Neuroscience

An intensive introduction to fundamental topics in neuroscience, including neuronal excitability, synaptic physiology, neural networks, and circuits that mediate perception, action, emotion, and memory. We will examine neuroscience at scales ranging from single neurons, to the activity of small sets of neurons, to the organization of brain and behavior. The course will address broad questions including: How does information enter the brain? What neural pathways transmit these signals? How is information processed and used to construct an internal model of reality? How does the brain choose and execute the correct behavioral response?

Cognitive neuroscience is a young and exciting field with many questions yet to be answered. This course surveys current knowledge about the neural basis of perception, cognition and action and will comprehensively cover topics such as high-level vision, attention, memory, language, decision making, as well as their typical and atypical development. Precepts will discuss the assigned research articles, pertaining to topics covered in class with an emphasis on developing critical reading skills of scientific literature. NEU 201/PSY 258 does not need to be taken before this course.

This course is an integrative treatment of memory in humans and animals. We explore working memory (our ability to actively maintain thoughts in the face of distraction), episodic memory (our ability to remember previously experienced events), and semantic memory (our ability to learn and remember the meanings of stimuli). In studying how the brain gives rise to different kinds of memory, we consider evidence from behavioral experiments, neuroscientific experiments (neuroimaging, electrophysiology, and lesion studies), and computational models. Two lectures, one preceptorial. Prerequisite: 255 or 259, or instructor's permission.

This course will review the neuroscience of selective attention, from the theoretical foundations provided by cognitive psychology to the neural underpinnings identified by systems neuroscience. The course will present a 'hands on' science experience, combining experimental demonstrations and discussions of current research topics to learn the design and analyses of contemporary experiments in the attention field. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

This course will provide an introduction to the scientific study of sensation and perception, the biological and psychological processes by which we perceive and interpret the world around us. We will undertake a detailed study of the major senses (vision, audition, touch, smell, taste), using insights from a variety of disciplines (philosophy, physics, computer science, neuroscience, psychology) to examine how these senses work and why. We will begin with physical bases for perceptual information (e.g., light, sound waves) and proceed to an investigation of the structures, circuits, and mechanisms by which the brain forms sensory percepts.

A fundamental goal of cognitive neuroscience is to understand how psychological functions such as attention, memory, language, and decision making arise from computations performed by assemblies of neurons in the brain. This course will provide an introduction to the use of connectionist models (also known as neural network or parallel distributed processing models) as a tool for exploring how psychological functions are implemented in the brain, and how they go awry in patients with brain damage. Prerequisite: instructor's permission. Two 90-minute lectures, one laboratory.

Much of what we know about the brain systems underlying perception, attention, memory, and language has been first derived from patients with brain lesions or other brain pathology. Despite our advances in functional brain imaging the study of clinical cases in neuropsychology is still important to determine the causal role of certain brain regions in contributing to a given cognitive process. Prerequisite: an introductory neuroscience course such as NEU 201 or NEU 202. This course is aimed at students with an interest in clinical psychology, pre-med, and Neuroscience majors with an interest in clinical applications.

A survey of the unique behaviors of different animal species and how they are mediated by specialized brain circuits. Topics include, for example, monogamy in voles, face recognition in primates, sex- and role-change in fish, and predation by bats. The role of evolutionary and developmental constraints on neural circuit construction will be a key underlying theme. Prerequisites: 258 or 259. One three-hour seminar.

This course explores the neural foundations of social cognition in natural contexts. Highly controlled lab experiments fail to capture and model the complexity of social interaction in the real world. Recent advances in artificial neural networks provide an alternative computational framework to model cognition in natural contexts. In the course, we will review and critically evaluate deep learning models related to visual perception, speech, language, and social cognition, juxtaposing them against conventional cognitive models. One three-hour lecture.

Seminar designed to expose students to a modern, integrative view of animal learning phenomena from experimental psychology, through the lens of computational models and current neuroscientific knowledge. At the psychological level, we will concentrate on classical and instrumental conditioning. Computationally, we will view these as exemplars of prediction learning and action selection, the pillars of reinforcement learning. Neurally, we will focus on the roles of dopamine and the basal ganglia at the systems level. Students will see how the study of animal decision making can inform us about the computations that take place in the brain.

This course explores how humans and animals make decisions, focusing on how psychological and neural mechanisms implement, or fail to implement, economic theories of choice. Good choice is subject to evolutionary selection; poor choice accompanies many neurological and psychiatric disorders. But theoretical understanding of a function is needed to manipulate and measure it experimentally. We consider choice in many sorts of tasks; e.g., in animal foraging and human competitive interactions. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

Innate behaviors, whether fleeing from predators, looking for mates, defending territory, or caring for young, are the foundation of life. How does the brain generate these complex behaviors across the lifespan of an individual? What are the links between hormone systems and the generation of survival behaviors? We will look at a range of social and nonsocial innate behaviors, and examine their relationship to neuroethology, endocrinology, and to an emerging understanding of mammalian subcortical circuits for survival. A combination of lecture and student-led deep paper reads and emphasis on modern methods for neural circuit analysis.

Introduction to a mathematical description of how networks of neurons can represent information and compute with it. Course will survey computational modeling and data analysis methods for neuroscience. Example topics are short-term memory and decision-making, population coding, modeling behavioral and neural data, and reinforcement learning. Classes will be a mix of lectures from the professor, and presentations of research papers by the students. Two 90 minute lectures, one laboratory. Basic linear algebra, probability, ordinary differential equations, and some programming experience, or permission of the instructor.

In this course, we will explore the diverse and complex interactions between the brain and the immune system from the perspective of current, cutting-edge research papers. In particular, we will focus on the molecular mechanisms of these interactions and their role in brain development and function as well as their potential contributions to specific neurological disorders, including autism. In the process, students will learn to read, critically evaluate, and explain in presentations the content of articles from the primary literature. Prerequisites: MOL 214/215.

This course explores methods for recording and analyzing neural activity from populations of neurons at cellular resolution, and the scientific discoveries that such methods have enabled. Topics include methods for electrical and optical recording of large populations of neurons, as well as their application to studying neural dynamics underlying animal behavior. The course will survey seminal journal articles in the field and will provide students with hands-on practice analyzing real neural population recording datasets.

The senior thesis (498-499) is a year-long project in which students complete a substantial piece of research and scholarship under the supervision and advisement of a Princeton faculty member. While a year-long thesis is due in the student's final semester of study, the work requires sustained investment and attention throughout the academic year.

The senior thesis (498-499) is a year-long project in which students complete a substantial piece of research and scholarship under the supervision and advisement of a Princeton faculty member. While a year-long thesis is due in the student's final semester of study, the work requires sustained investment and attention throughout the academic year.