Briefly about the goal, contents, and plan of the course

The goal of the course is to through a number of lessons present a selection of basic knowledge about the function and development of the brain. Also the basic units of the nervous system, the anatomy and function of primarily nerve cells, but also glial cells, are considered. A number of examples are provided of how vision and hearing, motor movement, learning and memory, thinking, motivation, and emotion, sleep and wakefulness, are related to brain function.

In some cases, deviations from normal development are also considered.

This course consists of sixteen lessons, which relate to chapters 1-16 in the course book. The core of each lesson is the corresponding chapter in the book "An Introduction to Brain and Behavior" by Kolb & Whishaw. Read the introductory text and the instructions for each respective lesson before you begin with the respective chapter in the book.

Your own reading of the course book is the basis of the course. In addition, you have the opportunity to get more information in the form of for instance pictures, video features, audio information etc., which can be downloaded from different websites. Examples are given in the course book. 

The different parts of the course - lessons 1-16

Chapter 1: What are the Origins of Brain and Behavior?

Main points

• What a brain is, how the nervous system is organised, and what is meant by behavior
• Historical outlooks: Aristotle, Descartes, Darwin
• How the human brain has developed (evolution)
• Comparisons between animal and human brains as well as between the size and capability of the brain

Special focus on
a) brain function and brain damage
b) learning difficulties

Comments and notes

Note that the nervous system consists of two different types of cells:

Neurones (nerve cells) of different appearance and size, with fibres/outgrowths that can contact other cells.
Glial cells, which are also found in great numbers in the brain, many more than the number of neurones.

The brain cells, the neurones, communicate with each other, but some of them also have contact with other parts of the body, receiving or sending messages. These contacts mostly pass through the spinal cord. Brain and spinal cord (protected by bone) are together called the central nervous system.

When nerve threads leave the spinal cord they are part of the peripheral nervous system. The entire system thus consists of the central and the peripheral nervous system. A sub-component of the peripheral nervous system is called the autonomous nervous system. More on this in Kolb & Whishaw, for instance on page 6. The section on the perspectives of Aristotle and Descartes (pp. 8-11), as well as what is said about Darwin and the evolution of the brain, is important (pp. 12-30).

A general statement, which applies to all lessons and all chapters of the course book: Do not forget to always read the Summary after each chapter.

Check that you also understand those concepts that have been introduced in the chapter. They are listed after the Summary under Key terms.

One or a few website tips is listed under Extend and deepen at the end of each lesson.

Extend and deepen (ch. 1)

The philosophical underpinnings of dualism and materialism, facts behind the mind-body-problem and the growth of experimental psychology:
http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/Mind/Table.html 
 

Chapter 2: How Does the Nervous System Function?

Main points

• An overview of the brain's structure including certain terminology
• Different ways of dividing the brain anatomically
• Eight basic principles according to which the brain works, for example that the brain excites and inhibits, that is, it uses both gas and brake  

Special focus on
a) brain size and human behavior
b) meningitis and encephalitis
c) stroke
d) palsy

Comments and notes

This lesson deals with the brain's structure, terminology, cells and fibres, two different ways to divide the nervous system, ten important principles according to which the different parts work: the functional organisation of the brain. One should be able to account for the eight basic principles with examples.

The 12 pairs of cranial- or brain nerves are slightly special and have a specific status. It is suggested that you learn several of them along with their number, for example the optic nerve = brain nerve no. 2. You don't have to know them all by heart, but it can be nice and classy to know them.

Extend and deepen (ch. 2)

An article on the evolutionary development of the brain (from Science journal):
http://www.williamcalvin.com/1990s/1998SciAmer.htm
 

Chapter 3: What are the Units of Nervous-System Function?

Main points

• The cells of the nervous system: neurones and glial cells
• The inner structure of cells: the most important parts of a cell
• Genes, cells, and behavior: chromosomes and genes, phenotype and genotype, dominant and recessive genes, genetic mutation, and chromosome anomalies.  

Special focus on

a) Programming Behavior
b) Brain Tumors
c) Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
d) Huntington's chorea (disease)
e) Brainbow: Rainbow Neurons
 

Comments and notes

This lesson deals extensively with the cell, its parts, how it is organised and how it works. Extra important will be how the cell's DNA is decoded and finally forms proteins by transcription of the DNA-code to mRNA and translation of the code at the ribosomes in the cytoplasm, so that a number of amino acids can be linked according to the now translated code and become a protein, which is packed and "crumpled up" before it is ready for use. Use the CD-ROM disc for detailed information as well as genetic information from the website below.

Also read about Huntington's disease (chorea) and about brain tumours and MS. Do not forget to read the Summary.

Test on p. 110 and a video about neurones as well as an overview of genetics. Use the CD-ROM disc! Do not forget to read the Summary. 

