Their art embodies qualities that are believed to be typical for the country, such as a devotion to truthfulness, attention to detail, and a love of textures. But there were many more artists whose works are still considered among the most important in history – if only because they were the first to notice the mundane things nobody else had paid attention to, such as the beauty of a still-life or the wonders of a cloudy sky. From the late Middle Ages through the Renaissance and the Baroque to the modern era, Dutch artists have tried to come to terms with ever-changing principles and conceptions regarding the world around them and have been constantly improving techniques to visualize it. The results of their efforts are the subject of this course. The course mostly follows a chronological order. In the first lecture, the (religious) significance of art in the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Baroque is introduced. In the following lectures, students are given an overview of the development of Dutch art from the Middle Ages to the modern era. The course includes tours to various museums in Mauritshuis and the Hague. 

The first part of this course is on the molecular and cellular biology of the nervous system. Focus is on the neurotransmission process, in particular the role of neurotransmitter receptors as a basis for understanding the mode of action of Central Nervous System (CNS) drugs. The second part of the course gives an overview of the major classes of a number of CNS drugs: the hypnotics and sedatives, the anxiolytics, and the drugs used to treat CNS degenerative disorders. The pharmacology of these drugs is put in the perspective of their clinical use. The final part of the course is devoted to illicit drugs, their acute and long term effects, and their potential as medicines.

Long before Western people in the sixties and seventies tried out psychedelics for recreational and therapeutic purposes, other cultures had already been using them for ages because of their therapeutic potential. This “psychedelic wave” in the West scared off politicians leading to a scheduling of these substances and a halt to scientific research into the effects of those substances. In the nineties, placebo-controlled studies emerged looking into the negative effects of these drugs due to reports that these users might be cognitively impaired after abundant use of a number of these substances. Two decades later however, after the negative effects had been demonstrated to be limited, when used in moderate amounts, and after the substances appeared to be relatively safe, research into the positive effects started rising and it is blossoming today. While previously only a handful of labs investigated these effects, new research labs in other countries are emerging. The therapeutic potential of psychedelics is now being widely investigated and two companies are now setting up trials in psychiatric patients in order to demonstrate the therapeutic potential of these compounds. Their aim is to have those substances approved as a psychiatric medicine within a few years. While psychedelic research is experiencing a renaissance, it is still treated as the “bad daughter” in psychiatric settings and frowned upon by the general public. From the patient side however, there is a large demand for effective and alternative treatments since treatment is not a “one-size-fits-all” thing and many of those patients fail to benefit from current treatments, leaving them in distress and despair with a pessimistic view on their future. This course educates students about the positive and negative effects of these substances. Through the course students are able to communicate to the lay audience and to patients in an objective way what the current state of affairs is.

In this course, students learn to use neuroscience methods to study the cognitive development of infants, children, and adolescents. The course begins with the various methods used in developmental cognitive neuroscience, such as pediatric and infant MRI, EEG, and fNIRS. In this context, students uncover and discuss the benefits and challenges of each approach and the feasibility of studying different age ranges. The course then examines typical brain development as assessed with in vivo MRI (including trajectories of white & gray matter over the life span). Next, are more specific aspects of cognitive development such as the development of visual processes where students learn how learning to read affects the brain and how regions involved in face processing develop throughout childhood to support important social functions such as face recognition. Topics are approached using a mix of formats including active participation, working in subgroups, presentations, short lectures, and videos.