Introduction to the linguistic study of language pathology, concentrating on experimental approaches and theoretical explanations. Discussion of Specific Language Impairment, autism, Down syndrome, Williams syndrome, normal aging, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, hemispherectomy and aphasia. Focuses on the comparison of linguistic abilities among these syndromes, while drawing clear comparisons with first and second language acquisition. Topics include the lexicon, morphology, syntax, semantics and pragmatics. Relates the lost linguistic abilities in these syndromes to properties of the brain.

Reviews selected issues including learning, cognition, perception, foraging and feeding, migration and navigation, defense, and social activities including conflict, collaboration, courtship and reproduction, and communication. The interacting contributions of environment and heredity are examined and the approaches of psychology, ethology, and ecology to this area of study are treated. The relation of human behavior patterns to those of nonhuman animals is explored. Additional readings and a paper are required for graduate credit.

Affect is to cognition and behavior as feeling is to thinking and acting or as values are to beliefs and practices. Subject considers these relations, both at the psychological level of organization and in terms of their neurobiological and sociocultural counterparts.

This course is an investigation of affective priming and creation of rigorously counterbalanced, fully computerized testing paradigm. Includes background readings, study design, counterbalancing, study execution, data analysis, presentation of poster, and final paper.

Most of the major categories of adaptive behavior can be seen in all animals. This course begins with the evolution of behavior, the driver of nervous system evolution, reviewed using concepts developed in ethology, sociobiology, other comparative studies, and in studies of brain evolution. The roles of various types of plasticity are considered, as well as foraging and feeding, defensive and aggressive behavior, courtship and reproduction, migration and navigation, social activities and communication, with contributions of inherited patterns and cognitive abilities. Both field and laboratory based studies are reviewed; and finally, human behavior is considered within the context of primate studies.

Considers the process of neurotransmission, especially chemicals used in the brain and elsewhere to carry signals from nerve terminals to the structures they innervate. Focuses on monoamine transmitters (acetylcholine; serotonin; dopamine and norepinephrine); also examines amino acid and peptide transmitters and neuromodulators like adenosine. Macromolecules that mediate neurotransmitter synthesis, release, inactivation, and receptor-mediated actions are discussed, as well as factors that regulate their activity and the second-messenger systems they control. Alternate years.

Consists of a series of hands-on laboratories designed to give students experience with common techniques for conducting neuroscience research. Included are sessions on anatomical, ablation, neurophysiological, and computer modeling techniques, and ways these techniques are used to study brain function. Each session consists of a brief quiz on assigned readings that provide background to the lab, a lecture that expands on the readings, and that week's laboratory. Lab reports required. Students receive training in the art of scientific writing and oral presentation with feedback designed to improve writing and speaking skills. Assignments include two smaller lab reports, one major lab report with revision, and an oral report.

An advanced course covering anatomical, physiological, behavioral, and computational studies of the central nervous system relevant to speech and hearing. Students learn primarily by discussions of scientific papers on topics of current interest. Recent topics include cell types and neural circuits in the auditory brainstem, organization and processing in the auditory cortex, auditory reflexes and descending systems, functional imaging of the human auditory system, quantitative methods for relating neural responses to behavior, speech motor control, cortical representation of language, and auditory learning in songbirds.

Survey of principles underlying the structure and function of the nervous system, integrating molecular, cellular, and systems approaches. Topics: development of the nervous system and its connections, cell biology or neurons, neurotransmitters and synaptic transmission, sensory systems of the brain, the neuroendocrine system, the motor system, higher cortical functions, behavioral and cellular analyses of learning and memory. First half of an intensive two-term survey of brain and behavioral studies for first-year graduate students. Open to graduate students in other departments, with permission of instructor.

Second half of intensive survey of brain and behavioral studies for first-year graduate students. Topics include: perception, attention, working memory, recognition and recall, categorization, language, and thought. Topics covered from behavioral, computational, and neural perspectives.

Subject examines the brain as a cultural object in contemporary media, science, and society. Explores cultural assumptions about neuroscience by drawing on anthropology, history, semiotics, and the cognitive sciences. Topics include historical views of the brain; digital images of the brain; psychopharmacology; mental illness; neurotransmitters; and the culture of brain science. Class assignments include three brief analytical papers and one oral presentation.

See description under subject 7.29J.

Surveys the molecular and cellular mechanisms of neuronal communication. Covers ion channels in excitable membrane, synaptic transmission, and synaptic plasticity. Correlates the properties of ion channels and synaptic transmission with their physiological function such as learning and memory. Discusses the organizational principles for the formation of functional neural networks at synaptic and cellular levels.

Life as an emergent property of networks of chemical reactions involving proteins and nucleic acids. Mathematical theories of metabolism, gene regulation, signal transduction, chemotaxis, excitability, motility, mitosis, development, and immunity. Applications to directed molecular evolution, DNA computing, and metabolic and genetic engineering.

For undergraduates taking Course 9 IAP subjects for credit. See IAP Guide for details.

An introduction to human information processing and learning; topics include the nature of mental representation and processing; the architecture of memory; pattern recognition; attention; imagery and mental codes; concepts and prototypes; reasoning and problem solving.

How genetics can add to our understanding of cognition, language, emotion, personality, and behavior. Use of gene mapping to estimate risk factors for psychological disorders and variation in behavioral and personality traits. Mendelian genetics, genetic mapping techniques, and statistical analysis of large populations and their application to particular studies in behavioral genetics. Topics also include environmental influence on genetic programs, evolutionary genetics, and the larger scientific, social, ethical, and philosophical implications.

This course is an introduction to computational theories of human cognition. Drawing on formal models from classic and contemporary artificial intelligence, students will explore fundamental issues in human knowledge representation, inductive learning and reasoning. What are the forms that our knowledge of the world takes? What are the inductive principles that allow us to acquire new knowledge from the interaction of prior knowledge with observed data? What kinds of data must be available to human learners, and what kinds of innate knowledge (if any) must they have?

Current research on the evolution and development of cognition and affect, including intuitive physics, biology, and psychology, language, emotions sexuality, social relations.