Amy J. Bastian, PhD, PT - Course Master
Current Issues in Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience (ME440.813)
Semester: Spring

The primate brain is an information processing system without parallel. It excels at recognizing objects and substances, reconstructing space, analyzing sound environments, controlling complex behaviors, and storing a lifetime's worth of events and experiences. The neural mechanisms underlying these abilities are studied by a large community of systems and cognitive neuroscientists. This research has generated a rapidly evolving field of high-profile discoveries and lively debates between competing laboratories. Our course aims to convey a clear sense of this field by focusing on current experimental and conceptual controversies regarding organization and function in the primate nervous system. Each week will focus on a different topic represented by two or more recent papers (selected by an instructor) reflecting opposing points of view. Students will present the papers informally and direct a debate over the relative merits of the conflicting viewpoints. The semester-long course will be divided into 3-4 week sections covering visual, auditory, somatosensory, motor, and computational neuroscience. There will be one 2-hour debate each week, and participation in the 1-hour Systems Journal Club (Readings in Systems Neuroscience, ME440.810) will also be required.

Additional Related Courses:

Amy J. Bastian, PhD, PT - Lecturer
Neurosciences A (Medical Students)
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Neuroscience Department
Semester: Spring

Amy J. Bastian, PhD, PT - Lecturer
Neuroscience and Cognition II
Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Neuroscience Department
Semester: Spring