2009-2010 Junior Seminars

Mind/Brain/Behavior Seminars

Addiction and Motivation (fall term)

Gene Heyman / Medical School / gmheyman@mclean.harvard.edu

*Mind, Brain, and Behavior 95, Thursdays 4-6 p.m., 14 Story Street room 412

Click here for a copy of the syllabus

Provides understanding of self-destructive behavior, focusing largely on drug addiction. Provides insight into nature of voluntary behavior; requires appreciation of recent advances in understanding relationships among behavior, biology, and experience, e.g., role of experience in gene expression and brain plasticity. Topics include behavioral trait heritability; epidemiology and history of drug use; OCD and addiction; contribution of laboratory research to study of choice and motivation (matching law, hyperbolic discounting, stable but suboptimal choice distributions). (catalog # 4890)

The Science of Happiness (spring term)

Nancy Etcoff / Medical School / netcoff@partners.org

*Mind, Brain, and Behavior 96, Thursdays 1 - 3 p.m.

Focuses on the science of happiness, integrating findings from positive psychology, psychiatry, behavioral genetics, neuroscience, and behavioral economics. Begins with a brief history of ideas on happiness from Aristotle to Kahneman. Considers the genetics of happiness including the notion of a biologically determined hedonic set point, the brain's pleasure circuitry, and the mind's power to frame events positively, a tool used in cognitive therapies. Questions whether pleasure and happiness are our purpose. (catalog # 2517)

A Systems Neuroscience Approach to Conscious Perceptual Experience(spring term)

Daniel Pollen / Psychology / PollenD@ummhc.org

*Mind, Brain, and Behavior 92, Mondays 2-4 p.m.

Join renowned neuroscientists from Harvard and elsewhere who will lead highly interactive seminars addressing core problems underlying the emergence of conscious visual experience. Topics include the requisite neuronal representations of the content of visual images, their localization within extrapersonal space and the sense of ownership of such images by a self. Subsidiary topics include selective attention, the binding problem, binocular rivalry, change blindness, recursive neuronal networks and distinction between phenomenal and access consciousness. (catalog # 7390)

Theories of Violence (fall term)

Alan Stone / Law School and Medical School / stone@law.harvard.edu

*Mind, Brain, and Behavior 94, Tuesdays 2 - 4 p.m., Lewis Center (Harvard Law School), room 301

Considers how law and science construct violence. Reviews clinical examples of violence (videotapes of a serial killer, a sexually violent predator, a case of maternal infanticide, and violence by law enforcement) and the responses of the courts and the criminal justice system. Then critically examines the spectrum of scientific theories and psychiatric diagnoses that seek to delineate and explain human violence. (catalog # 7611)

Why We Love: Seminar (fall term)

Lawrence J. Friedman / History of Science/Indiana University / ljfriedm@indiana.edu

*Mind, Brain, and Behavior 99, Wednesdays 2-5 p.m., 14 Story Street room 412 - NOTE: first class meeting Wednesday, September 9th, 2-5 p.m., 14 Story Street room 412

Click here for a copy of the syllabus

ATTENTION: By the September 16 meeting of class, all students MUST have read Chapters 3,4, 6, and 7 of Helen Fisher's WHY WE LOVE. We are having a live polycom phone conference that day with Professor Fisher, a globally distinguished anthropoologist/biochemist.

Investigates classics on love including Shakespeare poems and plays, Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter, Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Gilligan’s The Birth of Pleasure; and classic films including Wild Strawberries and My Big, Fat Greek Wedding. Discusses nature of "love" with authors, film producers, and interdisciplinary scholars. Students prepare position papers using course materials to come to their own formulation on multiple dimensions of "love." (catalog # 58924)

Departmental Seminars

Bird Song and Human Language: Learning from the Birds (half course throughout the year)

Antoniu Fantana / Organismic and Evolutionary Biology / fantana@post.harvard.edu

*Neurobiology 95hfh, Mondays 6:30-8 p.m., Cabot House Senior Common Room - note: first meeting Wednesday, September 2nd, 6:30-8 p.m., Northwest Building room tba

