MBB Seminars, Spring 2025
ON THIS PAGE:
-January 2025 UPDATE: Openings Remaining in Seminars (deadline noon on Wednesday 22 January)
-Spring Seminar Lottery / Steps to Enroll in a Seminar
-Seminar Program Overview
-Spring 2025 Seminar Descriptions
-Spring 2025 Department Courses
JANUARY 2025 UPDATE: OPENINGS REMAINING IN SEMINARS
We currently still have several openings in our spring 2025 seminars…
one opening in MBB 980H, What Disease Teaches about Cognition
ten openings in MBB 980X, Translational Neuroscience: Limits of Adaptation from Extreme Environments to Clinical Practice
We have no openings in the following seminars…
MBB 980M, Functional Neuroimaging of Psychiatric Disorders
MBB 980T, Sleep and Mental Health
MBB 980EE, Neuroscience of Music: Clinical Applications across the Lifespan
If you would like to apply for any of our openings in MBB 980H or MBB 980X, you must participate in the MBB Seminar Mini-Lottery. Complete the online mini-lottery form by noon on Wednesday 22 January. Only participate in this mini-lottery if you are certain you will enroll in the course you are requesting.
MINI-LOTTERY APPLICATION FORM
Also by the deadline (noon on 22 January), email a lottery statement to shawn_harriman@harvard.edu. The statement should be a paragraph describing your interests in the course topic and any relevant background and experiences you have.
You will be informed of lottery results by the end of the week. Do not add the course in your Crimson Cart until you hear the lottery results; early requests will be denied.
SPRING MBB SEMINAR LOTTERY AND STEPS TO ENROLL IN AN MBB SEMINAR
Students will be admitted into MBB 980 courses via lottery. The lottery will consider student and instructor preferences, enrollment limits (15), and priorities (MBB students). You may lottery for multiple seminars but will only be admitted to one in a given semester.
The MBB seminar lottery is not like other lotteries. Some lotteries are very useful as course shopping tools. However, because there are only a few MBB seminars and they have limited enrollments, students who lottery must commit to enroll if admitted. The lottery for spring 2025 MBB seminars will take place on Monday 18 November. If you are resolving any holds on your spring registration, you should still participate in the lottery because it is the only opportunity to join a seminar.
LINK TO SPRING 2025 LOTTERY FORM - no longer active
Enrollment in an MBB 980 course is a four-step process…
1. Wednesday October 23 through Monday 18 November - Select the seminar(s) you are interested in. Check out course canvas websites; some will include student interest forms/questionnaires to complete before MBB lottery day.
2. Monday 18 November - Submit your lottery form by 5 p.m.
3. Tuesday 19 November - You will be emailed lottery results by 10 a.m. If you are admitted to an MBB seminar, add the course to your Crimson Cart, along with a request to enroll, and confirm your place in the seminar by emailing Shawn Harriman by 5 p.m.
4. Wednesday 20 November - Your request to enroll will be approved by 10 a.m. Then move the course from the “possible courses” list to the “enrolled courses” list in your Crimson Cart. Be sure to do this by the end of the day, as this is the course registration deadline. You will now have officially joined the course.
Note: There will not be waiting lists for lotteried seminars. If openings remain after November 20th, we will hold a follow-up lottery in January, and will update this page by the end of November to explain that mini-lottery process.
MBB SEMINAR PROGRAM OVERVIEW
Each MBB student is required to take an Interdisciplinary Seminar, usually during the junior year. These seminars are discussion-based courses that usually meet once a week for a few hours, during which students consider important readings and research on a topic or set of topics related to mind/brain/behavior. In lieu of exams, students usually prepare papers based on library or laboratory research, and grades are usually based on these papers and class participation.
In choosing a seminar, you might select a seminar closely allied to your interests to allow you to deepen your specialized knowledge, or you might take one in a more distant area to gain an appreciation of the varying perspectives and methodologies within MBB.
The seminars offered by the MBB program, listed in the catalog as Mind, Brain, and Behavior 980 courses, explore questions in mind/brain/behavior whose answers will require the perspectives and findings of several fields. Unless otherwise noted, their enrollments are limited to 15, with enrollment priority given to juniors in MBB tracks or in the MBB secondary field, and they provide four units of course credit. In addition to the seminars listed currently, we expect to offer several additional seminars in the spring.
In addition to the MBB 980 courses, some departmental courses also qualify, and are listed below after the MBB seminars.
