| Meeting Times: | |
| Class: MWF: 9:00-9:50 | Laboratory: R: 8 - 11 AM or 1 - 4 PM |
| Instructor: John H. Krantz | |
| Office: Science Hall 112 | Office Hours: TBD by class |
| Phone: x7307 | E-mail Address: krantzj@hanover.edu |
Our principle text will be Physiology of Behavior,
5th ed. by Neil R. Carlson. There is a report from the Hastings
Center on reserve at the library that will serve as a background
for our discussion/debate on the handling, care and use of animals
in the laboratory. Other readings will be handed out as necessary.
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.
Material covered in any course that you take here
at Hanover College represents more than a collection of facts
or ideas loosely held together by the course title. There is an
intricate structure to what is included and what is not which
makes that course content distinct from other courses. I find,
however, that in the heat of a term, students and faculty get
caught up in the particulars of the day's lecture and sometimes
lose sight of how the specifics of the day's lecture fit into
the overall structure of the course. It is a "lose sight
of the forest for the trees" type of phenomenon. In order
to help you understand and keep track of the overall structure
of this course, I have prepared the following course outline.
The reading assignments below have the outline numbers next to
them so that you can refer back to this outline and understand
how a particular topic relates to the whole area of learning.
In addition, during the class periods I will refer each lecture
back to this outline. Study this outline. It will be of great
help in studying for the examinations and especially the comprehensive
portion of the final examination where I will ask you questions
that will cross several portions of this course.
NOTE: Two abbreviations are used under the reading heading below. There meanings are:
| Ch | Chapter in the text. If only part of the chapter is required, page numbers will follow. | |||||
| CD | An article out of Current Directions in Psychological Science. A short reference follows with V refering to the volume the article is in and the page numbers follow the volume number. The complete reference is given at the end of the course outline. | |||||
Date | Days | Topic | Reading | |||
| Sep 2-4 | M,W | I. Overview: Philosophical Issues of Neuropsychology | Ch 1 | |||
| II. Structure and Function of the Nervous System | ||||||
| A. Small Scale Structures | ||||||
| Sep 6 | F | 1. Structure | Ch 2: 20-29 | |||
| Sep 9 | M | 2. Transmission within a Neuron | Ch 2: 30-44 | |||
| Sep 11 | W | 3. Communication between Neurons | Ch 3: 47-70 | |||
| Sep 13-16 | F,M | 4. Psychopharmacology | Ch 3: 70-74 | |||
| Sep 18-20 | W,F | B. Large Scale Structures of the Central Nervous System | Ch 4 | |||
| Sep 23 | M | C. Physiological Methods in Neuropsychology | Ch 5 | |||
| Sep 25 | W | Test #1
Before this test you are required to complete the neuron and brain structure tutorials and quizzes found at http://psych.hanover.edu/Krantz/neurtut220.html Failure to do these tutorials will affect your final grade (maximum - 1/2 letter grade). Constructive Comments will be given extra credit. | ||||
| III. The Input and Output of the Nervous System | ||||||
| A. Input (Sensory Systems) | ||||||
| Sep 27 | F | 1. General Issues of Sensory Coding | ||||
| Sep 30-Oct 4 | M,W,F | 2. Vision | Ch 6 | |||
| As part of your reading assignment please check the Receptive Fields Tutorial at:
http://psych.hanover.edu/Krantz/sen_tut.html | ||||||
| Oct 7 | M | 3. Audition | Ch 7: 182-197 | |||
| Oct 9 | W | 4. Mechanical and Chemical Senses | Ch 7: 198-223 | |||
| Oct 11-16 | F,W | B. Output (Motor Systems) | Ch 8 | |||
| Oct 18 | F | Test #2, Wednesday February 21 | ||||
| IV. Basic Motivated Behaviors | ||||||
| A. Behaviors Necessary for Individual Survival | ||||||
| Oct 21 | M | 1. General Model and Thirst | Ch 12 | |||
| Oct 23 | W | 2. Hunger | Ch 13; CD V3, 9-151 | |||
