Brain Executive/Emotional Control Systems
Faculty: Walter Schneider BrainSystems2007@gmail.com
Office 629 LRDC. Office Phone 624-7061
Fall 2007 Psych 1070 Course number 20269
Meeting time 4:00-5:15 306 Cathedral of
Learning
Web Link http://schneider.lrdc.pitt.edu/BrainExecEmotion/
Recent Class Announcements: Presenters for
Part 2 are listed in the Readings.
If you were not in class 10-4 send Pick TBA paper send email Assignments
for the list of assignments. Questions for study questions for past
lectures. Use the user name of and
password of b r a i n (excluding the spaces) for protected pages
Course Objectives: The course will develop critical thinking skills related to understanding the literature and science of brain systems related to cognitive and affective processing. After taking this course, you should be familiar with a wide range of topics in cognitive neuroscience, including the neural basis of sensory processing, attention, memory, and affective processing Throughout the course, students will be exposed to research involving humans and animals. The format of the course will include both lectures and group discussions of scientific papers. The broader intent is to hone critical thinking, listening, and writing skills. Students will read review and original papers and examine current understanding of cognitive and affective control. Students will be expected to deign and propose an imaging, biochemical, and/or behavioral experiment in executive and affective processing
Office Hours: After class or by appointment (arrange by phone or email BrainSystems2007@gmail.com)
Course Requirements:
Text: There
is no standard text for this course.
Software: It is strongly recommended that students get a copy of EndNote (version 10) EndNote version 10 bibliographic software is available to University students at a cost of $5.00.Students can pick up copies of EndNote at Software Licensing Services, 105 Bellefield Hall between 8:30 AM and 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday. Students must present a valid student ID. Cash, personal check, MasterCard and Visa are accepted for payment. In addition students will download software from the web during the course.
Exams: This course is intended to provide a
seminar-like experience for students.
There will be no exams. Instead,
assessment that allows students to creatively interact with and think deeply
about the course content will be emphasized.
Papers: Two papers
will be required over the course of the semester. Each paper should be 6-10 double-spaced
pages. A peer review process will be
used to enhance the quality of the final product. One paper will provide a review of a topic with a novel review of one system of the
brain. The second will propose a new
brain imaging experiment that would address a topic of the course providing a
review of the related literature, design and rationale for the experiment,
expected outcome, and impact if it were successful. The grade for each paper will reflect a
combination of results from this peer-review process, plus a grade given for
the final draft of each paper by the instructor. Each paper will constitute 30% of the overall
course grade, with the following breakdown:
First
draft: 6%
Reviewing
(peer reviews and back-reviews): 6%
Final
draft: 18%
Class participation and preparation: Active
participation is expected. This will be
evaluated by written and oral contributions to class content and preparation
for class through short homework assignments.
Students will present papers typically in pairs and the pairs will
change from week to week with each pair getting a joint scoring of the presentation. Altogether, these will constitute 28% of the
course grade.
Relative weight of each requirement:
Papers: 60% (30% for
each paper)
Class participation and preparation: 28%
Homework: 12%.
Policy on late work, make-ups, cheating, and plagiarism: There will be a 1-day
grace period associated will each paper deadline. Because of this built-in grace period,
absolutely no excuses for late work will be accepted beyond the grace period,
with the exception of a major documented medical illness or significant family
emergency. Documentation will be
required. Homework will be due at the
start of each class period. No late
homework will be accepted. Plagiarism is
a serious offence. Individuals who have
been found to engage in plagiarism will receive a failing grade for the course.
Tentative list of class topics.
The course schedule will
likely be altered to optimize the course in response to experience
|
week |
Date |
Lecture |
|
1 |
28-Aug-07 |
Course Intro, Brain Misconceptions, Brain Systems Approach,
Human Brain Anatomy |
|
2 |
30-Aug-07 |
Representation: Visual System What
and Where and Hierarchy |
|
3 |
4-Sep-07 |
Digital Library Research Methods
& Brain Imaging Methods |
|
4 |
6-Sep-07 |
Representation: Auditory and Motor
Processing |
|
5 |
11-Sep-07 |
Representation: Meaning |
|
6 |
13-Sep-07 |
Representation: Scientific
Evolution of Concept |
|
7 |
18-Sep-07 |
Memory: Short term and Working
Memory |
|
8 |
20-Sep-07 |
Memory: Episodic memory |
|
9 |
25-Sep-07 |
Models: Connectionist Models of Representation
& Learning |
|
10 |
27-Sep-07 |
Models: Episodic Store and Working
Memory |
|
11 |
2-Oct-07 |
Representation: Social Percept |
|
12 |
4-Oct-07 |
Representation: Theory of Mind |
|
13 |
9-Oct-07 |
Pathology: Representation in Brain
Surgery and Stroke |
|
14 |
11-Oct-07 |
Pathology and Treatment of Memory
Systems: Aging, Alzheimer’s, Stroke |
|
15 |
16-Oct-07 |
Control: Selective attention |
|
16 |
18-Oct-07 |
Control: Attention brain systems |
|
17 |
23-Oct-07 |
Control: Task control |
|
18 |
25-Oct-07 |
Experimental Design Proposing a
Brain Imaging Experiment |
|
19 |
30-Oct-07 |
Control: Pathology of attention |
|
20 |
1-Nov-07 |
Control: Models |
|
21 |
6-Nov-07 |
Control: Pathology of task control |
|
22 |
8-Nov-07 |
Experimental Design Brain Imaging |
|
23 |
13-Nov-07 |
Processing: Thinking and problem
solving |
|
24 |
15-Nov-07 |
Processing: Language |
|
25 |
20-Nov-07 |
Processing: Learning of
representation and skills |
|
26 |
22-Nov-07 |
THANKSGIVING |
|
27 |
27-Nov-07 |
Processing: Consciousness |
|
28 |
29-Nov-07 |
Presentation of Student Experiment
Proposals |
|
29 |
4-Dec-07 |
Presentation of Student Experiment
Proposals |
|
30 |
6-Dec-07 |
Presentation of Student Experiment
Proposals |