Introduction to Neuroscience
Copyright © 1995 by Matthew Belmonte and Kurt Thoroughman. All rights reserved.
NOTE
This introduction to neuroscience was developed by Kurt Thoroughman and Matthew Belmonte. It was taught by the developers in 1996 and 1997 at the Baltimore campus of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth (CTY).
If you'd like to use material from this course, or if you'd like to
develop any derivative materials, please
contact us to obtain permission.
Prerequisites: successful completion of Algebra 1 and of one laboratory
science course, such as CTY Introduction to Laboratory Science
Required text:
Mark F Bear, Barry W Connors, Michael A Paradiso, Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1995 ($53.95).
Recommended text:
Marian Cleeves Diamond, Arnold B Scheibel, Lawrence M Elson, The Human Brain Coloring Book. New York: HarperCollins, 1985 ($16).
Ever since the acceptance of the brain as the biological substrate of
consciousness and the self, philosophers and scientists have been trying to
elucidate the correspondence between neurobiological processes and sensations,
actions, thoughts, and feelings. Historically this correspondence has proven
notoriously opaque, so much so that psychology and biology have been approached
as separate sciences. In the past few decades, however, a convergence of
cognitive psychology with neuroanatomy and neurophysiology has made it possible
to view in terms of neural events not only behaviour but also the cognitive
processes that drive it. This course is an examination of this correspondence
and its bases. Neuroscience draws on a fertile mix of backgrounds including
biology, psychology, chemistry, physics, mathematics and computer science, and
students will be encouraged to relate the topics of the course to their own
backgrounds and to explore connections between the many fields that contribute
to neuroscience. Although some laboratory science is a prerequisite, no prior
experience with biology per se will be assumed.
We'll begin by addressing the electrochemical properties of neurons and the
cellular and molecular mechanisms by which signals are conveyed between them.
An understanding of the behaviour of single neurons then leads to the question
of how groups of neurons act when arranged in circuits. We'll examine the
dynamics of some biological neural circuits and also some computational models
of neural processing. We'll then turn our attention to the integration of such
circuits in very large neural systems, that is, brains.
We'll cover the large-scale and microscopic anatomy of the human brain, the
major sensory systems, the motor system, the attentional system, sleep,
learning and memory, language, emotion, and the techniques of
electroencephalography and magnetic resonance imaging. Anatomical structures
will be introduced with reference to the perceptual, cognitive, and behavioural
functions that they subserve and the specific, physiological implementations of
these functions.
We like to think of consciousness and cognition as indivisible processes, and,
when operating normally, they produce the illusion of being so. But cases of
brain damage and neurological disease cause cognition to unravel in
interesting, and increasingly tractable, ways. We will use such cases to
illuminate the ways in which the brain is simultaneously an integrated organ
and a collection of sub-systems.
Current research will be a focus in every area that we study. Experimental
design and critical thinking will be emphasised. Based on class discussions,
readings, and interviews with faculty and graduate students, each
student will formulate and present a research proposal on an open question in
neuroscience.
WEEK 1
Day 1. History of neuroscience, and an introduction to the microscopic processes by which brain cells operate.
Discussion: Why neuroscience. History of brain science and
the debate on localisation of function. Basic cellular biology. Ion channels,
excitable membranes, and the Hodgkin-Huxley equation. The action potential.
The patch clamp. Lab: Computer simulation of the action potential.
Read chapters 1 to 4. Colour figures 2-1 & 2-1.
Day 2. How brain cells communicate with one another.
Discussion: Neurotransmission: synthesis, storage, release,
reception, reuptake and degradation. Ligand-gated and G-protein-coupled
receptors. Neuromodulators. Lab: The 'telephone' game:
transmission times from wrist and from shoulder.
Read chapter 5. Colour figures 2-4, 2-5, 2-7, 2-8.
Day 3. Structure of the human brain, and techniques of recording brain electrical activity and brain images.
Discussion: Levels of structure of the central nervous
system: laminar and columnar organisation, cytoarchitectonics, maps, anatomical
landmarks, localisation of function, and gross information flow within the
brain. Electroencephalography (EEG): current flow in pyramidal cells,
generation and detection of an electric field. Event-related potentials
(ERPs). Short-latency, mid-latency, and cognitive components and their
generators. Sources of artefact. Overview of the physics of
nuclear magnetic resonance. Slice selection, frequency encoding, and phase
encoding for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Lab: Microscopic
examination and characterisation of brain slices. Examination of whole human
brains.
Read chapter 7 and pages 458 to 464. Colour figures 5-29, 5-30, 5-31, 5-32.
Day 4. Field studies: Visit to a molecular or cellular laboratory.
Visit to an EEG lab and collection of a task-related P300. Visit to an MRI
facility and collection of a scan from a student.