Neuroscience students are expected to choose only from among the MBB 980 courses (no departmental options). Some tracks, including Psychology and Human Evolutionary Biology, will want to approve which course a student takes from those listed below; consult your concentration advisor if this applies to you.
MBB 980 SEMINARS FOR SPRING 2025
Functional Neuroimaging of Psychiatric Disorders: Insights into the Human Brain-Mind in Health and Disease
David Silbersweig / Medical School / dsilbersweig@bwh.harvard.edu
Mind, Brain, and Behavior 980M, Thursdays 3-5 p.m.
4 units of course credit, divisional distribution Sciences and Engineering/Applied Sciences
Functional brain imaging has revolutionized the study of systems-level behavioral neuroscience and psychiatric disorders, through the ability to localize and characterize distributed brain activity directly associated with perception, cognition, emotion and behavior in disorders where there are not gross brain lesions. This seminar will introduce students to translational neuroimaging methods at the interface of neuroscience, psychology and medicine. It will cover recent and ongoing advances in our understanding of fronto-limbic-subcortical brain circuitry across the range of psychiatric disorders (e.g. mood disorders, anxiety disorders, psychotic disorders, personality disorders, addictions). It will discuss new, emerging biological (as opposed to descriptive) taxonomies and conceptualizations of mental illness and its treatment. It will explore the implications of such knowledge for issues such as consciousness, meaning, free will, emotion, resilience, and religiosity. It will incorporate clinical observations, scientific data and readings, and examine future directions in brain-mind medicine. Class Note: Additional class meetings for site visits to be arranged.
NEW COURSE: Neuroscience of Music: Clinical Applications across the Lifespan
Marija Pranjic (Medical School), marija.pranjic@childrens.harvard.edu and Anne Arnett (Medical School)
Mind, Brain, and Behavior 980EE, Tuesdays 6-8 p.m.
4 units of course credit, class number 21448, course ID 225882
With the advent of modern neuroimaging technology, there has been a rapid expansion of neuroscientific research on music and its biomedical applications. The burgeoning field of music neuroscience investigates how the brain perceives, processes, and responds to musical stimuli, and how musical training and music-based interventions influence brain and behavior across the lifespan. This course will delve into the state-of-the-art research in both basic and clinical auditory neuroscience. Students will learn about brain plasticity associated with musical training and the therapeutic potential of music in clinical contexts, ranging from neurodevelopmental to neurodegenerative conditions. The course will be interdisciplinary, blending research from psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and medicine. The class will also take a trip to Dr. Arnett’s laboratory at Boston Children’s Hospital to see a demonstration of how electroencephalography (EEG) is used to measure brain activity during auditory-perceptual paradigms in children. By the end of the course, students will have developed critical thinking skills and the ability to evaluate scientific findings related to the therapeutic applications of music. They will gain a deeper understanding of experimental methods and the contentious theoretical issues and debates in music neuroscience and therapy. These topics will be explored through a mix of student- and faculty-led presentations, written critiques, and class discussions.
Sleep and Mental Health
Edward Pace-Schott / Medical School / epace-schott@mgh.harvard.edu
Mind, Brain, and Behavior 980T, Mondays 3:45-5:45 p.m.
4 units of course credit, course ID 207092
The scientific study of sleep is an area of research that is both highly diverse and among the most interdisciplinary and unifying of topics in psychology and neuroscience. In the past several decades, exciting new discoveries on the neurobiology of sleep have been facilitated by technologies such as functional neuroimaging and molecular genetics. Nonetheless, sleep remains mysterious and controversial and, remarkably, there still is no generally agreed upon function for this behavioral state that occupies one third of our lives! Sleep science exemplifies the translational approach in biomedical science whereby human and animal research together continually advance the field of sleep medicine. In this seminar, lectures during the first half of each class will provide overviews of the physiology and behavioral neuroscience of sleep. The second half of each class will be devoted to student-led discussions of assigned study questions as well as free discussions. In a short term paper, students will research in depth a topic of their choice that they find particularly interesting related to sleep neuroscience or mental health. will also briefly present what they have learned about their topic during the final class meetings. Some topics students might choose are described in the following paragraph. In addition, students will keep a nightly sleep and/or dream diary for 2-3weeks at some point during the semester in order to learn more about sleep from their own experiences. They will then describe what they have observed in a short essay. In the past, students have found this exercise to be especially interesting. Lastly, there will be a short open-book, unlimited-time final exam on material from the lectures. Topics for term papers might include the characteristic abnormalities of sleep in mood, anxiety, psychotic, addictive or neurodevelopmental disorders. Scientific findings increasingly point to the importance of sleep for mental health and optimum performance, as well as to sleep disruption as both a result and a contributing cause of mental illnesses. Thus, one might focus on the contribution of primary sleep disorders to psychiatric and neurological illness, such as the circadian rhythm disorders in bipolar illness or insomnia as a risk factor for mood and anxiety disorders. Still other topics might focus on the contribution of normal sleep to emotional regulation, memory consolidation, and cognitive performance. For those with more cellular neuroscience interests, topics might focus on linkages between sleep and immunity or the role of sleep in disposal of abnormal proteins as it relates to neurodegenerative diseases.
