Announcements Office Hours:  M: 12 T: 10  R: 11 + 12

Nov 3, 1999
Note the changes in the schedule coming up.  They start here.

Oct 4, 1999
The class illustrations used to discuss receptive fields are on line.  You can get them from the schedule.

Sept 7, 1999
The nature of the laboratory assignments have been changed.  Please see the Laboratory Reports section of this syllabus and the Laboratory Notebook Document.

Sept 6, 1999
As you can see above, the office hours have been posted.

Sep 6, 1999
Welcome to the beginning of Neuropsychology. I hope you have an enjoyable and intellectually stimulating term. term this fall.

Look in this space on the syllabus for course updates and announcements.

Objectives:

The central nervous system, composed of the brain and spinal chord, is the control center of the body; however, it is a jelly-like mass encased in fluid-filled sacks again encased in bone. How do these buried structures carry on the tasks of learning about the environment around us, controlling our movements so precisely, helping us survive individually and as a species, causing us to experience finely-tuned emotional reactions, learning, remembering, speaking so well? That is the goal of this class: To bring some light to this greatest of all human mysteries. Our answers are at best tentative, but we have learned much and the hints at the final answers are, I find, exciting. In this course I will use the most common way of thinking about the brain: as a very sophisticated computer. This represents the information processing approach and is the mainstay of Neuropsychology today. Don't get too caught up in the computer analogy. While we understand that the brain does not operate in the same way as the PC or Macintosh on your desk, it is helpful to use some of the terminology from computer functions to understand brain functions, e.g., input for bringing in information about the outside world.

The goals of the laboratory portions of the class are: (1) to gain first-hand knowledge of neuroanatomy, (2) to gain experience in the handling, care, and proper use of laboratory animals, and (3) to acquaint you with some of the behavioral methods used to study brain-behavior relations.

Expectations:

• Read material before coming to class.  In class we will not simply recover what is in the text but examine the material to see if we can figure out what it means.  Thus, familiarity with the material prior to class is vital.
• Attend Class.
• Turn assignments in on time.  A letter grade is lost for each late day and nothing will be accepted more than three days late.
• Participation in Class.  As much of this class will be an investigation into the meaning of the findings we discuss we need all of you to ask questions, suggest ideas and critique other people's ideas, including mine.
• Seek help as you need it.  Unfortunately my training in  psychology has not made me a mind reader.  If you are having troubles seek help from me and/or fellow students before the latter part of the term.  Seek the help as soon as the trouble begins.  That requires you thinking about the material and not just memorizing so that you know if you really understand it.

Schedule:

LABORATORY SCHEDULE AND READING ASSIGNMENTS.

Assignments:

There will be four examinations. In a course of this type, all later information builds upon the foundation developed in earlier parts of the course. Therefore the course is cumulative and so are the examinations. Each examination will cover material from all previous sections of the course. Since later examinations will be covering more material they will be worth more points. The value of the examinations are as follows:

The first three examinations will be one hour in length and the final will be twice as long since it is the course ending examination. While you are studying for your tests you might checkout the Neuropsychology Study Aids.They might be of some help. I would appreciate feedback on the utility of this site.

Homework:

Periodically there will be homework assignments given to solidify some of the concepts and measures described in the text and in class.  They will be due the next class and graded.  Each assignment will be worth 10 points.

Laboratory Assignments:

For each laboratory you will keep a laboratory notebook.  See the link for a detailed description of what this entails.  For some of the labs, an APA style report will be added to this notebook as a formal write-up of material.  For labs without APA formal reports, they will be worth 50 points.  If the lab has an APA formal report then the lab will be worth 100 points.  The lab notebook will be collected twice throughout the term.  See the laboratory schedule above for the lab and the types of write-ups required and the dates of notebook collection.  For the first laboratory, the sheep brain dissection, there will be a practicum worth 100 points.  However, the notebook should also be kept and some of the thought questions should be addressed in its pages when handed in. 

Grading and Policies:

Class Participation and Miscellaneous Grades:

To help ensure that students actively participate there is a participation grade. In addition I reserve the right to give other small assignments and quizzes as I see fit to best benefit the quality of the class experience. The points for this section is 150 points. At least 100 will be participation. Up to the other 50 points could be short in class quizzes, or other network assignments or perhaps a reading assignment. These will be clearly announced with their point value. What ever is not used in these assignments will be part of the participation grade.

Late Policy:

An assignment is late 1 minute after the beginning of class. One letter grade will be subtracted for the first day late and another letter grade for each additional day.  No assignment will be accepted more than three days late.

Grades will be converted to percentiles and letter grades will be assigned as follows: