BCS 204: Course Outline
Only students who are enrolled in the course may access the readings online. You must be logged
into Blackboard to download the course readings.
- 9.4.12 – Week 1 | pdf
- Location: RCBI Conference Room (RCBI Room 2-A224)
- Readings:
- Owen, A.M., Coleman, M.R. Boly, M., Davis, M.H., Laureys, S., & Pickard, J.D. (2006). Detecting Awareness in the Vegetative State. Science, 313 (5792), 1402. Including Supplemental Online Materials.
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terri_Schiavo_case
- Due: 1 page Experiment proposal based on reading. Bring hard copy to hand in.
- Class Agenda:
- Discussion of Owen et al (2006). What do Owen and colleagues' findings mean for what is happening in people who are in a vegetative state? What can we conclude about what is going on in their minds? Do these data motivate a different approach to dealing with people in this condition?
- What is Cognitive Neuroscience? What are the goals of this science? What types of questions does it seek to answer? What are the methods it uses? What do fMRI brain maps tells us about how the brain works? What do fMRI maps tell us about what is going on in the mind of the subject?
- Organization of the class, discussion of requirements, and organization of student groups.
- 9.11.12 – Week 2 | pdf
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Location: RCBI Conference Room (RCBI Room 2-A224)
- Readings:
- Caramazza, A. (1984). The logic of neuropsychological research and the problem of patient classification in aphasia. Brain & Language, 21, 9-20
- Goodale, M.A., Milner, A.D., Jakobson, L.S., and Carey, D.P. A neurological dissociation between perceiving objects and grasping them. Nature, 349, 154-156.
- Due: 1 page Experiment proposal based on readings. Bring hard copy to hand in. This can take one of two forms, in the context of patient research. 1) Is there an alternative explanation of the patient's performance other than what the authors propose? If so, what experiments would you do with the patient in order to evaluate your alternative explanation? 2) What pattern of impairment in a hypothetical patient would you predict according to the model, or, what pattern of impairment would not be possible according to the theoretical model of the authors?
- Class Agenda
- Discussion of the effect of brain damage on cognitive function. How do you test a brain damaged patient in order to ascertain the type of cognitive impairments they might have? Particular emphasis will be given to the interplay between cognitive theories and patterns of spared and impaired performance on different cognitive tasks.
- 9.18.12 – Week 3 | pdf
- Location: RCBI Conference Room (RCBI Room 2-A224)
- Readings:
- Caramazza, A., & Hillis, A.E. (1991). Lexical organization of nouns and verbs in the brain. Nature, 349, 788-790.
- Samson, D. and Pillon, A. (2003). A case of impaired knowledge for fruit and vegetables. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 3/4/5, 373-400.
- Additional Article TBA
- Due: 1 page Experiment proposal based on readings (can take two forms, as for 9.11.12). Bring hard copy to hand in.
- Class Agenda
- Break up into groups, and discuss real data from patients currently being studied (Data to be distributed). The patient data relate to the readings. Each group will then present the results of their discussion to the rest of the class. What types of cognitive processes are impaired in the patient? What implications does the pattern of spared/ impaired abilities in the patient have for current models of cognitive function?
- New Assignment: There will be five patient-datasets, and 5 groups of 4 students. Each group of 4 students will be assigned a patient, and will prepare a .ppt presentation (total 30 minutes) on the theoretical background to the patient, the performance of the patient and the implications of the patient's performance. Presentations will be given 10.2.12.
- 9.25.12 – Week 4
- Location: Meliora 111
- Due: n/a
- Class Agenda
- Sheep Brain Dissection.
- Comparative Anatomy.
- 10.2.12 – Week 5
- Location: RCBI Conference Room (RCBI Room 2-A224)
- Readings:
- Student initiated literature review (as evidenced in the presentation and bibliography)
- Due: PPT Presentations, Bibliography and Outline
- Class Agenda
- Student presentations on neuropsychological data.
