Schedule

Published

April 2, 2026

Modified

January 22, 2026

Week 01: Jan 12-16

Thu, Jan 15

Topic(s)

  • Structure of the course
  • Levels of analysis
  • Causality in brain and behavior
  • Does neuroscience need behavior? What does psychology need?

Read/Watch

  • Required
    • Krakauer, Ghazanfar, Gomez-Marin, MacIver, & Poeppel (2017)
    • Parada & Rossi (2018)
    • Newcombe (2017)
  • Recomended
    • Siddiqi, Kording, Parvizi, & Fox (2022)
    • Churchland & Sejnowski (1988)
    • Favela (2020)
    • Ross & Bassett (2024)
    • National Geographic (2014)

Materials

Assignments

Week 02: Jan 19-23

Thu, Jan 22

Topics

  • Neuroanatomy

Read/Watch

Materials

Assignments

Week 03: Jan 26-30

Thu, Jan 29

Topic(s)

  • Action

Read/Watch

  • Required
    • Shenoy, Sahani, & Churchland (2013)
    • Goulding, Bollu, & Büschges (2025)
  • Recommended
    • Hardwired for song and dance (2023)
    • Wolpert (2011)
    • 牛津基礎生物學 (2021)

Materials

Assignments

Week 04: Feb 2-6

Thu, Feb 05

Topic(s)

  • Perception

Read/Watch

  • Required
    • Rosenberg, Thompson, Doudlah, & Chang (2023)
    • Khalsa et al. (2018)
  • Recommended
    • Neuroscience (2025)
    • CrashCourse (2015)

Materials

Assignment(s)

Week 05: Feb 9-13

Thu, Feb 12

Topic(s)

  • Learning & memory

Read/Watch

  • Required
    • Squire & Wixted (2011)
    • D’Esposito & Postle (2015)

Materials

Assignment(s)

Week 06: Feb 16-20

Thu, Feb 19

Topic(s)

  • Language

Read/Watch

  • Required
    • Hickok & Poeppel (2007)
    • Hagoort & Indefrey (2014)
  • Recommended
    • Friederici (2011)
    • Bourguignon & Lo Bue (2025)
    • Zada et al. (2025)

Materials

Week 07: Feb 23-27

Thu, Feb 26

Topic(s)

  • Emotion

Read/Watch

  • Required
    • Malezieux, Klein, & Gogolla (2023)
    • Barrett (2017)
  • Recommended
    • LeDoux & Brown (2017)
    • Watabe-Uchida, Eshel, & Uchida (2017)
    • Siegel et al. (2018)

Materials

Assignment(s)

Week 08: Mar 2-6

Thu, Mar 5

Topic(s)

  • Sleep & circadian rhythms

Read/Watch

  • Required
    • Nir & Tononi (2010)
    • Rasch & Born (2013)
  • Recommended
    • Sulaman, Wang, Tyan, & Eban-Rothschild (2023)
    • Sakurai (2007)

Materials

Assignment(s)

Spring Break: Mar 9-13

NO CLASS

Week 09: Mar 16-20

Thu, Mar 19

Topic(s)

  • Evolution & development of the nervous system

Read/Watch

  • Required
    • Sachkova, Modepalli, & Kittelmann (2025)
    • Stiles & Jernigan (2010)
  • Optional
    • Castrillon et al. (2023)
    • Larsen, Sydnor, Keller, Yeo, & Satterthwaite (2023)
    • Rakic (2009)
    • Cao, Huang, & He (2017)
    • Charvet & Finlay (2012)
    • Hofman (2014)
    • Blumberg & Adolph (2023)

Materials

Assignments

Week 10: Mar 23-27

Thu, Mar 26

Topic(s)

  • Cellular neuroscience I
    • Anatomy
    • Physiology
      • Resting potential

Read/Watch

  • Optional
    • Won, Bhalla, Lee, & Lee (2025)
    • Zeng & Sanes (2017)
    • Oliveira, Sardinha, Guerra-Gomes, Araque, & Sousa (2015)
    • Distéfano-Gagné, Bitarafan, Lacroix, & Gosselin (2023)

Materials

Assignment(s)

Week 11: Mar 30 - Apr 3

Thu, Apr 02

Topics

  • Cellular neuroscience II
    • Action potential
    • Synaptic transmission

Materials

Assignment(s)

Week 12: Apr 6-10

Thu, Apr 09

Topic(s)

  • Neurochemistry
    • Neurotransmitters
    • Hormones
  • Neurocomputing

Read/Watch

Assignment(s)

Week 13: Apr 13-17

Thu, Apr 16

Topic(s)

  • Disorder & disease I

Read/Watch

  • Required
    • Howes, Bukala, & Beck (2023)
    • Volk, Chiu, Sharma, & Huganir (2015)

Assignment(s)

Week 14: Apr 20-24

Thu, Apr 23

Topic(s)

  • Disorder & disease II

Read/Watch

  • Required
    • Moncrieff et al. (2022)
    • Namkung, Kim, & Sawa (2017)