This course approaches language with a heavy emphasis on the insights gained from birdsong research. We will read and discuss original publications showing that, like humans, songbirds are vocal learners. They go through developmental phases similar to those of their human counterparts (including babbling), exhibit regional song dialects, show critical periods and require auditory feedback for song learning and maintenance. Prerequisite: LPSA or LS 1a, MCB 80, and permission of the instructor. (catalog # 2579)

Brainwashing and Modern Techniques of Mind Control (spring term)

Rebecca Lemov / History of Science / rlemov@fas.harvard.edu

*History of Science 176, Thursdays 2-4 p.m.

This course examines the phenomenon of "brainwashing" as a modern set of techniques that can apparently force a subject radically to alter her beliefs against her will. The Cold War roots of ’brainwashing’ - both the myth and the reality -- lie in the politics of twentieth-century anti-Communism and the deeper fear that people’s most strongly held thoughts, ideas, and ideological commitments could be vulnerable to powerful infiltration. In order to understand the dynamics of this process we will examine case studies beginning with the Korean War-era emergence of the term ’brainwashing’, the American interdisciplinary science of "coercive persuasion" that arose in response, and successive waves of technological, political, and sociocultural developments. We will also look at how brainwashing and analogous persuasive techniques may operate among larger groups, crowds, organizations, and mass societies. (catalog #76277)

Human Sexuality: Research and Presentation Seminar (spring term)

Judith Chapman / Anthropology / jflynn@fas.harvard.edu

*Human Evolutionary Biology 1312, Fridays 1 - 3 p.m.

An examination of human sexuality from a scientific perspective. Students will read and present primary scientific literature that highlights current research on a variety of topics including: sexual development, gender identity, sexual orientation, cross cultural variations in mating systems, promiscuity, the evolution of monogamy, sexual attraction, sexual communication, including an exploration of the existence of human pheromones, libido and sexual dysfunction. Enrollment: Limited to 15. (catalog # 5008)

Moral Psychology: Proseminar (fall term)

Douglas Lavin / Philosophy / lavin@fas.harvard.edu

*Philosophy 176q, Tuesdays 2-4 p.m., Emerson 310

An investigation of central topics in moral psychology, including promising, love, and honor. Historical and contemporary readings, including Hume, Rousseau, Rawls, Anscombe, Nagel, Frankfurt. (catalog # 72371)

Neuroanatomically Correct (half course throughout year)

Tamily Weissman / Molecular and Cellular Biology/Neurobiology / tamily@mcb.harvard.edu

*Neurobiology 95hfm, Wednesdays 4-5:30 p.m., Bio Labs 2080 - note: first meeting Wednesday, September 9th, 4-5:30 p.m., Bio Labs 2080

Are you curious about the brain structures and pathways that make up the nervous system? Are you familiar with regions such as the hypothalmus, but you don’t recall their function and you can’t identify them on a map? This course will focus on the many regions and pathways in the brain and spinal cord. We will cover both human and comparative neuroanatomy, placing an emphasis on function, neural circuitry and current research within each region. Prerequisite: Life and Physical Sciences A or Life Sciences 1a, MCB 80, and permission of the instructor. (catalog # 78904)

Neuropharmacology: Principles and Future Prospects (fall term)

Steven Hyman / Provost

*Neurobiology 95l, Thursdays, 3-5 p.m., Emerson 307

Pharmacology is a cornerstone of treatment for neuropsychiatric disorders. However, the molecular targets of existing antidepressant, anxiolytic, and antipsychotic drugs date from the mid-20th century and yield treatments of limited efficacy. In this seminar we will examine what is known about the mechanism of action of important drug classes and the disease they treat. We will ask how modern neurobiology might accelerate much needed progress. Prerequisite: LPSA/LS 1a, MCB 80 and permission of the instructor. (catalog # 53768)

Philosophy of Psychology (spring term)

