Global Arc

Acquaints non-science majors with classical and modern neuroscience. Lectures will give an overview at levels ranging from molecular signaling to cognitive science with a focus on the neuroscience of everyday life, from the general (love, memory, and personality) to the particular (jet lag, autism, and weight loss). The laboratory will offer hands-on experience in recording signals from single neurons, examining neural structures, and analysis of whole-brain functional brain imaging data. Two 90-minute lectures, one laboratory.

A crucial part of neuroscience is understanding how function has its foundation in anatomy. This course traces neuroanatomical pathways through the central nervous system. It emphasizes the primate brain, especially the human brain. The course covers how nuclei, ganglia, and layered structures such as cortex are arranged physically in the brain, the fiber pathways by which they connect to each other, and how this connectivity relates to their function. The material will encompass systems within the brain stem, sensory systems, motor systems, higher cognitive systems, and the interconnectivity and interaction of these systems.

This is a survey course in neurobiology which takes a mechanistic and reductionist perspective to cover important topics in the field, including the physiological basis of neural excitability, sensory and motor processing, learning and memory, and neuropsychiatric diseases.

Cognitive neuroscience is a young and exciting field with many questions yet to be answered. This course surveys current knowledge about the neural basis of perception, cognition and action and will comprehensively cover topics such as high-level vision, attention, memory, language, decision making, as well as their typical and atypical development. Precepts will discuss the assigned research articles, pertaining to topics covered in class with an emphasis on developing critical reading skills of scientific literature. Two 90-minute lectures, one precept

The Neuroscience Research Experience is designed to provide sophomore students with an in-lab research experience. NEU250 is intended to be a credit-bearing grade optional P/D/F course. Students will gain research experience in the laboratory of a faculty member in the Princeton Neuroscience Institute. Students are expected to spend 10 hours per week engaged in research as outlined by the mentoring faculty. Students are also expected to attend weekly research meetings and read research papers. At the end of the semester, students will present their findings to the faculty member and research group.

This course will focus on understanding how neurons and the molecules they express contribute to brain function. Topics covered will include the structure and electrical properties of neurons, cell fate decisions, synapse formation and plasticity, neuromodulation, and the function of simple neural circuits. We will also discuss molecular and genetic tools for interrogating the nervous system. Examples will be drawn from studies of sensory system development and function in animals amenable to molecular and cellular level investigation. Students will have the opportunity to read and discuss primary literature throughout the course.

This lecture course will cover mathematical, statistical, and computational tools necessary to analyze, model, and manipulate neural datasets. A primary goal of the course will be to introduce students to key concepts from linear algebra, dynamical systems, and probability and statistics, with an emphasis on practical implementations via programming. Lectures on each topic will focus on relevant mathematical background, derivation of basic results, and examples relevant to neuroscience. The course will include problem sets based on the MATLAB software package.

This course will provide an introduction to the scientific study of sensation and perception, the biological and psychological processes by which we perceive and interpret the world around us. We will undertake a detailed study of the major senses (vision, audition, touch, smell, taste), using insights from a variety of disciplines (philosophy, physics, computer science, neuroscience, psychology) to examine how these senses work and why. We will begin with physical bases for perceptual information (e.g., light, sound waves) and proceed to an investigation of the structures, circuits, and mechanisms by which the brain forms sensory percepts.

A fundamental goal of cognitive neuroscience is to understand how psychological functions such as attention, memory, language, and decision making arise from computations performed by assemblies of neurons in the brain. This course will provide an introduction to the use of connectionist models (also known as neural network or parallel distributed processing models) as a tool for exploring how psychological functions are implemented in the brain, and how they go awry in patients with brain damage. Prerequisite: instructor's permission. Two 90-minute lectures, one laboratory.

Much of what we know about the brain systems underlying perception, attention, memory, and language was first derived from patients with brain lesions or other brain pathology. This course provides an introduction to major syndromes in clinical neuropsychology such as object agnosia (deficits in object recognition), amnesia, visuospatial hemineglect (attention deficits), aphasia (language deficits), and others through careful analysis of clinical cases and their underlying pathology.