HU Credits: 2

Degree/Cycle: 2nd degree (Master)

Responsible Department: Education

Semester: 1st Semester

Teaching Languages: Hebrew

Campus: Mt. Scopus

Course/Module Coordinator: Yehuda Pollak

Coordinator Email: yehuda.pollak@mail.huji.ac.il

Coordinator Office Hours: Tuesday, 11-12

Teaching Staff:
Prof Yehuda Pollak

Course/Module description:
This course will discuss the typical development of cognitive and motivational processes (serving as background for an advanced course about the cognitive mechanisms of ADHD).

Course/Module aims:
Being familiar with various theories of attention, executive functions, motivation and decision making.

Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
To distinguish between different attentional processes
To recognize global and specific components of executive functions
To critically discuss developmental aspects of attention and executive functions
To identify different characteristics of motivation
To analyze conditions in which probabilistic decision-making is needed

Attendance requirements(%):

Teaching arrangement and method of instruction: Lectures

Course/Module Content:
Attention: conceptualization and central theories, development
Executive functions: unity and diversity, cool and hot, development
Motivation: motivational theories, liking vs. wanting, extrinsic vs. intrinsic motivation
Decision making: expected utility, prospect theory, risk-taking, delay discounting, self-control

Required Reading:
Nigg, J. T. (2017). Annual Research Review: On the relations among self‐regulation, self‐control, executive functioning, effortful control, cognitive control, impulsivity, risk‐taking, and inhibition for developmental psychopathology. Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, 58(4), 361-383.

Additional Reading Material:
Fernández García, L., Merchan, A., Phillips-Silver, J., & Daza González, M. T. (2021). Neuropsychological development of cool and hot executive functions between 6 and 12 years of age: a systematic review. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 687337.
Bell, M. D., Imal, A. E., Pittman, B., Jin, G., & Wexler, B. E. (2019). The development of adaptive risk taking and the role of executive functions in a large sample of school-age boys and girls. Trends in neuroscience and education, 17, 100120.
Zelazo, P. D. (2020). Executive function and psychopathology: A neurodevelopmental perspective. Annual review of clinical psychology, 16, 431-454.
Posner, M. I., Rothbart, M. K., & Ghassemzadeh, H. (2019). Focus: Attention science: Restoring attention networks. The Yale journal of biology and medicine, 92(1), 139.
Spiegel, J. A., Goodrich, J. M., Morris, B. M., Osborne, C. M., & Lonigan, C. J. (2021). Relations between executive functions and academic outcomes in elementary school children: A meta-analysis. Psychological bulletin, 147(4), 329.

Grading Scheme :
Written / Oral / Practical Exam 90 %
Submission assignments during the semester: Exercises / Essays / Audits / Reports / Forum / Simulation / others 10 %

Additional information:
N/A