- 10.9.12 – Week 6 No class! Fall Break
- 10.16.12 – Week 7
- Location: Computer Lab, Meliora 178
- Readings:
- Chapter 7: BOLD fMRI (Huettel, Song, & McCarthy).
- Chapter 8: Spatial and temporal properties of fMRI (Huettel, Song, & McCarthy)
- Chapter 10: Preprocessing of fMRI Data (Huetell, Song, McCarthy)
- Class Agenda: fMRI data analysis in class: From raw data to maps. Each student will analyze their own fMRI dataset in class, from raw data off the scanner to a fully analyzed subject.
- New Assignment: 5 datasets will be distributed to 5 groups (four students per group). Presentations will be given 10.30.12.
- 10.23.12 – Week 8
- Location: Computer Lab, Meliora 178
- Readings:
- Chao et al., 1999. Nature.
- Additional Article TBA
- Due: 1 Page write up on reading. Bring hard copy to hand in.
- Class Agenda:Further Analysis of fMRI—Opportunity to ask questions as you prepare your data for presentation.
- 10.30.12 – Week 9
- Location: RCBI Conference Room (RCBI Room 2-A224)
- Readings: Student initiated literature review, as evidenced in the presentation and bibliography
- Due: PPT Slides, bibliography and outline.
- Class Agenda: Student ppt presentations on fMRI datasets
- New Assignment: Discussion of what is involved in the final paper. The final paper (8-12 pages) will be an expansion of one of the 1-2 page papers that you have written this semester on an experiment proposal. You can choose any 1 page paper that you wish.
- 11.6.12 – Week 10 (Election Day--Go vote!) | pdf
- Location: Meliora 111
- Readings: Prasad, BC and Reed, RR. (1999). Chemosensation: molecular mechanisms in worms and mammals. Trends Genetics, 15(4):150-153.
- Due: n/a
- Class Agenda: Perception in worms. Light touch, harsh touch, olfaction, taste, tap (vibration). Using dissecting microscopes, we will compare perceptual responses in wild type worms to those bearing genetic mutations that disrupt key signaling events. Data analysis, statistics and graphing will be reviewed. Students will work in pairs
- New Assignment: 2-3 page write up of experiments performed in class (Brief introduction, methods, results with graphs and statistics, and interpretations). The nature of this assignment will be discussed.
- 11.13.12 – Week 11 | pdf
- Location: PC Computer Lab, Meliora 178
- Readings:
- Selected chapters from Sniffy the Virtual Rat (TBA)
- Milner, B. Squire, L.R., and Kandel, E.R. (1998). Cognitive Neuroscience and the Study of Memory. Neuron, 20, 445-468
- Due: 2 page write up of Chemosensation Lab
- Class Agenda
- Lecture on Learning, Associative learning, studying learning and memory in different species, and molecular basis for learning and memory.
- Sniffy the Rat classical and operant conditioning simulations. Students will work in groups of three.
- 11.20.12 – Week 12 No Class! Thanksgiving Break
- Readings: None
- Due: 8-12 page paper due (for grade and comments, to be revised)
- 11.27.12 – Week 13
- Location: Meliora 111
- Readings:
- The Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness
- Reading posted to Blackboard
- Due: 1 Page Write-Up on Readings. Bring hard copy to hand in.
- Class Agenda: We will explore the limits of consciousness
- 12.4.12 – Week 14
- Location: Meliora 111
- Readings: Rankin, C.H. Nematode Memory: Now, Where Was I? Current Biology, 15, R374.
- Due: n/a
- Class Agenda: Associative learning in worms: pairing salt or chemical with starvation shifts response from attraction to aversion. Students will work in pairs.
- New Assignments: 2 page write-ups on associative learning experiments on worms.
- 12.11.12 – Week 15
- Location: Meliora 111
- Readings: TBA
- Due: 2 Page Write-Up of Associative learning lab
- Class Agenda: Bias—What is it, where is it, and how can you root it out (or can you?) A case study of the presidential election.
- New Assignments: 8-12 page papers are handed back (with grades and comments) for revision (due 12.22.12)
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