NSCI 201 Course Syllabus 1 of 5

NSCI 201 Introduction to Neuroscience 2 (3 credits)

Tuesday Thursday 16:05 17:25 Room S1/3, Stewart Biological Sciences Building Instructor Evan Balaban N8/15 Stewart Biological Sciences Building Telephone: 514-398-4234 email: evan.balaban@ mcgill.ca Please call or email only for urgent administrative reasons Office hours: Wednesdays 15:00 17:00 or by appointment Teaching Assistant Michael Klein 3661 rue University, 2nd floor (Satellite building of MNI at SE corner w/ Ave. des Pins) Telephone: 398-8519 (email is generally preferable- shared office phone) email: michael.klein@mail.mcgill.ca Okay to email with general questions, etc. Office hours : Thursdays 14:00-16:00 or by appointment Textbook (copy on reserve at the Life Sciences Library) Purves D, Augustine GJ, Fitzpatrick D, Hall WC, Lamantia A-S, White LE, Editors (2012) Neuroscience, Fifth Edition. Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA. ISBN 978-0-87893-695-3. Assigned Readings (copy on reserve at the Life Sciences Library) Chapters 6 (From Neuronal to Hemodynamic Activity) and 7 (BOLD fMRI:Origins and Properties) from Huettel SA, Song AW & McCarthy G (2009) Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Second Edition. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, pp. 159-242. These readings are also available as downloadable files on WebCT. Audio & pdf files from the lectures will be available on WebCT. Goal of the Course To foster a basic understanding of the systems organization, physiology, and function of the nervous system in order to provide the necessary background for studying relationships between the brain and behavior. Evaluation The final grade will be based on your test scores from two MANDATORY multiplechoice exams: a midterm given in class, and a final exam given during the exam period. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE BOTH FOR THE TEXTBOOK AND THE LECTURE MATERIAL FOR ALL EXAMS; THE FINAL EXAM IS NOT CUMULATIVE. It is not possible to pass this course without taking both exams. The exam you do better on will be weighted 2/3, and your final grade will be based on the weighted average of the two exams. A supplemental exam worth 100% will be offered for students who receive a

NSCI 201 Course Syllabus 2 of 5 grade of D, F, J or U in the course; students must apply on Minerva to take this exam, which will be given in August 2013. Extra Credit Policy You will have the opportunity to earn extra credit for the course by two different methods. One is to earn an extra 2% of the course grade by participating in the Psychology Department Subject Pool. The Subject Pool TA will come to class to give you the details. All extra credit questions/concerns /issues are dealt with through the Subject Pool TA exclusively. Extra credit will be assigned at the end of the semester based on information provided by the Subject Pool TA. The second method is to write extra credit research reports, as described below. You can use both these methods independently and additively to improve your grade. To obtain extra credit in the course via the second method, students can write research reports on a primary behavioral neuroscience research article [not a review or popular science article] that is no more than one year old. Every student has the right to submit this written work in English or in French.

The instructor or TA must approve the article before you start to work on the report.
All reports must be turned in on or before Tuesday April 16, 2013 A pdf copy of the research paper you are reviewing MUST be included with each report. To turn a report in, please email it together with the article pdf to Michael Klein (michael.klein@mail.mcgill.ca)
A set of guidelines for writing the reports follows. The grading policy for them is described first. A poor report will leave your grade unaffected. One good report may typically result in the following maximum improvements in the final grade, presuming that an individual performs as well on the final exam as they did on the midterm [high performance on the final could result in a final grade being raised more than these]: Students with a midterm grade of A- : up to A Students with midterm grade of B or B+: up to AStudents with B-, C+ : up to B+ The above students will only be allowed to submit one research report. Students with a C or worse grade on the midterm have the opportunity to submit more than one research report. For people with C or C-, each paper can count for a 1/2 grade change up to a B+. For people with a D or F, each paper can count for one full grade change up to a B. If anyone in this category performs exceedingly well on the final, their final grade including extra credit could be higher.

