Autism and Social Neuroscience - PSY00022H
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Semester 2 2025-26 |
Module aims
Understanding and interacting with other people are perhaps the most important things we do in our lives. This module explores the psychological and neural underpinnings of social behaviour, and how Autism can impact these processes. We will cover theories that attempt to explain the Autistic mind, and investigate whether the structure of the brain and how it works is different in Autism. We will investigate how we perceive other people in order to find out about their goals, intentions and personalities that guide how we interact with them in the moment and relate to them in the future. Throughout the module we will explore the neurobiological mechanisms of these social processes. This module has a focus on how Autism can impact social behaviour, but we will also examine other intriguing and surprising psychological conditions along the way.
Module learning outcomes
- Demonstrate knowledge of recent psychological theories that attempt to account for the Autistic mind
- Describe how Autism can impact brain structure and function
- Discuss how different cognitive processes underly our ability to make sense of and interact with other humans
- Describe the biological and neural mechanisms underpinning how we make sense of and interact with other humans
- Demonstrate an in-depth understanding of how studies of social neuroscience and social cognition can further our understanding of Autism and other psychological conditions
Module content
- Social perception: perceiving people
- The autistic mind: theories of autism
- The autistic brain: the neuroscience of autism
- Walking in someone else's shoes: Mirroring, Embodying and Empathising
- Reading human minds: Social interactions, Intentions and Mentalizing
- Trust and deception
- Love: Romance and other chemicals
- Out-of-body experiences and phantom limbs
- Social interactions with robots in the future
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Online Exam -less than 24hrs (Centrally scheduled) | 100 |
Special assessment rules
None
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Online Exam -less than 24hrs (Centrally scheduled) | 100 |
Module feedback
The marks on all assessed work will be provided on e-vision.
Indicative reading
There are very many excellent papers on Autism, however, the following paper is an interesting account, by one of the leading experts, on how we have looked at different aspects of Autism in past, and how we might do this in the future:
Happé, F., & Frith, U. (2020). Annual Research Review: Looking back to look forward–changes in the concept of autism and implications for future research. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 61(3), 218-232.
These papers explore a few of ideas covered in this module:
Ansuini, C., Cavallo, A., Bertone, C., Becchio, C. (2015) Intentions in the brain: The unveiling of Mister Hyde. The Neuroscientist. Vol. 21(2) pp. 126-135
Rizzolatti, G., Fogassi, L., & Gallese, V. (2006). Mirrors in the Mind. Scientific American. 295(5), 54-61
Kosfeld, M., Heinrichs, M., Zak, P. J., Fischbacher, U., & Fehr, E. (2005). Oxytocin increases trust in humans. Nature, 435(7042), 673-676
Zeki, S. (2007). The neurobiology of love. FEBS letters, 581(14), 2575-2579