Neural Basis of Behavioral Plasticity and Cognitive Processes
Credits: 4Course Number: BSR1703
Course Director: Matthew Shapiro
E-Mail: Matthew.Shapiro@mssm.edu
Course Description:
Neural Basis of Behavioral Plasticity & Cognitive Processes: The aim of this course is provide students an in-depth overview of current topics, concepts and experimental methods in the neural basis of behavioral plasticity. The course is required for all students in the Neuroscience MTA, and the prerequisites are Principles of Neurobiology I and II, or prior approval of the course directors. The course will follow a "vertical integration" approach in which each system is considered at multiple levels of analysis, from molecular biology to behavior in whole organisms. Class will meet three times per week and follow a lecture/discussion format. Students will be responsible for extensive reading and the discussion of original research articles or reviews assigned for each section of the course. Many of the readings will be classics that help prepare students for their preliminary examination. For supplemental, background reading, students are encouraged to review relevant chapters from available texts such as Fundamental Neuroscience (Zigmond et al., eds.).
"The course is divided roughly into 3 sections: Plasticity, Learning, and Neural Representation, Multiple Memory Systems, and Metaplasticity: Motivation, Development, and Disorders."