Teaching code

4S011778

Teacher

Roberto Burro

Coordinator

Roberto Burro

Credits

6

Language

Italian

Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)

M-PSI/01 - GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY

Period

Sem. 2A dal Feb 16, 2026 al Mar 26, 2026.

Courses Single

Authorized

Lessons timetable Moodle Seminars 0

Learning objectives

GENERAL LEARNING OBJECTIVES. *To know and understand the psychological theories which describe and explain the processes underlying individuals and groups' behaviours, and the processes of adjustment to the material and social environment, for example the perceptual, cognitive, communicative-linguistic, social-relational, affective-emotional, and learning processes. *To know and understand the psychobiological and neuropsychological bases of behaviours, in particular in learning contexts. *To apply the psychological theories to the functioning of individuals, groups, and organisation in order to observe and analyse behaviours, and in particular phenomena concerning learning and personal and social changes. *To apply knowledge about psychological measurement instruments to the assessment of individuals, to the evaluation of learning needs, for training and development of individuals along the whole life course, of groups, of organisation, and communities. SPECIFIC LEARNING OBJECTIVES. *To know and understand the theories concerning the mechanisms of functioning of the different sensory and perceptive capacities. *To apply theories concerning the functioning of the cognitive capacities of the person considered individually, in groups and in an organisational context with specific reference to the relationship between the physical world and the psychological world.

Prerequisites and basic notions

No prior knowledge is required

Program

- Sensation and perception, definitions
- Sensory thresholds and scaling methods
- Sensory neuroscience and biology of perception
- Modeling as a method: mathematics and computation
- Early stages of vision: from light to neural signals
- Basics of light physics
- The eye
- Light-dark adaptation
- Information processing in the retina
- Spatial vision: from dots to stripes
- Visual acuity
- Retinal ganglion cells and stripes
- Lateral geniculate nucleus
- Striate cortex
- Receptive fields in the striate cortex
- Columns and hypercolumns
- Selective adaptation
- Development of vision
- Object perception and recognition
- From simple lines and edges to object properties
- "What" and "Where" pathways
- Challenges in object perception and recognition
- Intermediate-level vision
- Object recognition
- Basic principles of color perception
- Color detection
- Color discrimination
- Color appearance
- Individual differences in color perception
- From light colors to a world of colors
- Functions of chromatic vision
- Spatial perception and binocular vision
- Monocular cues to three-dimensional space
- Triangulation cues to three-dimensional space
- Binocular vision and stereopsis
- Combining depth cues
- Development of binocular vision and stereopsis
- Attention and perception of complex scenes
- Spatial selection
- Visual search
- Temporal attention: RSVP and attentional blink
- Physiological basis of attention
- Disorders of visual attention
- Perceiving and understanding complex scenes
- Visual perception of motion
- Aftereffects of motion
- Processing of visual motion
- Using motion information
- Eye movements
- Development of motion perception
- Hearing: physiology and psychoacoustics
- Auditory function
- What is sound?
- Basic structure of the mammalian auditory system
- Basic operating characteristics of the auditory system
- Hearing loss
- Sound localization
- Complex sounds
- Analysis of the auditory scene
- Continuity and restoration effects
- Auditory attention
- Perception of music and spoken language
- Music
- Spoken language
- Touch
- Physical inputs of touch
- Sensitivity and tactile acuity
- Haptic perception
- Taste
- Taste vs flavor
- Anatomy and physiology of the gustatory system
- The four basic tastes?
- Are there more than four basic tastes?
- Genetic variations related to bitter taste
- How do taste and flavor contribute to nutrient regulation?
- Nature of taste quality
- Smell
- Olfactory physiology
- Neurophysiology of smell
- From chemicals to odors
- Olfactory psychophysics, identification, and adaptation
- Olfactory hedonism
- Associative learning and emotions: neuroanatomical and evolutionary considerations

Bibliography

Didactic methods

Face-to-face lectures.

Learning assessment procedures

The examination taken during an official session will consist of a written test with thirty multiple-choice questions to be completed in 30 minutes (3 answer options, of which only one is correct).

Evaluation criteria

For the purpose of the final grade expressed on a scale of thirty, a correct answer has a value of 1 point, an incorrect answer has a value of 0 points, and an unanswered question has a value of 0 points.

Criteria for the composition of the final grade

For the purpose of the final grade expressed on a scale of thirty, a correct answer has a value of 1 point, an incorrect answer has a value of 0 points, and an unanswered question has a value of 0 points.

Exam language

Italiano

Sustainable Development Goals - SDGs

This initiative contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN Agenda 2030. More information on sustainability