Translational Neuroscience: The Limits of Adaptation from Extreme Environments to Clinical Practice
Vladimir Ivkovic / Medical School / vivkovic@mgh.harvard.edu & Gary Strangman / Medical School / strang@mgh.harvard.edu
Mind, Brain, and Behavior 980X, Fridays 12-2 p.m.
4 units of course credit
What can we learn about the limitations of human neurobehavioral function through exposure and adaptation to extreme environments, as well as readaptation to “normal” environment, or onset of neuropsychiatric disorders? Within the translational neuroscience paradigm, this course explores the concepts of neurobehavioral adaptation, stress, resilience, and neuropsychiatric disorders, in relation to the underlying neurophysiologic mechanisms that regulate them. We will explore adaptations to extreme activities such as spaceflight, expeditionary (polar, underwater, desert exploration, military deployments), emergency response services (e.g. firefighting), and impact sports (e.g. football). These will be discussed in the context of mental and occupational health, gender differences, and understanding the etiology of neuropsychiatric conditions such as, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), intracranial hypertension, etc. This course may be particularly interesting to Mind Brain and Behavior students pursuing careers in translational neuroscience, psychology, medicine, and related fields. features expert guest lecturers (e.g. NASA researchers, Antarctic expeditionary physicians, underwater explorers, etc.), demonstrations of unique experimental methodologies and equipment (e.g. ambulatory brain and physiologic monitoring) used in extreme environments, and potential visits to field / operational facilities.
What Disease Teaches about Cognition
William Milberg / Medical School / william_milberg@hms.harvard.edu
Mind, Brain, and Behavior 980H, Tuesdays 3:45-5:45 p.m.
4 units of course credit, divisional distribution Social Sciences
This course seeks to reconcile the complicated and messy problems of patients with brain disease with the concise analysis of precisely defined cognitive functions in normal subjects. Students will learn to overlap cognitive functions on to the brain in disease - at the gross dissection and imaging levels - and to understand some of the complex interactions of individual cognitive operations in disease using the examples of famous landmark cases in the literature (e.g., Broca’s Monsieur Leborgne, Phineas Gage, HM and others) The course will include a dissection of a human brain, an examination of how the actual brain maps onto two dimensional neuroimages, and discussions of how the classic lesion based maps of cortical function are related to contemporary maps based on functional neuroimaging.
DEPARTMENTAL SEMINARS FOR SPRING 2025
History of Science 1770, Broken Brains: A Patient-Centered History
Human Evolutionary Biology 1270, Primate Playtime
Human Evolutionary Biology 1290, Genes, Mind, and Culture
Human Evolutionary Biology 1328, Clinical Comparative Medicine: Evolutionary Perspectives on Mental and Physical Health
Human Evolutionary Biology 1336, A Pan Model for Human Evolution: What Can We Learn from Chimpanzees and Bonobos about Ourselves?
Human Evolutionary Biology 1384, Thinking through Human Cognition
Linguistics 132, Psychosemantics
Neuroscience 101L, Sleep Talk: Unraveling the Mystery of Sleep
Neuroscience 101Q, The Neuroscience of Learning and Memory
Neuroscience 101R, Neurobiology of Emotion and Mood Disorders
Neuroscience 101X, Stress Resilience and Susceptibility: Mechanisms and Models
Neuroscience 140, Biological and Artificial Intelligence
Philosophy 158, The Spontaneous Flow of Thought
Psychology 1325, The Emotional, Social Brain
Psychology 1624, Mental Time Travel and the Human Mind
Psychology 1816, Broken Brains: Mechanisms and Markers of Mental Illness