Lecture Topics for Fall 2022

The following lists the topics planned for each lecture. In general, the lecture notes on the course website correspond to the planned topics and should be read prior to the lecture. Therefore, assume the lecture notes are always assigned. That being said, not all topics covered in the course website lecture notes will be included in the in-person lecture. They are, however, fair game for qSets and QQs. I also provide below the recommended readings. The topics list may be modified during the semester. PN6 refers to the textbook “Neuroscience 6th edition” by Purves and colleagues.

Section I: Evolution, Anatomy, Physiology

HB01: Wednesday, August 31, 2022

An evolutionary perspective on the brain

Topics to be addressed:

• Why do animals have brains?
• Evolutionary fitness
• Why do brains of different species vary in size?
• Allometry and encephalization quotients: considering brain and body size
• What factors drive the evolution of larger brains?
• What factors constrain the evolution of even larger brains?
• Relating brain size to function: morbidity, memory, intelligence.
• Do structure-function relationships between species apply within species?
• Are human brains special?

Preparation for class:

• Reading: Notes for lecture 01 on course website.

HB02: Friday, September 2, 2022

Gross brain anatomy and brain development

Topics to be addressed:

• The nervous systems: Peripheral (Somatic, Autonomic [Enteric, Sympathetic, Parasympathetic]), Central Nervous System
• A common vertebrate brain plan (or, bauplan)
• Evo-Devo approaches to the brain
• Human brain development
  • Progression and Regression
  • Maturation of sensory systems and localized function
• Overview of the functional anatomy of the brain:
• The blood supply of the brain (video lecture – see Lecture 2.02 on course website)

Preparation for class:

• The notes for lecture 02 on the course website are particularly comprehensive for this lecture. Please read them for both lecture 02 and 03.
• Watch: online mini-lecture on the brain’s blood supply found on course website (Lecture 2.02).
• PN6 provides additional information and a different perspective:
  • PN6 Appendix (pages A1-A4, A7-A31)
  • PN6 Chapter 21: Autonomic Nervous System (pp. 465–477)

HB03: Wednesday, September 7, 2022

Neurons and glia

Topics to be addressed:

• Introduce the two principal cells of the brain
  • Neurons
  • Glia
• Neuron doctrine
• Projection neurons and interneurons
• Excitation and Inhibition
• Cortex
• Parcellation schemes for cortex

Preparation for class:

• Read the notes and watch the two videos for Lecture 3.01 (Historical Overview of brain Structure and Function).
• Reading: PN6 Chapter 1 (pp. 1–10, 13–16)
• Reading: PN6 Chapter 2 (Not Box 2A)
• Reading: PN6 Chapter 4

HB04: Monday, September 12, 2022

Neurons and excitability

Topics to be addressed:

• Synapses
• Neurotransmitters and neuromodulators
• Wired and volume conduction
• Neuronal circuits: feedforward and feedback
• Membranes, channels and receptors
• Passive and active conduction
• Trigger zones
• Dendrites as computational units

Preparation for class:

• Reading: PN6 Chapter 3 (57–63)
• Reading: PN6 Chapter 5 (85–96; 102–111)
• Optional: Watch the embedded videos in the lecture 04 notes on the course website.

HB05: Wednesday, September 14, 2022

Learning and plasticity

Topics to be addressed:

• Learning and the neuron: Fear conditioning
• Coincidence detection: NMDA receptors
• Backwards action potential
• Receptor trafficking
• Retrograde transmission
• LPT and LTD
  • Pre and Post-synaptic mechanisms

Preparation for class:

• Reading: PN6 Chapter 6 (120–143)
• Reading: PN6 Chapter 8
• Watch the 15 minute pre-recorded video on Chemical anatomy in lecture notes

Section II: Sensory systems

HB06: Monday, September 19, 2022

Somatosensory system

Topics to be addressed:

• Commonalities of sensory systems
• Transducers of somatosensation
• Organization of spinal cord and sensory afferents
• Organization of somatosensory cortex
• Clinical syndromes in somatosensation
• Plasticity in somatosensory system

Preparation for class:

• Reading: PN6 Chapter 9

HB07: Wedesday, September 21, 2022

Pain, Taste, Smell, Audition

Topics to be addressed:

• Pain pathways
• Physical and social pain
• Taste and smell
• Auditory system

Preparation for class:

• Reading: PN6 Chapters 10 (Pain)
• Reading: PN6 Chapter 13 (Audition)
• Reading: PN6 Chapter 15, pp. 345–353 (Taste)

HB08: Monday, September 26, 2022

Vision

Topics to be addressed:

• Retina
• center-surround organization
• color opponency
• receptive fields
• hemianopsias
• lateral geniculate

Preparation for class:

• Reading: PN6 Chapter 11

HB09: Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Visual cortex

Topics to be addressed:

• Primary visual cortex
• cortical columns and hypercolumns
• color and orientation
• blobs and inter-blobs
• simple, complex and hypercomplex cells
• dorsal and ventral pathways
• Clinical findings:
  • blind sight
  • akinetopsia
  • achromatopsia

Preparation for class:

• Reading: PN6 Chapter 12

HB10: Monday, October 3, 2022

Beyond visual cortex

Topics to be addressed:

