Psychology 366 Cognitive Neuroscience: 2006 Class meets: T-Th, 1:15 - 3:00 pm and some afternoon presentations by guest speakers. Olin 102/104 Clark Ohnesorge e-mail: cohnesor@carleton.edu Mudd 167 Phone: x7544 Julie Neiworth e-mail: jneiwort@carleton.edu Office: Olin 113 Phone: x4372 Link to Daily Assignments E-Reserves for some of our readings Assignment instructions: Daily Assignments in PDF form Annotated Bibliography Assignment Questions Assignment Term Paper Assignment Links: Harvard Whole Brain Atlas Handouts from class that are important: Brain Exam Study Guide Brain Structure Handout from Lecture Brain Exam Answers!

Office Hours: Julie is free after class on Tuesdays and Thursdays (meeting on Thurs at 3:30 though)

or contact her for an appointment.

Cognitive neuroscience is the study of how the brain enables the mind. It is a relatively new field (since the 1970’s, when the term was coined by M. Gazzaniga), and as Gazzaniga says, it is a tricky business. This course embodies the two basic approaches that scientists take to answer the question, how does the brain enable the mind?

The first is the study of neurons, brain structures, and neural function. The assumption is that a low-level account of how neurons, brain structures, and neurochemicals are modified by experience is in fact where the "mind" is. In other words, the mind is not in a singular place in the brain, but is represented through intact connections via neural pathways, whereby a change in the current state of chemicals and firing patterns induces an idea, perception, memory, or thought. This approach is accomplished through animal experiments, computer modeling of brain actions with mental actions, and tracking pathways involved in certain cognitive processes (like perception).

The second approach is called cognitive neuropsychology, and assumes that we can understand best how the mind is enabled by the brain by studying human patients with particular brain damaged sites to track where failures occur.

The approach to this class is to balance neuroscientific and neuropsychological evidence, cognitive theory and cognitive demonstrations. There is heavy use of patient data (as reflected by cases presented in class, from Ramachandran's Phantoms in the Brain and by Martha Farah's Visual Agnosia).

Texts for this course include:

Ward, J. (2006). The student's guide to cognitive neuroscience. New York: NY, Psychology Press. [called W: in the daily assignments]

Farah, M. J. (2004). Visual Agnosia, 2nd Edition. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.[called F: in the daily assignments.]

and, optionally,

Ramachandran, V.S. & Blakeslee, S. (1998). Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the mysteries of the human mind. Quill Edition: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., New York: NY. [referred to as R in the daily assignments]

An assortment of readings will be included that capture important empirical findings in the area of cognitive neuroscience, generally, and that address these two levels and what each can contribute.

Your assignments to be evaluated in this course are:

· class participation, via questions submitted [10%],

· an exam on neurons and brain structure early in the term [20%],

· an annotated bibliography of articles which will contribute to your paper [10%].

· an oral presentation of your paper idea, which occurs 1 week before the end of term [20%].

· a project/paper due at the end of the term [40%]