Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience

Description of Course Goals and Curriculum

This course surveys current knowledge about the neural underpinnings of cognitive functions such as attention, language, memory, learning, and decision making. Cognitive neuroscience is a young field where many questions are yet unanswered. Through this course students will learn to extract overarching principles of cognitive function and neural organization, and to effectively address questions about the neural substrates of high-level human behaviors using current neuroscientific methods and clever experimental design. This course can be taken for either a precept or a lab. Lectures meet twice a week for 50 minutes, precept meets once a week for 50 minutes, and labs meet once a week for 3 hours.

Learning From Classroom Instruction

Lectures were taught by different professors who would explain their research. Therefore, you learn about certain cognitive behaviors, such as language, memory, attention, from professors who are experts in their fields. In lab, you learn how to code and run experiments in MatLab.

Learning For and From Assignments

The lab assignments help you learn how to create experiments in MatLab pertaining to cognitive neuroscience, and the exams apply concepts learned in lecture to new situations.

External Resources

Principles of Cognitive Neuroscience 2/e by Dale Purves et al., Sinauer Press, 2012

What Students Should Know About This Course For Purposes Of Course Selection

This is a tough course, and I definitely recommend taking this course only after completing NEU 201. The material is extremely interesting, but can seem confusing without prior knowledge.