Winter 2027
Permission forms will be accepted for Winter 2027 courses beginning on April 17, 2026. Note that all the PSYC courses listed below are accepted towards the Psychology major, but only some are accepted towards the Neuroscience major.
In 27W, 2A, Jim Haxby
In 27S, 2A, TBD
This course is designed to introduce students to the theoretical and practical issues involved in conducting functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments of cognitive and behaviorally-related brain activity. Participants will gain an understanding of the physiological principles underlying the fMRI signal change, as well as the considerations for experimental design. The course will include firsthand exposure to the scanning environment and data collection procedures. Participants will be provided conceptual and hands-on experience with image processing and statistical analysis. At the completion of this course, it is expected that participants will be prepared to critique, design, and conduct fMRI studies; appreciate limitations and potentials of current fMRI methods and techniques; and better understand the broad range of expertise required in an fMRI research program. The course is designed to provide the participant with intensive, hands-on instruction. Knowledge of MR physics, signal processing, or the UNIX/Linux operating system is not a prerequisite.
Approved course for the Neuroscience major/minor.
Prerequisite: Instructor permission through the department website.
Dist: TLA.
In W27 at 10A, Alireza Soltani
Neuroeconomics is an emerging field in which a combination of methods from neuroscience, psychology, and economics is used to better understand how we make decisions. In this seminar course, we learn about economic and psychological theories that are used to investigate and interpret choice behavior, and mental and neural processes that underlie decision making. We also examine how recent neurobiological discoveries are used to refine decision theories and models developed in psychology and economics. During this course, students will read and discuss the most current research findings in neuroeconomics. They will also learn to develop new ideas/hypotheses and design experiments to test those ideas/hypotheses, or to use their knowledge to inform society about the implications of findings in the field of neuroeconomics.
Approved course for the Neuroscience major/minor.
Prerequisite: Instructor permission through the department website
In 27W at 10A, Arjen Stolk
A deep understanding of any social species requires a neurobiological understanding of how and why brains interact. In this culminating seminar, we will critically examine the social contexts that forged and continue to shape human intelligence. We will be considering evolutionary, comparative, game-theoretic, computational, developmental, and pathological aspects of our social intelligence from a neurobiological perspective. The goal is to gain insight into how humans became such big-brained other-regarding apes, and how our brains developmentally construct and pathologically lose socio-cognitive faculties, as seems to be the case in certain psychiatric and neurological disorders. Students will be expected to read and critically assess the neuroscientific literature and explore empirical opportunities for new insights into the neurobiology of human social intelligence.
Approved course for the Neuroscience major/minor.
Prerequisites: PSYC 1 or PSYC 6, and instructor permission via the department website.
In 27W at 2A, Luke Chang
How do beliefs affect clinical outcomes? This course provides an in-depth examination of the role of beliefs and expectations in the manifestation of psychological symptoms and their treatment. Topics to be covered include the psychological and biological bases of pharmacological placebo effects, the mechanisms underlying psychotherapy (e.g., patient and provider expectations), and also how cultural expectations impact how psychological symptoms are experienced (e.g., hallucinations, delusions, and somatization).
Prerequisite: PSYC 1 or PSYC 6; and instructor permission via the department website
- See Independent Research for more info on PSYC 70 (Neuroscience Research), PSYC 88 (Independent Psychology Research), and PSYC 90 (Independent Neuroscience Research).
- See Psychology Honors for more info on PSYC 89 (Honors Psychology Research)
- See Neuroscience Honors for more info on PSYC 91 (Honors Neuroscience Research)
- See Psychology Thesis for more info on PSYC 92 (Psychology Thesis Research)
- See Neuroscience Thesis for more info on PSYC 93 (Neuroscience Thesis Research)