Neuroscience and behavior

Lectures: 3 sessions / week, 1 hour / session

Neuroscience and Behavior concerns the relation of structure and function at various levels of neuronal integration. Topics include functional neuroanatomy and neurophysiology, sensory and motor systems, centrally programmed behavior, sensory systems, sleep and dreaming, motivation and reward, emotional displays of various types, "higher functions" and the neocortex, and neural processes in learning and memory.

In addition to the following texts, reading assignments will include primary research articles.

Rosenzweig, Mark R., Arnold L. Leiman, and S. Marc Breedlove. Biological Psychology. 3rd ed. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, Inc., 2002. ISBN: 0878937099.

Gazzaniga, Michael S., Richard B. Ivry, and George R. Mangun. Cognitive Neuroscience. The Biology of the Mind. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 1998. ISBN: 0393972194.

Nauta, Walle J. H., and Michael Feirtag. Fundamental Neuroanatomy. Anatomical drawings by Carol Donner. New York, NY: W.H. Freeman, 1986. ISBN: 0716717220. (Currently out of print)

Wolpert, Lewis. The Triumph of the Embryo. With illustrations drawn by Debra Skinner. Oxford (England); New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1991. ISBN: 0198542437.

For each class, we will give you study questions for you to work on for the next class lecture and readings assignments. Try to answer study questions regularly.

Expect a quiz every week, focusing on both the lectures and readings. The quizzes are often unannounced. There is a final exam for this course.

There will be at least four writing assignments, consisting of homework problems and literature analysis and review.

Do not copy sentences from your sources and paste them into your writings. Such plagiarism will often be detected. It is not worth the chance of being caught, which is significantly above zero, and the consequences are very unpleasant. Have confidence in your ability to use your own words and cite the source of specific information. If you are having problems, please see the instructor or a TA.

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