| Oct 25-28 | F,M | 3. Sleep | Ch 9; CD V2, 34-392 | |||
| B. Behaviors Necessary for Species Survival | ||||||
| Oct 30 | W | 1. Sexual Behavior | Ch 10:291-322 | |||
| Nov 4 | M | 2. Maternal Behavior | Ch 10:324-330 | |||
| V. Higher Functions | ||||||
| Nov 6 | W | A. Emotional Reactions (Not typically called a higher function, but seems to fit for our purposes.) | Ch 11 | |||
| Nov 8 | F | Test #3 Wednesday March 20 | ||||
| B. Rational/Cognitive Functions | ||||||
| Nov 11-13 | M,W | 1. Learning and Memory | Ch 14, Ch 15 | |||
| Nov 15-18 | F,M | 2. Cerebral Asymmetry | Ch 16: 512-540; CD V2,21-253 | |||
| VI. Variations and Development of the Brain | ||||||
| A. Development and Variations in Development | ||||||
| Nov 20 | W | 1. General Principles of Brain Development | ||||
| Nov 22 | F | 2. Visual Development/Abnormalities | ||||
| B. Brain Trauma and Dysfunction | ||||||
| Nov 25-Dec 2 | M,M | 1. Neural Basis of Mental Disorders | Ch 17,Ch.18 | |||
| Dec 4-6 | W,F | 2. Brain Damage and its Recovery | CD V1 164-1694; CD V2, 56-655 | |||
| Readings from the last section of the course will come from The Whole Brain Atlas which is an online resource. The sections will be assigned later. You will find The Whole Brain Atlas from a link on
http://psych.hanover.edu/Krantz/neurtut220.html | ||||||
| Dec 9-13 | Final Exam | |||||
| Week | Outline | Topic/Assignment |
| I | I.B: | Sheep Brain Dissection I |
| II | I.B: | Sheep Brain Dissection II It might help to review the brain tutorials at:
http://psych.hanover.edu/Krantz/neurtut220.html |
| III | I.B: | Sheep Brain Practicum/Handling and Care of Laboratory Animals - Hastings 4-19 |
| IV | IV.B: | Learning and Shaping I |
| V | IV.B: | " " " " II |
| VI | IV.B: | " " " " III |
| VII | IV.B: | " " " " IV |
| VIII | I/0: | Circadian Rhythm I/Laboratory Report 1 due |
| IX | I/0: | " " " " II |
| X | I/0: | " " " " III |
| XI | IV.B: | Cerebral Asymmetry I/Laboratory Report 2 due |
| XII | IV.B: | " " " " II |
| XIII | Laboratory Report 3 Due |
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:
| Exam 1 | 50 points |
| Exam 2 | 100 points |
| Exam 3 | 150 points |
| Exam 4 | 200 points |
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.
Lab reports are required for the three experiments
that will be conducted as part of the lab course. Each report
is due one week after the lab is completed at the beginning of
the lab period. For each day that the lab report is late, you
will lose one letter grade. More information regarding how these
reports are to be prepared will be given to you on the lab day
on which we discuss the lab reports.
For the first laboratory, the sheep brain dissection,
there will be a practicum worth 150 points. The first laboratory
report will be worth 50 points and only covers part of the full
laboratory report. The second laboratory report will be worth
100 points and the final laboratory report will be worth 150 points.
Thus the laboratory portion of the course will be worth 450 points.
Hanover College has established a computer network that is local to the campus and established links to the Internet which stretches around the world. The implications and possibilities of such computer communications strikes me as staggering and to a great extent unrealized. However, I find it important that you begin gaining experience with at least some aspects of the network because it will alter many aspects of at least your work lives, by providing access to information not previously available, and probably your home lives in the context of the information highway. Therefore, I have designed a few small assignments to give you experience on the network in ways that I believe will shape the future of Neuropsychology.
Assignment:
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..
There are a total of 1150 points in this class, the
grades will be assigned as follows:
| Points Needed | |
| 1150 - 1035 | |
| 1034 - 920 | |
| 919 - 805 | |
| 804 - 690 | |
| < 690 |