St Petersburg University launches a new online course in neurolinguistics with Tatiana Chernigovskaya

The programme of the online course in Neurolinguistics is designed for seven weeks. During this time, students will get acquainted with: the history of neurolinguistics; and neurophysiological and clinical studies of speech, reading and writing. They will be able to learn: more about how children acquire the first and second language; why auditory hallucinations occur during schizophrenia; and what happens in the brain of a person suffering from aphasia - a disease during which the ability to speak or comprehend language is lost.

The online course will be useful both to students studying neurolinguistics professionally, and to everyone who is interested in this rapidly developing field of science. It is free, but you have to sign up on the Coursera learning platform website, where you can also get more detailed information about the training programme. According to Tatiana Chernigovskaya, despite the difficult situation due to the spread of coronavirus, a team of university staff managed to complete work on the course in an extremely short time.

Among the course tutors are very experienced professors from Norway, the USA and Finland.

Tatiana Chernigovskaya, the head of the Laboratory for Cognitive Studies, and the head of the Department of the Problems of Convergence in Natural Sciences and Humanities, St Petersburg University

‘They all deliver lecturers in their field of study. So, the students are very lucky: they do not need to collect this information from 30 different sources, all most important things are in one source. I am very grateful for this work to the team of the Centre of E-learning Development of St Petersburg University and its director Vladimir Starostenko, and my colleagues from the Department of the Problems of Convergence in Natural Sciences and Humanities and the Laboratory of Cognitive Studies. This is a very good example of how responsible and smart people should behave when push comes to shove, and now it has come to be – they should work meaningfully and have a plan. It seems to me that we have managed to do that,’ said Tatiana Chernigovskaya.  

As Tatiana Chernigovskaya noted, the total transition to distance learning for many teachers has become an undeniable challenge, which requires job performance. In her opinion, it is necessary now to develop actively distance learning methods, including those related to online courses.

‘Most people have experienced an extreme failure of the algorithm, and we are used to having a lot of routine in our lives – ‘well-oiled’ actions with planned daily schedules. And, of course, different people will react differently to the lack of social contacts,’ said the professor.

In order for the brain to work well under these conditions, it must work. Sorry for the pun. Working doesn’t mean pouring tea into a cup, it means reading sophisticated books, listening to great music, watching great films and thinking. And now there is time for this.

Tatiana Chernigovskaya, the head of the Laboratory for Cognitive Studies, and the head of the Department of the Problems of Convergence in Natural Sciences and Humanities, St Petersburg University

Additionally, Tatiana Chernigovskaya emphasises that lockdown is the best time to stop and think about the most serious things: values and goals. The professor notes that what is happening now is undoubtedly a challenge to humanity as a biological species, as well as a social one.

 ‘We all actually have something to think about while staying home,’ said Tatiana Chernigovskaya. ‘It's high time to stop. And I think that many have already done this, because life has forced them. Just sit down and think: what is going on? What is the value system? Is it necessary to buy another bag or watch a daft music video? Or, perhaps, to think about what we did to the Earth, to our planet, for it to throw down such a challenge to us?’