Enrollment limited to 35 students.
Dist: SCI (unless otherwise listed in course description)

In 26F at 12, Margaret Funnell

The goal of this course is to explore the neuroscience of mental disorders. The ways in which we conceptualize and categorize psychopathology is changing rapidly, particularly as we gain insights into the neurological correlates of mental illness. We will review the characteristics of specific mental disorders and then delve into current neuroscientific research. We will focus in particular on the fundamental processes underlying psychopathology so that we can gain a better understanding of neurological relationships amongst seemingly disparate disorders. Although the class is focused on neuroscience, mental disorders cannot be fully understood without considering the experience of those suffering from these disorders. To better understand the experience of mental illness, we will watch a series of films and read a personal account of mental illness.

Approved course for the Neuroscience major/minor.
Prerequisite: This course requires a strong background in neuroscience; at minimum, successful completion of PSYC 6.

In 26F at 11, Kyle Smith

This course will explore how the brain controls our motivation to pursue goals and how drugs of abuse hijack those systems. We will learn about some historical perspectives of motivation as well as modern neuroscience work showing how areas of the brain might contribute to motivations. In the process, we will explore in detail how narcotic drugs (opioids, stimulants, alcohol, cannabis) act in the brain and the mechanisms underlying the transition from drug use to addiction.

Approved course for the Neuroscience major/minor.
Prerequisite: PSYC 6 

In 27W at 3A, Glen Greenough

Sleep is a bodily function that is preserved among all animal species.  Sleep is essential for life and optimal functioning.  This course will examine the neuroanatomical and neurophysiologic underpinnings of sleep.  Normal and disordered sleep will be discussed.  The pathologic processes that disrupt normal sleep and lead to disordered sleep in human beings will also be examined.  The consequences of disordered sleep, inadequate sleep or poor-quality sleep on individuals and society as a whole will be discussed. 

Approved course for the Neuroscience major/minor.
Prerequisite: PSYC 1 or PSYC 6

In 27S at 11, Pia O'Neill

This course will be a survey of historical and modern studies regarding the neurobiology underlying fear and anxiety in animals. We will use a variety of media including scientific literature, podcasts, clips from films, as well as visual art as points of discussion on the topics each week.

Approved course for the Neuroscience major/minor.
Prerequisite: PSYC 6

Dist: SCI

Enrollment limited to 35 students.
Dist: SOC (unless otherwise listed in course description)

In 26F at 10A, James Haxby

This course will focus on face perception, person perception and the mental processes we use to make sense of other people, including their thoughts, attitudes, personal traits, social connections, and personal history. The course will examine the role that person perception plays in face and voice recognition and social interactions. Particular relevance will be put on the neural systems for the representation of person knowledge and the mental states of others focusing also on what happens when these systems are impaired.

Faces play a fundamental role in facilitating social exchanges. Therefore, particular emphasis will be put on different aspects of face perception from face perception in different animal species to recognition of identity and decoding of different type of social cues in humans. A brief overview of person perception through other modalities such as voice perception and body posture also will be discussed.

Crosslisted as: COGS 11.04

Approved course for the Neuroscience major/minor.
Prerequisite: PSYC 1 or PSYC 6

In 27W at 12, Jamshed Bharucha

Understanding how people think is a central quest in cognitive psychology. The extraordinary human capacity for logic and reason have earned our species the moniker "rational animal". But research points to a dizzying array of cognitive functions that may come into play when we think. Thought may be infused with emotion, blinded by illusion, relativized by culture, or biased by ideology or self-interest. Thought is framed by mental categories, constrained by selective attention, memory and forgetting, and skewed by the familiar or the novel. In this course, we will examine research on many of these facets of thinking -- from lucidly logical thinking to brazenly irrational thinking to aesthetic thinking that is neither. Along the way, we will consider a range of related issues: slow and fast thinking; conscious and unconscious processing; verbal and spatial thinking; the relationship between thought and language; imagination, creativity, and artistic thinking; attributions of causality; moral thinking; and judgments of people and groups.

