Fall 2025

In 25F at 2A, Jim Haxby

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. As a result, enrollment in the course will be limited to 12 people. 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.

In 25F at 10A, Tor Wager

What does the mind have to do with physical health? In this course, we explore the idea that the mind and brain influence physiological processes related to mental and physical health alike. How we conceptualize ourselves and our place in the world sets the stage for how we interpret life events and make decisions. This conceptualization also governs how our bodies respond to stressors and other environmental conditions. 

Approved course for the Neuroscience major/minor.
Prerequisite: PSYC 1 or PSYC 6, at least four additional psychology or neuroscience courses, and instructor permission through the department website.

In 25F at 10A, James Haxby

Natural human experience involves a continuous stream of incoming stimuli in a rich context of prior knowledge and expectations.  Traditionally, experimental psychology attempts to reduce this complexity using controlled experiments that vary a single, experimental variable and hold other, control variables constant.  Human cognition, however, develops to extract information and guide behavior based on uncontrolled, naturalistic stimuli in an ecologically rich environment.  In this seminar we will examine a new approach to experimental cognitive research that uses uncontrolled, naturalistic stimuli and discovers structure and meaning in the brain activity and behavioral responses they evoke using advanced computational methods from machine learning and big data analysis.  We will discuss the advantages of this new approach for studying complex and ecological cognition and the limitations of the current state-of-the-art.  Throughout the course we will consider future directions and challenges for extending this approach into new domains of cognition, developing richer naturalistic stimulation paradigms, and developing more powerful methods for discovering the structure of information in real world events and environments.

Approved course for the Neuroscience major/minor.
Prerequisite: Permission of instructor.  Background in psychological and brain imaging research methods, computer science, and machine learning will be helpful, but students need not have background in all of these areas.

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)