Brain, Behavior and Movement

Fac. Health, Medicine and Life Sciences

Brain, Behavior and Movement

Full course description

This course is dedicated to the human capacity to perceive, act and move within a constantly changing environment. Being able to integrate incoming information and to react to it properly, e.g. by changing position or by executing an action, is an essential and distinctive feature of all human and animal life. Adequate, adaptive movement requires sensing, coordination, action generation and monitoring the result of the action. This course addresses all of these features by looking into the organization of and communication within the brain, sensory perception, how we learn and memorize, experience stress, make decisions, and move.

Course objectives

B-ILO1004.1. Relate body functions to the outline of the nervous system
B-ILO1004.2. Describe how humans sense and control their position and movement in the environment
B-ILO1004.3. Describe the control of goal-directed behavior
B-ILO1004.4. Explain how neurotransmitters and hormones facilitate neuronal and neuromuscular communication
B-ILO1004.5. Explain how variation in neural activation affects muscle forces
B-ILO1004.6. Compute the force generated by a muscle-tendon complex given its morphology and its actual state
B-ILO1004.7. Relate the function of a muscle to its position in a musculoskeletal system
B-ILO1004.8. Explain the molecular, cellular and structural mechanisms underlying learning and memory formation
B-ILO1004.9. Explain how the brain and body deals with exposure to acute and chronic stress and how this relates to fear and anxiety.

Brain, Behavior and Movement