We will also touch upon the evolutionary bases for thought and a comparison of human intelligence with artificial intelligence.

Crosslisted as: EDUC 59

Prerequisite: PSYC 1 or PSYC 6

In 27S at 2, John Murray

Psychology and neuroscience have long sought to learn how brains function — such as, how we make decisions and learn from experience — by studying behavior during cognitive tasks. But how much can behavioral data really reveal about how the brain does what it does? This endeavor has been revolutionized by the development of computational models of behavior, mathematically defined algorithms describing mental processes that generate behavioral outputs from sensory and internal variables. In this approach, quantitative behavioral data can be compared to simulated behavior from models, and the model parameters can be fit to empirical data.

The goal of this course is to understand how computational models of behavior can be used to gain insight into psychological and neural processes. We will focus on canonical models of decision making and reinforcement learning. We will place emphasis on conceptual issues such as the purpose and logic of computational modeling and its role in experimental science.

Approved course for the Neuroscience major/minor.

Prerequisite: One of PSYC 1 or PSYC 6; and PSYC 10 (or equivalent)

Enrollment limited to 35 students.
Dist: SOC (unless otherwise stated in the course description)

In 27S, at 9L, Donna Coch

The majority of children entering first grade do not know how to read; the majority of children leaving first grade do know how to read, at least at a basic level. What is involved in the amazing development of the ability to make meaning of marks on a page? What goes on in the brain during reading and learning to read? We explore answers to these questions and more in this introduction to reading as we investigate the roles of orthography, phonology, semantics, syntax, and comprehension in reading. We focus on the development of reading behaviors, the brain bases of reading skills, and how scientific discoveries can inform educational practices.

Crosslisted as: COGS 33, EDUC 50, LING 11.19 

Enrollment limited to 35 students.
Dist: SOC (unless otherwise listed in course description)

In 27W at 9L, Arjen Stolk

This course will provide students with a thorough background in the emergent field of social cognitive neuroscience. A broad range of social phenomena will be examined at multiple levels. First, at the social level including experience and behaviors. Second, at the cognitive level which deals with information processing systems. And lastly, at the neural level which deals with brain/neuronal bases of the first two levels. Topics include joint action, animal and human communication, and altered social functioning in psychiatric and neurological disorders. These topics will be discussed at both general and specific (article) levels.

Approved course for the Neuroscience major/minor.
Prerequisite: PSYC 1 or PSYC 6

Enrollment limited to 35 students.
Dist: SOC (unless otherwise listed in course description)

In 27S at 3A, William Hudenko

Each year, millions of people vow to make a change.  Some may wish to end their habit of procrastination, others to improve a significant relationship, or still others may commit to combat a mental illness.  Whatever their goal, people often discover how challenging personal change can be.  At its core, clinical psychology facilitates such change through the scientific application of psychological principles.  The purpose of this course is to introduce you to various scientifically-validated modalities of individual psychotherapy, with an emphasis on how psychotherapies utilize psychological principles to produce change.  Over the course of the semester we also will explore special topics in the field of clinical psychology such as: human connection, empathy, emotion, ethics, psychological assessment, pharmacological treatments, and treatment evaluation.

Prerequisite: PSYC 24

In 26X at 10A, John Jordan

What makes a great leader?  Why would others follow you?  A century of psychological research clarifies the traits, skills and behaviors of effective leaders, including how they attract, influence, develop and empower followers to excel in different situations.  Readings will explain the psychological science; classroom demonstrations, guest leader interviews, case study discussions and small group challenges will illuminate it.  Outside the classroom, weekly leadership practice assignments will reinforce core concepts, increase self-awareness, and develop leadership capabilities, all in support of a community impact initiative that each student will select, plan and lead (courage required).  Your instructor will apply three decades of experience in developing thousands of leaders at all levels on multiple continents, to guide and challenge you to develop your science-based leadership potential.

Prerequisite: PSYC 1 or permission of instructor