Week 15: Apr 27 - May 1

Thu, Apr 30

Topics

  • Frontiers in the biology of behavior
  • Beethoven and the Cerebral Symphony

Finals: May 4-8

Thu, May 07

References

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Blumberg, M. S., & Adolph, K. E. (2023). Protracted development of motor cortex constrains rich interpretations of infant cognition. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 27(3), 233–245. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2022.12.014
Bourguignon, N., & Lo Bue, S. (2025). An emergentist account of language in the brain-seeking neural synergies behind human uniqueness. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 37, 1717–1734. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_02331
Cao, M., Huang, H., & He, Y. (2017). Developmental connectomics from infancy through early childhood. Trends in Neuroscience, 40(8), 494–506. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2017.06.003
Castrillon, G., Epp, S., Bose, A., Fraticelli, L., Hechler, A., Belenya, R., … Riedl, V. (2023). An energy costly architecture of neuromodulators for human brain evolution and cognition. Science Advances, 9(50), eadi7632. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adi7632
Challenged, N. (2025a). Major brain structures and their functions. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiLhAOaBkSA
Challenged, N. (2025b). Sulci & gyri - major landmarks of the cerebral cortex. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9ZMChDGjRQ
Charvet, C. J., & Finlay, B. L. (2012). Chapter 4 - embracing covariation in brain evolution: Large brains, extended development, and flexible primate social systems. In M. A. Hofman & D. Falk (Eds.), Progress in brain research (Vol. 195, pp. 71–87). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-53860-4.00004-0
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CrashCourse. (2015). Vision: Crash course anatomy & physiology #18. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0DYP-u1rNM
D’Esposito, M., & Postle, B. R. (2015). The cognitive neuroscience of working memory. Annu. Rev. Psychol., 66, 115–142. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010814-015031
Distéfano-Gagné, F., Bitarafan, S., Lacroix, S., & Gosselin, D. (2023). Roles and regulation of microglia activity in multiple sclerosis: Insights from animal models. Nature Reviews. Neuroscience, 24(7), 397–415. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-023-00709-6
Favela, L. H. (2020). Cognitive science as complexity science. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews. Cognitive Science, 11(4), e1525. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcs.1525
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Goulding, M., Bollu, T., & Büschges, A. (2025). Sensory feedback and the dynamic control of movement. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 48, 405–423. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-neuro-112723-042229
Hagoort, P., & Indefrey, P. (2014). The neurobiology of language beyond single words. Annu. Rev. Neurosci., 37, 347–362. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-neuro-071013-013847
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Hofman, M. A. (2014). Evolution of the human brain: When bigger is better. Frontiers in Neuroanatomy, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnana.2014.00015
Howes, O. D., Bukala, B. R., & Beck, K. (2023). Schizophrenia: From neurochemistry to circuits, symptoms and treatments. Nature Reviews. Neurology. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41582-023-00904-0
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Larsen, B., Sydnor, V. J., Keller, A. S., Yeo, B. T. T., & Satterthwaite, T. D. (2023). A critical period plasticity framework for the sensorimotor-association axis of cortical neurodevelopment. Trends in Neurosciences, 46(10), 847–862. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2023.07.007
LeDoux, J. E., & Brown, R. (2017). A higher-order theory of emotional consciousness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 114, E2016–E2025. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1619316114
Leicester Medical School Radiology. (2021). Introduction to MRI of the brain. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Co7Qyu21QKU
Malezieux, M., Klein, A. S., & Gogolla, N. (2023). Neural circuits for emotion. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 46, 211–231. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-neuro-111020-103314
Moncrieff, J., Cooper, R. E., Stockmann, T., Amendola, S., Hengartner, M. P., & Horowitz, M. A. (2022). The serotonin theory of depression: A systematic umbrella review of the evidence. Molecular Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-022-01661-0
Namkung, H., Kim, S.-H., & Sawa, A. (2017). The insula: An underestimated brain area in clinical neuroscience, psychiatry, and neurology. Trends in Neurosciences, 40(4), 200–207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2017.02.002
National Geographic. (2014, January). Beautiful 3-D brain scans show every synapse | national geographic. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvXuq9jRWKE
Neuroscience, S. G. to. (2025). The hearing brain: Cognitive neuroscience bitesize. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p12BeCHN7Yk
Newcombe, N. (2017). If neuroscience needs behavior, what does behavioral science need? APS Observer, 31. Retrieved from https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/if-neuroscience-needs-behavior-what-does-behavioral-science-need
Nir, Y., & Tononi, G. (2010). Dreaming and the brain: From phenomenology to neurophysiology. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 14, 88–100. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2009.12.001
Oliveira, J. F., Sardinha, V. M., Guerra-Gomes, S., Araque, A., & Sousa, N. (2015). Do stars govern our actions? Astrocyte involvement in rodent behavior. Trends in Neurosciences, 38(9), 535–549. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2015.07.006
Parada, F. J., & Rossi, A. (2018). If neuroscience needs behavior, what does psychology need? Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 433. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00433
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Rasch, B., & Born, J. (2013). About sleep’s role in memory. Physiological Reviews, 93, 681–766. https://doi.org/10.1152/physrev.00032.2012
Rosenberg, A., Thompson, L. W., Doudlah, R., & Chang, T.-Y. (2023). Neuronal representations supporting three-dimensional vision in nonhuman primates. Annual Review of Vision Science, 9, 337–359. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-vision-111022-123857
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Watabe-Uchida, M., Eshel, N., & Uchida, N. (2017). Neural circuitry of reward prediction error. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 40, 373–394. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-neuro-072116-031109
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牛津基礎生物學O. M. B. (2021). Animation 16.3 knee jerk reflex. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJLmVSeZ5-c