INTRODUCTION TO NEUROSCIENCE
This course is required for all the other courses offered in Neuroscience and Behavior. The course introduces students to the anatomy and physiology of the nervous system. The topics include the biological structure of the nervous system and its different cell types, the basis of the action potential, principles of neurotransmission, neuronal basis of behavior, sleep/wake cycles, and basic aspects of clinical neuroscience.
- TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
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Instructor:
Alex White
h-index: 13 Info - 3 points
LABORATORY IN NEUROSCIENCE
NEUROSCIENCE LAB
This course provides a hands-on introduction to techniques commonly used in current neurobiological research. Topics covered will include neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and invertebrate animal behavioral genetics. Participation in this course involves dissection of sheep brains and experimentation with invertebrate animals.
- M 1:10 p.m.-5 p.m.
- T 9:10 a.m.-1 p.m.
- T 1:10 p.m.-5 p.m.
- W 1:10 p.m.-5 p.m.
- 3 points
STATISTICS AND EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
STATISTICS & EXPERIMTL DE
This course is for students interested in learning how to conduct scientific research. They will learn how to (i) design well-controlled experiments and identify “quack” science; (ii) organize, summarize and illustrate data, (iii) analyze different types of data; and (iv) interpret the results of statistical tests.
- W 1:10 p.m.-2 p.m.
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Instructor:
John Glendinning
CULPA: 23 h-index: 39 Info - 4 points
FLAVOR PERCEPTION AND THE HUMAN DIET
FLAVOR PERCEPTION & HUMAN
This course will provide an introduction to how humans decide what foods to include in their
diet. First, we will examine the sensory systems that evaluate food—vision, olfaction, taste,
olfaction, somatosensation and intestinal chemosensation. Second, we will study how the brain
integrates inputs from these sensory systems to create flavor perceptions. Third, we will
consider what is known about the evolution of the human flavor system. Fourth, we will examine
the development of food processing and preparation techniques. Fifth, we will examine the diet
of extant hunter-gatherer societies. Sixth, we will investigate how genetics and environment
factors (e.g., early dietary experience, nutritional status and culture) interact to shape diet.
Finally, we will investigate the functional consequences of the human flavor system to nutrition,
health and the future of food.
- TR 10:10 a.m.-11:25 a.m.
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Instructor:
John Glendinning
CULPA: 23 h-index: 39 Info - 3 points
MIND/BRAIN DISORDERS
DISORDERS OF MIND/BRAIN
This course explores how neural processes giving rise to the mind can become disordered, resulting in devastating mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, depression, dementia, and autism. Students will review genetic, structural and functional research findings showing changes in the brain associated with psychiatric, neurological, and neurodevelopmental disorders. This course will cover the empirical and theoretical accounts of the biological mechanisms that underlie mental illness. Throughout the course, students will gain exposure to genetic, neuroimaging, and behavioral methods commonly used to study brain function and cognition in clinical populations. By studying how changes in the brain result in cognitive dysfunction and mental illness, students will deepen their understanding of the biological foundations of human thought, emotion, memory, and social behavior.
ADAPTIVE OR ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT OF THE
ADOLESCENT BRAIN
The teen brain has received a lot of media coverage with advances in brain imaging techniques that
provide a voyeuristic opportunity for us to look under the hood of the behaving adolescent brain. This
course will cover empirical and theoretical accounts of adolescent-specific changes in brain and behavior
that relate to the development of self control. These accounts of adolescent brain and behavior will then
be discussed in the context of relevant legal, social and health policy issues. Lectures and discussion will
address: Under what circumstances self control appears to be diminished in adolescents. How do
dynamic changes in neural circuitry help to explain changes in self control across development? When
does the capacity for self control fully mature? Are these changes observed in other species? How might
these changes be evolutionarily adaptive and when are they maladaptive? How might understanding
adolescent brain and behavioral development inform interventions and treatments for maladaptive
behavior or inform policy for changing the environment to protect youth?
HORMONES AND BEHAVIOR
Prerequisites: BC1001 or BIOL BC1101, BC1102, or permission of the instructor. Enrollment limited to 45 students. This class explores the complex interactions among genetics, hormones, environment, experience, and behavior. Topics covered include the endocrine system, sexual development, reproductive behavior, and social interactions such as affiliation, aggression, parenting, as well as homeostasis, biological rhythms, stress, memory, and mood.
SYSTEMS AND BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE
This course provides an in-depth examination of the physiological bases of behavior and the development, organization, and function of the nervous system. Specific topics include methods used in behavioral neuroscience, development of the nervous system, sensory and motor systems, homeostasis, sexual differentiation, biological rhythms, stress, learning and memory, psychopathology, and neurological disorders.
- TR 2:40 p.m.-3:55 p.m.
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Instructor:
Russell D Romeo
CULPA: 9
Info
- 3 points
THE NEURAL CODE
By the end of this course you'll understand some of the canonical principles underlying how brains encode information. You'll become familiar with the most influential frameworks and models for describing the encoding and transfer of information in the brain and you'll dive into the paradigms that generate or motivate these coding frameworks. Prerequisites: Introduction to Neuroscience (NSBV BC 1001) and either Systems and Behavioral neuroscience (NSBV BC 3001), or a Stats course (NSBV BC2002, PSYC BC1101, PSYC UN1610, STAT UN1101, STAT UN1201), or a computer science course (such as any of the following: COMS BC1016+lab COMS BC1017, COMS W1001, COMS W1002, COMS W1004), or any bioengineering course, or permission of the instructor. Students will complete a brief survey during registration to determine whether they meet the prerequisites.
- W 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
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Instructor:
Gabrielle J Gutierrez
Info - 4 points
Hallucinations, illusions, dreaming and
NEUR MECHANISMS ALTERED P
Perception is often taken as the most striking proof of something factual: when we perceive something, we interpret it as real. In this seminar we will challenge this assumption by taking into consideration states of altered perception, wherein the brain creates perceptual experiences that do not correspond to sensory input. Specifically, we will review a number of experiments showing changes in brain activity accompanying illusions, hallucinations, and dreaming across sensory modalities (i.e., vision, hearing, touch), and in both clinical and non-clinical populations. We will examine the similarities and differences between these states of altered perception both at the level of phenomenology and underlying biological mechanisms, specifically focusing on neural oscillations. Using the latest research findings in clinical, cognitive, and computational neuroscience, this seminar offers a great opportunity to learn more about how the brain creates perceptual experiences and why sometimes we perceive something that isn’t real.
PSYCHOBIOLOGY OF SLEEP
This seminar will explore sleep and circadian rhythms, emphasizing how these factors and their disruption influence health, function, and well-being. Topics will include the physiological and neurobiological generation of sleep and circadian rhythms, and the interaction between these systems with cognitive, behavioral, endocrine, metabolic, and mood/psychiatric variables in humans.
- M 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
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Instructor:
Ari Shechter
CULPA: 2 h-index: 23 Info - 4 points
RSRCH/SEM-NEUROSCNC&BEHAVIOR
Prerequisites: Open to senior Neuroscience and Behavior majors. Permission of the instructor. This is a year-long course. By the end of the spring semester program planning period during junior year, majors should identify the lab they will be working in during their senior year. Discussion and conferences on a research project culminate in a written and oral senior thesis. Each project must be supervised by a scientist working at Barnard or at another local institution. Successful completion of the seminar substitutes for the major examination.
- T 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
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Instructor:
Peter D Balsam
CULPA: 25 Info -
Instructor:
Elizabeth P Bauer
CULPA: 3 h-index: 21 Info -
Instructor:
Russell D Romeo
CULPA: 9
Info
- 4 points