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The most prominent idea that resonated with me throughout the semester has been the issue of consciousness. I also found the issue of a shared subjectivity/lack of objectivity in the world very important. I thought this was fundamental to each of our discussions in class. Consciousness was also relevant to most of our class discussions, but I think the concept of a shared subjectivity rightfully had to precede the topic of consciousness. Consciousness is influential because everything relates back to it, or is affected by consciousness in some way. From mental illness to research ethics, consciousness impacts our decisions, helps us to make new observations, and helps us integrate information.

The three questions that I would most like to see explored in the neural and behavioral sciences are:

1) As Sara mentioned in her presentation, the role of certain chemoattractants/chemorepellants in the process of axon guidance should be further explored as a possible intervention/treatment for specific degenerative diseases and maybe even to be used as a therapy for people after experiencing a traumatic head injury. It could also be helpful in some neuronal migration disorders, such as Lissencephaly, in which the neurons don't migrate to their target regions to make proper neural connections and a fully functioning and average-sized brain (with a developed cortex).

2) I also believe that the field of neuroscience should explore ways in which consciousness could be used to effectively treat certain mood and/or mental disorders. For example, mindfulness and yoga are frequently used to enhance one's perception of the self- these techniques could be implemented as part of treatment regimen to lessen symptoms of mood disorders.

3) A final topic that I feel should be explored in the area of neural and behavioral sciences is that of the myriad connections in the brain that are made and re-made continuously. This is not to say that I endorse the practice of "assigning" a function to each structure or sub-structure of the brain. I believe the brain is plastic and that most behaviors are the results of a distributed system, one involving much collaboration and synthesis. However, this synthesis between different regions/bundles/pathways of the brain could lead to new observations about human behavior and how it is produced and maintained over time.