Cognitive Neuroscience (Psyc 3031)
T/Th 1:00 - 2:50, Winter 2000
Frontier Hall 45
Department of Psychology
University of Denver

Course Goals The primary goal of this course is to understand the relation between brain and behavior. As we go through the course, you should keep in mind the following question: How are complex behaviors mediated by the brain? You will come away from this course with answers to this question for a range of mental functions, including object recognition, spatial processing, attention, language, memory, planning, and emotions. You will learn how these answers were discovered using a collection of techniques in cognitive neuroscience. These techniques include behavioral tasks, brain imaging, and electrical recording methods applied to neurologically intact humans, patients with brain damage, and non-human animals. By understanding both current findings and techniques in cognitive neuroscience, you will be in a position to evaluate new developments in the field and to design experiments that can further enhance our knowledge of the relation between brain and behavior.

Required Text Banich, M.T. (1997). Neuropsychology: The Neural Bases of Mental Function. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company.

Evaluation Your grade will consist of the following:

Let's consider each of these in turn.

Daily Quiz: On most class days, there will be a 1 point multiple choice quiz covering the reading for that day. These quizzes are not meant to be tricky, just to make sure that you're learning the basics you'll need to get the most out of the course. There will be more than 10 of these quizzes, so that you can score more than 10 points total. As a result, you should not be penalized in your quiz score if you must miss a class. Anything above 10 points will count as extra credit toward your final grade.

Exams: Exam 1 comprises short answer/essay questions covering the nervous system, methods, hemispheric specialization, object recognition, and spatial processing, (Chapters 1-3, 5, 6). Exam 2 comprises short answer/essay questions covering attention, memory, language, executive function, emotion, and plasticity (Chapters 7-11, 13).

Again, the exams are not meant to be tricky - they are designed to be straightforward if you understand the fundamental issues involved in each of these domains. A small number of sample questions will be provided prior to each exam. These questions are meant to convey a sense of the kinds of questions you can expect, and sample questions can also appear as actual exam questions.

NOTE: Make-up exams will be available to students providing documented explanation of their absence in class on test day. Make-up exams will NOT share the considerable advantage that the actual exams have of sample questions provided in advance that may appear on the exam. That is, the make-up exams will consist of all new questions.

Final Paper: The final paper (8-12 double-spaced pages) requires a discussion of the following:

How can new data further advance our understanding of the relation between brain and behavior? That is, if you could design a new study that could make contributions to cognitive neuroscience, what measure(s)/method(s) would you use and with what population(s)? What could the results tell us about the brain-behavior relation?

You should be in a good position to answer this question for the final paper because the course focuses on understanding both current findings in cognitive neuroscience and the ways in which researchers discovered these findings using available methods. You may build on experiments and research questions covered in class or you may explore other areas of cognitive neuroscience that interest you. In either case, your paper should - in a concise, scientific style: 1) provide background on the area, 2) describe your proposal for collecting new data, and 3) explain the potential implications of such data for our understanding of the relation between brain and behavior.

This assignment will require careful preparation and thought. The following timeline is designed to ensure that you make progress on your paper (5 of the 30 points for the paper will come from simply making each of the 5 deadlines before the final due date) and that you receive multiple forms of feedback on it before turning in the final version.

Participation: You are expected to come to class prepared by reading the assigned readings and thinking carefully about them. Your active participation in the course will help you to get the most out of it. Two of the 10 participation points come from activities targeted at increasing your participation.

Participation #1:
Help us learn your names.
Due 1/7/99 in class

To help us learn everyone's names quickly, please photocopy your DU picture ID (or other recent picture ID like a driver's license), cut it out and tape or glue it to the card that you received in class today. On the SAME side of the card that you attached the copy of your ID, please print the following information:

a. your name as it appears on our class registration list
b. the name you use if different from your first name (such as middle name or nickname)
c. your email address
d. your phone number
e. your year and major
f. where you are from (city, state/province, country if outside of North America)
g. your hobbies or interests
h. whether you know how to access the World Wide Web

Participation #2:
Learn from each other.
During 3/7 or 3/9 class (whichever day you are not presenting your talk)

Ask a question about a classmate's talk.

Grading Policy Grades are not curved; they are based on percentages:

Class Schedule

Journals of Interest