NSCI 201 Course Syllabus 3 of 5

INSTRUCTIONS FOR WRITING RESEARCH REPORTS

FORMAT I. Brief summary Write a short summary of what you think the study shows. This should be in your own words [dont just paraphrase the abstract or paragraphs from the discussion section], and should not necessarily agree with what the authors think that the study shows. II. Background and Perspective This section should represent your background reading, including both works cited in the bibliography of the paper, and works you find by reading at least two recent reviews on this subject by different authors. Remember, it is very important to get independent views on the subject matter dont only read reviews by the authors of the main paper or by their collaborators. It is important that you cite your sources properly (as is done in the paper you are reviewing), and that you include a bibliography at the end with the references you cite. You will also have a second bibliography for works you consulted in the preparation of this review, but did not end up citing to support any particular point (see below). It is also important to organize your ideas in a sequence that will make sense to the reader. Start with the most general level of explanation for the area your paper belongs to, and get down to the more specific details so that a reader will have a feel for how the particular experiments you are reviewing fit into the larger field of scientific knowledge. III. Methods and Results Present the methods that were used in your own words at a reasonable level of detail, as if you were explaining how the experiment was done to a non-scientist your own age. A reasonable level of detail means that we are interested in the principles behind the methods, not all of the minutiae of the methods themselves. If you had to consult other sources to understand a method, please cite them here. If there are things you do not understand, please list them. The presentation of the results in this section should be according to what the authors of the papers think they have shown, and why they think they have shown it. IV. Your analysis of the results This section should present your independent analysis of the authors results, indicating why you either agree with their findings or disagree with them. Again, you should cite the work you use to bolster your opinions. Whether you end up agreeing or disagreeing with the author, this section should be organized in the following way: (a) Good aspects of the design and interpretation of this work; (b) Aspects of design and interpretation which you think could have been done better; (c) Your independent assessment of the results and interpretation of this study. V. Bibliography of works you cite Use the same reference formats as the journal article you are reviewing. VI. Bibliography of works you used to prepare the paper but do not specifically cite Same formats as above. A GOOD REVIEW CAN BE WRITTEN IN 3-5 PAGES PLEASE DO NOT EXCEED 10 PAGES

NSCI 201 Course Syllabus 4 of 5 Course Schedule Lecture Day January Tu 8 Th 10 Tu 15 Th 17 Tu 22 Th 24 Tu 29 Th 31 Textbook Readings

Lecture 1 - Course Intro : Chapter 1/Appendix Lecture 2 - Somatic Sensory System: Chapter 9 Lecture 3 - Pain: Chapter 10 Lecture 4 - Vision, the Eye: Chapter 11 Lecture 5 - Vision, the Eye: Chapter 11 Lecture 6 - Central Visual Pathways: Chapter 12 Lecture 7 - Central Visual Pathways: Chapter 12 Lecture 8 - The Auditory System: Chapter 13

February Tu 05 Lecture 9 - The Auditory System: Chapter 13 Th 07 Lecture 10 - The Auditory System: Chapter 13 Tu 12 Lecture 11 - Vestibular System: Chapter 14 Th 14 Lecture 12 - Chemical Senses: Chapter 15 --------------------------------------------------------------------Limit of material for Exam 1 Tu 19 MIDTERM EXAM Th 21 Lecture 13 - Memory: Chapter 31 (Guest Lecture by Oliver Hardt) Tu 26 Lecture 14 - Motor System I: Chapter 16 Th 28 Lecture 15 - Motor System II: Chapter 17 March Tu 05 Th 07 Tu 12 Th 14 Tu 19 Th 21 Tu 26 Th 28 April Tu 02 Th 04 Tu 09 Th 11

NO CLASS (WINTER BREAK) NO CLASS (WINTER BREAK) Lecture 16 - Motor System III (Basal Ganglia): Chapter 18 Lecture 17 - Cerebellum & Movement : Chapter 19 Lecture 18 - Eye Movements/Sensory-Motor Integration: Chapter 20 Lecture 19 - Visceral Motor System: Chapter 21 Lecture 20 - Association Cortices: Chapter 26 Lecture 21 - Speech & Language: Chapter 27

Lecture 22 - Sleep & Wakefulness: Chapter 28 Lecture 23- Emotions: Chapter 29 Lecture 24 - Sex, Sexuality & the Brain: Chapter 30 Lecture 25- Brain Energy Metabolism-Understanding What Neuroimaging Techniques are Visualizing: Huettel et al, Chapters 6&7

NSCI 201 Course Syllabus 5 of 5 Anatomical items from the Appendix you will be expected to know for the MIDTERM exam: Axes and Subdivisions of the Central Nervous System (Figures A1, A2, A3 pp. 718-720) Structures of the Spinal Cord, Brainstem, Brain and Cranial Nerves (pp. 720-728, including Tables A1,A2,A3 and Figures A4-A9) Blood supply of the brain and spinal cord (Bold-faced vessels mentioned in the text on pp. 735-741) Basic structure of blood-brain barrier (Figure A20) Meninges- Bold-faced items on p. 742, and items in Figure A21 Ventricular System (Bold-faced items on p.742, 744, and items in Figures A22-A24) REMEMBER THAT YOU HAVE ACCESS TO THE Sylvius Interactive Atlas (ACCESS CODE INCLUDED WITH YOUR TEXTBOOK) TO STUDY THESE ITEMS!

Academic Integrity McGill University values academic integrity. Therefore all students must understand the meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism and other academic offences under the Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures (see http://www.mcgill.ca/integrity/ for more information). L'universit McGill attache une haute importance lhonntet acadmique. Il incombe par consquent tous les tudiants de comprendre ce que l'on entend par tricherie, plagiat et autres infractions acadmiques, ainsi que les consquences que peuvent avoir de telles actions, selon le Code de conduite de l'tudiant et des procdures disciplinaires (pour de plus amples renseignements, veuillez consulter le site http://www.mcgill.ca/integrity/).