• High level vision
  • biological motion
  • objects
  • faces
• Clinical findings
  • agnosias
  • prosopagnosia
  • synesthesia
  • atypical development in the visual system

Preparation for class:

• Reading: PN6 Chapter 26: 596–599
• Lecture 03.02 on methods in human neuroscience

Section III: Motor systems

HB11: Wednesday, October 5, 2022

Motor system

Topics to be addressed:

• Upper and lower motor neurons
• Spinal cord
• M1
• SMA
• Mirror neurons
• Clinical findings
  • Apraxias

Preparation for class:

• Reading: PN6 Chapters 16–17, 19

HB12: Monday, October 10, 2022

Motor planning and feedback control

Topics to be addressed:

• Cerebellum
• Basal ganglia
• Clinical findings
  • Ataxia
  • Parkinson’s disease
  • Huntington’s disease

Preparation for class:

• Reading: PN6 Chapters 18

Section IV: Higher cortical function

HB13: Wednesday, October 12, 2022

Language

Topics to be addressed:

• Evolution and anatomy of language
• Clinical findings
  • Aphasia (Broca’s and Wernicke’s)
  • Alexia
  • Agraphia

Preparation for class:

HB14: Monday, October 17, 2022

Hemispheric differences

Topics to be addressed:

• Differences between the hemispheres
• Split-brain patients
• Plasticity related to childhood hemispherectomies

Preparation for class:

• Reading: Gazzaniga review article

October Recess, no classes October 19–23, 2022

HB15: Monday, October 24, 2022

Attention

Topics to be addressed:

• Neural mechanisms for attention
• Thalamic control of sensory input
• Clinical findings
  • Hemispatial neglect
  • Somatoparaphrenia

Preparation for class:

Reading: PN6 Chapter 29

HB16: Wednesday, October 26, 2022

Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex

Topics to be addressed:

• Frontal lobe anatomy
• Working memory
• Executive function

Preparation for class:

• Reading: PN6 Chapter 27 (Frontal Association Cortex)
• Reading: PN6: Chapter 32

HB17: Monday, October 31, 2022

Memory systems: Episodic

Topics to be addressed:

• Different forms of memory
  • Working memory
  • Semantic memory
  • Episodic memory
  • Procedural memory
• Hippocampus and episodic memory
• Clinical findings in episodic memory
  • Retrograde Amnesia
  • Anterograde Amnesia

Preparation for class:

• Reading: PN6 Chapter 30
• Reading: Knierim, Primer: The Hippocampus, 2015

HB18: Wednesday, November 2, 2022

Memory systems: Semantic and Procedural

Topics to be addressed:

• Semantic memory and semantic memory deficits
• Frontotemporal Lobar Disease
• Procedural memory and its dissociation from episodic memory

Preparation for class:

• Reading: PN6 Chapter 30

Section V: Motivation, Stress, Sleep, and the Limbic System

HB 19: Monday, November 7, 2022

Sleep and arousal.

Topics to be addressed:

• Evolution of sleep
• Sleep stages
  • REM
  • SWS
• Anatomy of sleep states
• Sleep and memory
• Dreaming

Preparation for class:

• Reading: PN6 Chapter 28

HB 20: Wednesday, November 9, 2022

Thirst, Hunger, and Satiety

Topics to be addressed:

• Anatomy of the hypothalamus
• Circumventricular organs
• Neural basis of thirst
• Neural basis of hunger

Preparation for class:

• Reading: PN6: Box 21A (pp. 470–472)
• Reading: PN6: Box 21B (pp. 480–481)

HB 21: Monday, November 14, 2022

Stress and the brain

Topics to be addressed:

• The Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis
• Gluccocorticoids
• Amygala and Hippocampus control of stress

Preparation for class:

• Reading: Roozendaal review

HB 22: Wednesday, November 16, 2022

Emotion

Topics to be addressed:

• What are emotions?
• Role of amygdala in emotion
• Clinical findings:
  • Kluver-Bucy syndrome
  • Urbach-Wiethe syndrome and the amygdala

Preparation for class:

• Reading: PN6 Chapter 31

November Recess, no classes November 19–27, 2022

HB 23: Monday, November 28, 2022

Reward systems in the brain

Topics to be addressed:

• Dopamine and Reward Prediction Errors
• Ventral striatum and reward
• Reinforcement learning and the brain
• Orbitofrontal cortex and valuation

Preparation for class:

• Reading: PN6: Chapter 32 (focus on Box 32 A, pp. 729–730)

Section VI : The Social Brain

HB 24: Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Social Neuroscience

Topics to be addressed:

• Empathy
• Morality
• Clinical findings
  • Psychopaths
  • Psychosurgery

Preparation for class:

Reading: TBA

HB 25: Monday, December 5, 2022

Mental projection

Topics to be addressed:

• Theory of Mind

Preparation for class:

Reading: TBA

HB 26: Wednesday, December 7, 2022

The Plastic Brain

Topics to be addressed:

• Typical and Atypical brain development
• Blindness
• Deafness
• Sensory substitution
• Mental prosthetics

Preparation for class:

• Reading: PN6 Chapter 24

Reading Period begins, December 10, 2022

Final Exam: Saturday, December 17, 2022 at 9am