Day 5. More detail on brain imaging, and how representations of images get from the eye to the brain.
Discussion: More on MRI: Spin and gradient echoes.
Magnetic susceptibility and contrast agents. Functional MRI. Positron emission
tomography. The visual system: retinal
phototransduction, centre-surround cells and boundary detection, lateral
geniculate nucleus, cytoarchitectonics of striate cortex, double-opponent
cells. Colour blindness. Anopsia. Lab: Microscopy and gross anatomy of
visual pathways.
Read pages 210 to 258. Colour figures 6-6, 6-7, 6-8.
*** PROJECT PROPOSAL DUE ***
WEEK 2
Day 1. Ways in which representations of images are processed in order to create visual awareness.
Discussion: The visual system: edge detection and
orientation columns, stereopsis and ocular dominance columns, blobs and colour
opponency. Magnocellular and parvocellular pathways. Extra-striate cortex,
inferior temporal cortex, systems for abstract processing and recognition.
Blindsight. Achromatopsia. Motion blindness. Agnosia.
Read pages 259 to 270.
Day 2. The sense of hearing.
Lab:
Microscopy of the line of Gennari. Gross anatomy of higher-order visual areas.
Discussion: The auditory system: transmission through the
outer ear and middle ear, resonance in the cochlea, transduction by hair cells,
processing and representation in brain stem, inferior colliculus, and auditory
cortex. Electroencephalographic concomitants. Auditory localisation.
Echolocation in bats.
Read chapter 11. Colour figures 6-17 & 6-18.
Day 3. The senses of touch, pain, and position.
Lab: auditory localisation (at Homewood physics lab).
Discussion: Touch, pain, and proprioception. High-pass and
low-pass touch receptors. Muscle spindles and stretch receptors. Thermal
sensation. Types of fibres that convey these signals.
Read chapter 12. Colour figures 4-4, 4-5, 5-16.
Day 4. The senses of smell and taste.
Lab: Proprioception: fun with vibrators.
Gross anatomy of auditory and somatosensory pathways.
Discussion: The chemical senses.
Read chapter 8. Colour figure 6-5.
Day 5. How the central nervous system controls the musculature.
Discussion: Voluntary movement:
pre-motor and motor cortex, basal ganglia. Parkinson's Disease. Huntington's
Disease. Maps, vectors, and population-coding. The
cortico-ponto-cerebello-thalamic control loop. Efference copy and sensorimotor
integration. Lab: Gross anatomy of
olfactory bulb and pyriform cortex. Adaptation to prism glasses.
Read chapter 14. Colour figures 5-24, 5-25, 5-13, 5-14.
*** PROJECT OUTLINE DUE ***
WEEK 3
Day 1. Processes that control what the brain is used for: sleep and attention.
Discussion: Sleep and awareness: the `reticular' activating
system, EEG changes during sleep. Attention: parietal cortex, cerebellum,
thalamus, and superior colliculus. Neglect syndrome. Progressive supranuclear
palsy. Autism. Schizophrenia. Lab: Gross
anatomy of motor systems. The Posner experiment.
Read pages 419 to 430, 464 to 476, and 601 to 613.
Day 2. Changes in the brain associated with learning and memory.
Discussion: Learning and memory: the hippocampus;
parahippocampal, entorhinal, and perirhinal cortices; Hebbian synapses and
long-term potentiation. The hippocampal slice preparation. Semantic,
episodic, and procedural memory. Amnesic effects of surgical and ischemic
damage to the hippocampus and overlying structures. Korsakoff's syndrome.
Perceptrons and backpropagation. Lab: Procedural learning.
Gross anatomy and microscopy of the medial temporal lobe.
Read chapters 19 and 20. Colour figures 5-27 & 5-28.
Day 3. Parts of the brain responsible for understanding and producing language, and parts of the brain responsible for motivation and emotion.
Discussions: Language: Wernicke's area, Broca's area,
cerebellum. Chomsky's Universal Grammar hypothesis. The Language of Thought
hypothesis. Aphasia. Anomia. Alexia. Dyslexia. Motivation and emotion:
hypothalamus, amygdala, hippocampus and associated cortices, cingulate cortex,
septum. The Papez circuit. Effects of cingulotomy / frontal lobotomy.
Klüver-Bucy Syndrome. Panic. Addiction. Lab: The McGurk effect
of visual input on phonetic classification. The word superiority effect.
Read pages 578 to 601 and chapter 16. Colour figure 5-26.
Day 4. A unifying summary, with student presentations.
Discussion: Bringing it all together. The myth of the
Cartesian theatre. Unity of action despite modularity of function.
Lab: Project presentations.
You may also wish to view the official CTY Catalogue description of the course.
resources for students