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Prospectus: The objective of this course is to introduce you to the prospects and problems of trying to understand behavior in terms of nervous system function. It is a comprehensive treatment neither of research on the nervous system nor of that on behavior, but rather a consideration of the relations between the two. As such, it is largely a course on how to identify and investigate problems rather than one intended to convey a defined body of information, and may be of interest to students expecting to do more advanced work in any of a variety of disciplines. The most important parts of the course are the lectures and associated discussions, and your active engagement with and contributions to the material and issues treated in the course. Readings are intended to provide background information and illustrative examples, as well as initial sources to allow you to begin exploring subjects of individual interest.
Readings: The required texts are The Workings of the Brain and The Perceptual World, both collections of Scientific American articles which are available for purchase in the bookstore. Assignments in these texts are indicated by asterisks on the accompanying Reading Schedule. Other assigned readings on the Reading Schedule are additional Scientific American articles which are on reserve in the Collier Science Library. Students interested in more detail on basic cellular processes or relevant aspects of the vertebrate nervous system may want to supplement assigned readings with appropriate chapters from Kandel and Schwartz, Principles of Neural Science, which is also on reserve in the Collier Library. Recent issues of Scientific American, the journal Trends in Neuroscience, and Annual Reviews of Neuroscience (all available in Collier Library) are good starting places for further reading on many aspects of neurobiology and behavior. The World Wide Web provides an additional accessible, large, and constantly evolving set of starting points which can be conveniently explored beginning at http://serendipstudio.org.
Organization: The class will meet biweekly for lecture/discussions as shown on the accompanying Lecture Schedule. In addition to exams (see below), students will be expected to submit weekly short essays (one page or less) by e-mail. With permission of students, these will be posted on the WWW site, Serendip. I will be happy to meet individually with students at mutually convenient times, as shown on a weekly calender and sign up sheet outside my office.
Examinations and grading: There will be two mid-terms and a final examination, all in an open-book, take-home, essay format. You will be expected to display the kind of familiarity with concepts and methods of asking and answering questions which comes not only from listening and reading, but from having also thought through aspects of the course material and related them to one another and to whatever additional relevant information you have yourself. You will not be asked for particular facts but will be expected to display in your writing the kind of attention to and respect for facts which is basic to scientific discourse and fundamental to understanding any scientific concept. You will also be expected to display an ability to communicate clearly and cogently. Mid-term exam questions will be distributed Thursday, 20 February, and Thursday, 3 April. Exams will be due at the beginning of lecture on the following Tuesdays. The final exam will cover the entire course with an emphasis on the later topics. The final exam, and the two midterms collectively, will contribute equally to the final grade, with adjustments for classroom and newsgroup participation.
Introduction
21 January Neurobiology and behavior - The problem and methods of exploration
23 January Neuroanatomy - Inputs and outputs
28 January Neuroanatomy - The central nervous system
30 January Neurophysiology I - Seeing what you can't otherwise see
4 February Neurophysiology II
6 February Neurochemistry
Output processing
11 February Reflexology and central pattern generation
13 February Central pattern generation and corollary discharge
18 February Feedback processing
20 February Muscle mechanics, motor synergies, and distributed control
25 February Beyond ballistic movements
Input processing
27 February Coding, filtering, and feature detection
4 March Mapping and stereopsis
6 March Color vision
11, 13 March SPRING BREAK
18 March Preattentive and attentive vision
20 March Population coding, parallel and distributed processing
The sensorimotor interface - Directed movement
25 March Superimposed maps and activity-gated divergence
27 March Gestalts and choices
1 April Afference, expectation, and internal feedback
Modulation and internal drive
3 April Local and global phenomena - choice, attention, sleep/wake
8 April Extrinsic vs. intrinsic factors
10 April Multiple global control mechanisms
Nested interface systems
15 April Encephalization and the cortical problem
17 April Awareness and self-awareness
22 April Voluntary action and will
Genesis of neural function and behavior
24 April The reality of the innate
29 April Forms of neuronal lability, learning and memory
1 May Individuality and creativity
Bentley, D. and Hoy, R. The neurobiology of cricket song. May, 1974.
Stevens, C.F. The neuron. September, 1979.
Iverson, L.L. The chemistry of the brain. September, 1979.
Bloom, F.E. Neuropeptides. October, 1981.
Nauta, W.J.H. and Feirtag, M. The organization of the brain. September, 1979.*
Output processing
Merton, P.A. How we control the contraction of our muscles. May, 1972.
Wilson, D.M. The flight control system of the locust. May, 1968.
Pearson, The control of walking. December, 1976.
Bizzi, E. The coordination of eye-head movement. October, 1974.
Heller, H.C., Crawshaw, L.I., and Hammel, H.T. The thermostat of vertebrate animals. August, 1978.
Evarts, E.V. Brain mechanisms of movement. September, 1979.
Melzack, R. Phantom limbs. April, 1992
Input processing
Ratliff, F. Color and contrast. June, 1972.
Michael, C.R. Retinal processing of visual images. May, 1969.
Hubel, D.H. and Wiesel, T.N. Brain mechanisms of vision. September, 1979.*
Pettigrew, J.D. The neurophysiology of binocular vision. August, 1972.
Rushton, W.A.H. Visual pigments and color blindness. March, 1975.
Land, E.H. The retinex theory of color vision. December, 1977.*
Ramachandran, V.S. Perceiving shape from shading. August, 1988.*
Treisman, A. Features and objects in visual processing. November, 1986.*
Ramachandran, V.S. Blind spots. May, 1992.
Freeman, W.J. The physiology of perception. February, 1992.
The sensorimotor interface - Directed movement
Ewert, J.-P. The neural basis of visually guided behavior. March, 1974.
Brownell, P.H. Prey detection by the sand scorpion. December, 1984.
Shettleworth, S.J. Memory in food-hoarding birds. March, 1983.
Modulation and internal drive
Wurtz, R.H., Goldberg, M.E. and Robinson, D.L. Brain mechanisms of visual attention. June, 1982.
Lent, C.M, and Dickinson, M.H. The neurobiology of feeding in leeches. June, 1988.
Jouvet, M. The states of sleep. February, 1967.
Gwinner, E. Internal rhythms in bird migration. April, 1986.
McEwen, B.S. Interactions between hormones and nerve tissue. July, 1976.
Kety, S.S. Disorders of the human brain. September, 1979.
Wurtman, R.J, and Wurtman, J.J. Carbohydrates and depression. January, 1989.
Nested interface systems
Jerison, H.J. Paleoneurology and the evolution of mind. January, 1976.*
Cooper, L.A. and Shepher, R.N. Turning something over in the mind. December, 1984.*
Gazzaniga, M. The split brain in man. August, 1967.
Mattley, M.T. Slips of the tongue. September, 1985.
Morrson, A.R. A window on the sleeping brain. April, 1983.*
Luria, A.R. The functional organization of the brain. March, 1970.
Geshwind, N. Specializations of the human brain. September, 1979*.
Weiss, J. Unconscious mental functioning. March, 1990.
Genesis of neural function and behavior
Sperry, R.W. The eye and the brain. May, 1956.
Bickerton, D. Creole languages. July, 1983.
Cowan, W.M. The development of the brain. September, 1979.*
Kandel, E.R. Small systems of neurons. September, 1979.
Routenberg, A. The reward system of the brain. November, 1978*.
Gould, J.L. and Marler, P. Learning by instinct. January, 1987.
Mishkin, M. and Appenzeller, T. The anatomy of memory. June, 1987. *
Back to Neurobiology and Behavior, 1997
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