Cognitive Neuroscience

Explore the neural, psychological, and biological basis of how brains function. Braaiiiiins...
Teacher: Julie Moyer

Ever wondered how our brains work, why we remember some things and forget others, or what causes disorders such as ADD/ADHD, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's?

Cognitive neuroscience, the study of the mind and human thought processes, has recently been gaining popularity in the scientific community and holds the answers to these questions. This course will explore the neural, psychological and biological aspects of human cognitive processes. We will specifically look at attention, learning, memory, vision, basic neuroanatomy, language, and neuropathology of documented case studies as we try to understand the complexities of the human mind. Toward the end of the course, we will don our lab coats and dissect a sheep brain!

Coursework includes brief reading assignments and small weekly written assignments focused on the current topics of discussion. In addition, students will be expected to occasionally work in groups during class time reading and presenting journal articles.

For the application...

Prerequisites

None

Relevant experience

Any prior courses or activities in biology or psychology.

Application Question (Core-specific free response)

Imagine you had to sacrifice one of the following cognitive processes: attention, memory, learning, language, motor control or vision. Which one would you sacrifice and why? How do you think life would change without that ability, and how would you cope with the change?