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Spring 2007 Last updated 12/22/06 Details regarding individual modules for the Spring 2007 are posted below. Each student enrolled in the course is to take exactly 3 modules throughout the semester. Students choose the modules they want to take, rank ordering by their preference, and email them to Josef Rauschecker, the director . Students are asked to list at least 3 in order of their preference. Students also need to register for the course itself via the usual registrar's process. In the spring of 2007, each module will be offered during one of four
periods of the semester. These periods meet during the following weeks.
Students may distribute their modules across three of the four different periods
or, if preferred, take more than one in a given period as long as there is no
time conflict. For the exact meeting times for each module, see the
summary table below and the module descriptions themselves.
Descriptions of Modules for Spring 2007
Prof Guinevere Eden Meeting place: TBA Meeting time: TBA Maximum enrollment: 10 Methods and Application of Functional Bain Imaging to Study Human Cognition Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) allows for non-invasive studies of the neurobiological basis of perception and cognition. In this module we will discuss how this novel technique aids our understanding of the brain processes involved in reading and how they differ in adults and children with the reading disability developmental dyslexia. During the three classes we will (1) review the imaging literature of reading, (2) learn how reading and related cognitive skills are measured using standardized tests and (3) discuss the role of functional brain imaging and behavioral measures in assessing reading remediation. Prof Rhonda Friedman & Susan N.
Lott Meeting place: TBA Meeting times:
Maximum enrollment: 8 Assessment and Rehabilitation of Acquired Disorders of Reading (alexias) in Patients with Stroke or Head Injury Students will read general articles on aphasia and alexia. We will discuss the process of reading, and the symptoms and syndromes of alexia. We will learn how to diagnose the various types of alexia, and students will make "diagnoses" based upon real patient data. Next we will discuss possible remediation strategies for the different types of alexia. Students will then sit in on one treatment session with a patient. Grade will be based on class participation and three short written assignments. Prof Ludise Malkova Meeting Place: TBA Meeting Time: Thursdays 2-4 p.m. during Session 3 Maximum Enrollment: 10 Neural Substrates Of Socioemotional Behavior This module is directed to the neural substrates of socioemotional behavior and some aspects of learning and memory studied in animal models. Special interest will be aimed at the involvement of medial temporal lobe structures, i.e., amygdala, hippocampus, and temporal lobe cortical areas, in these functions. This module will review the research in animals that uses pharmacological manipulations of discrete brain regions by focal drug infusions and lesions made by various techniques. Findings from animals studies will be related to some human disorders, such as amnesia and autism. Each student will have to write a paper on a topic related to the module according to their choice. They will be graded based on the paper and class participation.
Prof. Josef Rauschecker Meeting place: TBA Meeting time: TBA. Maximum enrollment: 10 Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition: Functional Organization and My research tries to understand the neurobiological bases of perception, cognition, and memory. The cerebral cortex is the main site in the brain that is thought to be involved in these higher functions. Therefore, we are trying to figure out how the cortex works, especially with regard to visual and auditory perception, as well as visual-auditory integration. The cortex is also a very smart structure in that it is capable of self- and re-organization during development, and after injury or sensory deprivation. During three two-hour sessions we will discuss some of the above topics. One session will concentrate on vision, one on audition, and the third on brain plasticity. Students will also visit our laboratories and (hopefully) do a few simple experiments or at least look at results from recent studies performed in our lab. Each student will write a short paper on one of the topics, integrating the contents of the group discussions with the lab results. The grade will be based on this paper and on the contributions during class.
Prof Maximilian Riesenhuber Meeting times: TBA Meeting place: TBA Maximum enrollment: 8 Computational Neuroscience The lab investigates the computational mechanisms underlying human object recognition as a gateway to understanding the neural bases of intelligent behavior. The ability to recognize objects is a fundamental cognitive task in every sensory modality, e.g., for friend/foe discrimination, social communication, reading, or hearing, and how it is affected by a number of neural disorders (e.g., in autism, dyslexia, or schizophrenia). Yet despite the apparent ease with which we see and hear, object recognition is widely acknowledged as a very difficult computational problem. It is even more difficult from a biological systems perspective, since it involves several levels of understanding, from the computational level, over the level of cellular and biophysical mechanisms and the level of neuronal circuits, up to the level of behavior. In our work, we combine computational models with human behavioral and fMRI data (and, most recently, EEG and NIRS data) from our lab and collaborators, as well as with single unit data obtained in collaboration with physiology labs. This comprehensive approach addresses one of the major challenges in neuroscience today, that is, the necessity to combine experimental data from a range of approaches in order to develop a rigorous and predictive model of human brain function that quantitatively and mechanistically links neurons to behavior. This is of interest not only for basic research, but also for the investigation of the neural bases of behavioral deficits in mental disorders. Finally, understanding the neural mechanisms underlying object recognition in the brain is also of significant interest for Artificial Intelligence, as the capabilities of pattern recognition systems (e.g., in machine vision or speech recognition) still lag far behind that of their human counterparts in terms of robustness, flexibility, and the ability to learn from few exemplars.
Prof. Chandan Vaidya Meeting times: TBA Meeting place: TBA Maximum enrollment: 8 Neural Basis of Cognitive Function Students will be introduced to the theory and practice of a new emerging field, cognitive neuroscience. Specifically, we will discover how the brain produces cognitive functions such as memory and attentional control, how they break down in neuropsychological disorders such as amnesia and ADHD, and how they can be studied non-invasively in the live human using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Course content will consist of reading original research articles and discussion.
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