Extend and deepen (ch. 3)

About Brain Tumors:
http://www.medicinenet.com/brain_tumor/article.htm

About Huntingtons desease (YouTube, one of several):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rleVDQ-4MsY&NR=1

Chapter 4: How Do Neurons Transmit Information?

Main points

• On electric charge in neurones
• On membrane changes: for example resting- and action potential, graded potential, nerve impulse, saltatory motion and the importance of myelin
• How do neurones integrate information: on excitatory and inhibitory postsynaptic potential (EPSP and IPSP), axon hillock (the initial segment of the axon)
• Afferent and efferent activity: How sensory stimuli produce action potentials and how nerve impulses produce motion
• Using electrical activity to study brain function: Measurement of singkle cells and ERP as well as EEG--measurement

Special focus on
a) Epilepsy
b) Light-Sensitive Ion Channels
b) Myasthenia Gravis (abnormal exhaustibility)
c) Lou Gehrig´s Disease (ALS)
 

Comments and notes

An important section where the basics of nerve transmission are considered.

Extend and deepen (ch. 4)

More on epilepsy:
http://www.efa.org

More on myasthenia gravis:
http://www.myasthenia.org
 

Chapter 5: How Do Neurons Communicate and Adapt?

Main points

• Synapse: structure and different types of synapses
• Excitatory and inhibitory messages.
• Classification and examples of different neurotransmitters: what neurotransmitters are there for instance in the ANS and CNS, respectively?
• The role of the synapse in learning and memory  

Special focus on
a) The Basis of Neural Communication in a Heartbeat
b) Parkinson's Disease
c) "Awakening with L-Dopa" : the importance of dopamine
d) "The case of the Frozen Addict": heroin-damaged with motor problems
e) Dendrite Spines, Small but Mighty
 

Comments and notes

The lesson deals with how the synapses work, including which signal compounds normally function as neurotransmitters. Several interesting cases involving dopamine are focused on. Note that cholinergic, dopaminergic, noradrenergic, and serotonergic systems are posited, within which special signal compounds and their cells are widely present and concentrated (see p.154, Figure 5-17).

Also note under the special focus on "The Case of the Frozen Addict" (p.156) that patient nr 1 was treated at the Lund university hospital by Swedish doctors who transplanted dopamine neurones from a foetus to the patient's brain.

Extend and deepen (ch. 5)

More information on Parkinson's disease:
http://www.pdf.org

Chapter 6: How do We Study the Brain´s Structure?

Main points

• Different types of measures, by which the brain can be studied, e g indirect by neuropsychological testing in humans, behavior analysis, and more directly by brain lesions, brain stimulation (DBS, TMS), electrical activity (EEG, ERP, MEG), dynamic brain imaging (fMRI, PET. NIRS) and chemical and genetic measures.
• Epigenetics

Special focus on
a) Stimulating the Brain into Action
b) Mild Head Injury and Depression
c) Cannabis Use, Psychosis, and Genetics
d) Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
 

Comments and notes

Here one should know about different ways researcher and clinical personal measure activity in the living brain, and the benefits of creating animal models of disease.
 

Extend and deepen (ch. 6)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMJJ3DpzXdk

Chapter 7: How Does the Nervous System Develop and Adapt?

Main points

• Perspectives on Brain Development
• The early development of the brain: neurobiology
• The covariation between behavior and brain development: the brain's developmental level and for example motor, language, and intellectual functioning
• The brain's dependence on the environment for its development
• Developmental disability

Special focus on
a)Linking Serotonin to SIDS
b)Cerebral Palsy
c)Increased Cortical Activation for Second Languages
d)Romanian Orphans
e)Schizophrenia
 

Comments and notes

The whole chapter is important!
 

Extend and deepen (ch. 7)

To see how a fetus develops:
http://embryo.soad.umich.edu/
http://anatomy.med.unsw.edu.au/cbl/embryo/Notes/neuron.htm
Brain development:
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/
Special development, examples:
Down's syndrome
http://www.nads.org/

Also look for texts in different journals. Largest is perhaps MEDLINE, hosted by NLM's (National Library of Medicine), en bibliographic database, that covers medicine, health care science, odontology, veterinary medicine, health care etc.

MEDLINE contains summaries (abstracts) from articles in more than 4000 biomedical journals published in the US and 70 other countries. The files cover decades.

The MEDLINE address is:
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi
The National Institute of Mental Health also has much to offer, not least on disorders:
http://www.nimh.nih.gov

Chapter 8: How do Drugs and Hormones Influence the Brain and Behavior?

Main points

• Main principles for the function of medicines/drugs (psychopharmacology)
• How psychoactive medicines/drugs are classified
• Factors influencing the effect: for example, sex differences
• Drug abuse
• Hormones: for example stress hormones and how they function

Special focus on
a) Addiction
b) Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, FAS
b) Major Depression
c) Drug-Induced Psychosis

Comments and notes

Here one should know something about:
Drug routes into the Nervous System, p.239, Blood-Brain Barrier, p.240-241.