Sean Kelly / Philosophy / sdkelly@fas.harvard.edu

Philosophy 158x, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11

Central topics in philosophy of psychology organized around two motivating questions. What conceptual or methodological presuppositions go unquestioned in contemporary psychological work? What kinds of empirical results are relevant to philosophical issues concerning the nature of the mind? The course will involve a lab practicum. (catalog # 93679)

Problem Solving in Neuroscience: An Interactive Case-Based Online Network (ICON) (half course throughout the year)

James Quattrochi / Molecular and Cellular Biology / jquattr@fas.harvard.edu

*Neurobiology 95hfd, Thursdays 6:30-8 p.m., Kirkland House Senior Common Room

The ICON tutorial facilitates decision making, hypothesis thinking, team cooperation, and student-faculty partnerships in neuroscience. Cases are "live" in real time, using web-based modules that permit students to see the consequences of their decisions and to communicate in dialogue with case patients to achieve the best possible outcome. We collaborate in cases with students at Universitat Witten/Herdecke in Germany. ICON yields an additional advantage, linking theory with practice and an interdisciplinary competency in the life sciences. Prerequisite: Life and Physical Sciences A or Life Sciences 1a, MCB 80, and permission of the instructor. (catalog # 3437)

The Sleeping Brain (half course throughout the year)

Jeffrey Ellenbogen / Medical School / jeffrey_ellenbogen@hms.harvard.edu

*Neurobiology 95hfj, Wednesdays 5:30-7 p.m., 14 Story Street, room 214

This seminar will focus on the neuroscience of sleep. We will begin broadly, by employing a systems-level perspective on the neuroanatomy and neurophysiology of sleep. We will then focus on key regions in detail. We will introduce models of animal research, computational models, neuroimaging, electrophysiology, human disease, and a section on behavioral and cognitive neuroscience of sleep. Prerequisite: LS 1a, MCB 80, and permission of the instructor. (catalog # 6361)

Synaptic Plasticity: How the Brain Learns, Remembers, and Adjusts to its Environment (half course throughout the year)

Carole Landisman / Medical School / Carole_Landisman@hms.harvard.edu

*Neurobiology 95hfe, Mondays 4-5:30 -p.m., Northwest Building room 230 - NOTE: first meeting *Wednesday,* September 2nd, 4-5:30 p.m., Northwest Building g room 230

Come explore how individual neurons store information and change their synaptic strength. We will investigate the mechanisms of short- and long-term plasticity, starting with the early discoveries of long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD) through recent discoveries of the effects of endocannabinoids on short-term plasticity. Learn how synaptic plasticity plays a role in everything from perception to memory, in brain regions from the retina to the hippocampus. Prerequisite: Life and Physical Sciences A or Life Sciences 1a, MCB 80, and permission of the instructor. (catalog #0277)

Vision: How It Functions and Why It Fails (half course throughout the year)

Joshua Cameron / Molecular and Cellular Biology / jcameron@mcb.harvard.edu

*Neurobiology 95hfn, Thursdays 4:30-6 p.m., Bio Labs 2080

Our mind is constantly creating our visual perceptions. Why does our brain fail our eyes? Is it really failing? The anatomy and physiology of the visual system will be examined. Explanations behind many visual illusions will be explored in depth. Discussions will also focus on disease of the eye–their underlying causes and future treatments. Prerequisite: Life and Physical Sciences A or Life Sciences 1a, MCB 80, and permission of the instructor. (catalog # 27382)

Why Be Nice? The Biological Basis of Cooperation (fall term)

Ian Gilby / Human Evolutionary Biology / gilby@fas.harvard.edu

Human Evolutionary Biology 1383, Tuesdays 1-4 p.m., Peabody Museum 56a

The theory of evolution by natural selection hinges upon the fact that individuals are in constant competition over food, mates and other valuable resources. Yet, many animals frequently behave in ways that benefit others, often at an apparent cost to themselves. Such behavior seems puzzling. Through lecture, discussion and literature-based research, we will investigate the evolution of cooperation in animals as a basis for understanding cooperation in human societies. Prerequisite: Introductory biology or Science B-29 or Human Evolutionary Biology 1330 or with permission of instructor. (catalog # 45731)