Topic 1 Course intro

Today’s topics

  • Introductions
  • Structure of the course
  • What’s this course about?
  • On systems

Structure of the course

What is this course about?

  • What is behavior?
  • How is human behavior similar to/different from other animals?
  • What are the neurological bases (of human) behavior?
  • What other bases (of human behavior) are there?
  • How do the neurological bases of human behavior affect your life?
  • Why does taking/drinking X make me feel Y?
  • My grandmother has Alzheimer’s disease. What’s happening to her brain?
  • Carrie Fisher had bipolar disorder. What’s that about?
  • Why is sleep so important for brain health?
  • My mom says my frontal cortex isn’t fully mature. Is she right?
  • Is it safe for high school athletes to play football (or soccer, hockey, etc.)?

Genes

[@Jimenez2009]

Figure 1.8: (Jimenez, n.d.)

Keys for success

  • Study the figures, not just the text.
  • Study regularly – don’t cram.
  • Come to class.
  • Participate!

Why is biology essential for the science of behavior?

  • What is science?
    • What distinguishes sciences?
    • What is neuroscience?
  • Why is neuroscience harder than physics?

What is science?

  • Body of facts or truths
  • Process of acquiring knowledge
    • Systematic study
    • Observation, experiment, description
    • Aims at reliable, reproducible, general, systematic, universal laws
    • Strives for objectivity

Science vs. other ways of thinking

  • Science is a way of thinking and a set of behaviors
  • Scientists strive toward communal norms (Merton 1979): communalism, universalism, disinterestedness, organized skepticism.
  • Science describes, tries to predict
  • Science alone not well-suited to prescribing (recommending) or proscribing (prohibiting)
    • little to say about what is good, just, right, moral, etc.
    • (Although systematic descriptions of phenomena can be used to make pre/proscriptive claims…)
  • Science rests on evidence and logic
    • NOT on authorities (e.g., people whose stature is largely or solely based on their position or economic status)
    • However, some scientific claims (and scientists) are more credible and authoritative than others.
  • Science respects tradition
    • but not uncritically
    • questions and tests it repeatedly…
  • Science should be reproducible, robust, transparent
  • Science
    • led to huge advances in human health & prosperity
    • essential for maintaining & extending those advances
    • Example: Rapid development and deployment of multiple, effective, and safe vaccines for SARS-CoV-2 that sharply reduce severe illness and death.

Similarities among sciences

  • What are the different kinds of X?
    • Form, e.g., anatomy
  • How does X work?
    • Function, e.g., physiology
  • Where did X come from?
    • Origins, e.g., development/evolution

Examples

  • “Coronavirus gets its name because of its crown-like shape.”
  • “Viruses reproduce (and cause illness) by forcing host organisms to create massive quantities of the virus that then spread to others.”
  • “Coronavirus appears to have originated in non-human animals in China.”

An example of scientific perspectives on origins…

<https://www.evogeneao.com>

Figure 1.14: https://www.evogeneao.com

Differences among sciences

  • Phenomena of interest (studying what)
  • Methods or tools (studying it how)
  • At what level(s) of analysis
    • Spatial scale (nanometers \(10^{-9}m\) to light-years \(10^{15}m\))
    • Temporal scale (milliseconds \(10^{-3}s\) to millenia \(10^3s\))

What is neuroscience?

  • The study of the nervous system
    • And the behavior it makes possible
  • Questions neuroscience asks…
    • What are the parts of the nervous system?
    • How do the parts work? What do they do?
    • Where did they come from?

Spatial and temporal scales in neuroscience

[[@sejnowski2014putting]](http://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3839)

Figure 1.15: (Sejnowski, Churchland, and Movshon 2014)

Why neuroscience is harder than physics

References

Jimenez, Guillermo C. n.d. Red Genes, Blue Genes: Exposing Political Irrationality. Autonomedia. https://www.amazon.com/Red-Genes-Blue-Political-Irrationality/dp/1570272034.
Merton, Robert K. 1979. The Sociology of Science: Theoretical and Empirical Investigations. Edited by Norman W Storer. University of Chicago Press. https://www.amazon.com/Sociology-Science-Theoretical-Empirical-Investigations/dp/0226520927.
Sejnowski, Terrence J, Patricia S Churchland, and J Anthony Movshon. 2014. “Putting Big Data to Good Use in Neuroscience.” Nature Neuroscience 17 (11): 1440–41. https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3839.