Drug Action at Synapses: Agonists and Antagonists p.242-244.

Know what GABA and GABA receptor is and how it works, p.249-251.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), p.250.

Know what is Mesolimbic Dopamine Pathways p.262.

Know about different Stress Hormones and the research by Robert Sapolsky on how for instance a surplus of cortisol can cause stress damage to brain structures (primarily the hippocampus), p.274-276.
 

Extend and deepen (ch. 8)

Research on alcohol abuse:
http://www.niaaa.nih.gov

Chapter 9: How do We Sense, Perceive and See the World?

Main points

• Visual perception: how we experience the world by sight
• The neural basis of sight

Comments and notes

Try to remember Magnocellular and Parvocellular cells p.292-293, and Dorsal and Ventral stream, p.310-315

Extend and deepen (ch. 9)

About the ventral stream:

http://www.jneurosci.org/content/31/7/2349.full

Chapter 10: How do We Hear, Speak and Make Music?

Main points

• Auditory perception and the neural basis for speech and music
• The auditory system
• Neural activity and hearing: for example hearing pitch and volume
• The anatomy of language and music

Special focus
a) The Evolution of Language and Music
b) Distinct Cortical Areas for Second Languages
c) Left-Hemisphere Dysfunction
d) Arteriovenous Malformations
e) Cerebral Aneurysms
f) The Brain´s Music System

Comments and notes

You should know the basics of how sound occurs.
Know about the language as well as afasia in the brain, p.338-341.
 

Extend and deepen (ch. 10)

More information on aphasia:
http://www.aphasia.org

Chapter 11: How does the Nervous System Respond to Stimulation and Produce Movement?

• The hierarchical control of movement
• The organisation of the motor system
• The motor cortex and the skilled movement
• The basal ganglia and the role of the cerebellum
• The organisation of the somatosensory system
• The somatosensory cortex 

Special focus on
a) The Brain-Computer Interface
b) Autism Spectrum Disorder
c) Spinal Cord Injury (paraplegia)
d) Tourettes Syndrome

Comments and notes

This lesson deals mainly with how movement is controlled by the different parts of the brain, e.g. prefrontal, premotor, and primary motor cortex. Also the basal ganglia and the cerebellum are important.

There is a special consideration of how autism can be related to brain stem anomalies p.361.

How somatosensory systems work is also considered in this lesson, that is, how we receive information from the different parts of our body, from the skin, the muscles etc. A smaller part of the lessons deals with the faculty of balance.

Read also about tickling, p.390.

Do not forget to read the Summary, p. 393-394

Extend and deepen (ch. 11)

More on Tourettes syndrome:
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/tourette/detail_tourette.htm
 

Chapter 12: What Causes Emotional and Motivated Behavior?

Main points

• To try to explain the driving forces behind behaviors
• Evolution and the role of the environment
• Different kinds of motivated behavior
• Neural background: e.g. the role of the hypothalamus, the limbic system and the frontal lobes
• Eating and drinking
• Sexual activity
• Emotions and their biological basis p.421-427
• Reward

Special focus on
a) The Pain of Rejection
b) Agenesis of the Frontal Lobes (un- or underdeveloped frontal lobes)
c) Anxiety Disorders
d) Wight-Loss Strategies
e) Androgen-Insensitivity Syndrome and the Androgenital Syndrome

Comments and notes

Important knowledge about our motives, needs, drives, and emotions. Which parts of the brain are especially important in these respects? The central role of the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland is shown during the lesson.

For the limbic system, the frontal lobes and the temporal lobes will be especially important.

Note that the person described in "Clinical Focus” (p. 420) has undeveloped frontal lobes, which seems to result in deficits that are difficult to hide in a civilised society; poor judgement, poor control, and inability to plan, for instance, sometimes referred to as frontal lobe syndrome or deficits in executive function.

All text about emotions and emotional problems is important.

Reward is important! (p.438-440).

Extend and deepen (ch. 12)

More info on anxiety disorders:
http://www.adaa.org

Chapter 13: Why do We Sleep and Dream?

Main points

• What about Biological Rhythms?
• Neural bases of the Biological Clock and Sleep
• Sleep Stages and Dreaming
• What happens with our body when we sleep?
• Give som example of Sleep Disorder

Special focus on
a) The Variety of Biological Rhythms
b) Seasonal Affective Disorder
c) Synchronizing Biorythms at the Molecular Level
d) Restless Legs syndrome
e) Sleep Apnea

Comments and notes

This lesson deals mostly with sleeping and dreaming. What happens in the brain? Why is it so important to sleep? How can we measure and study sleep and dream activity? What is a sleep disorder?

Extend and deepen (ch. 13)

Some webbsites on Sleep and dream:

http://www.rationality.net/sleepdreams.htm

http://www.csun.edu/~vcpsy00h/students/dreams.htm

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/your-brain-food/201102/sleep-and-dreams

http://dreamtalk.hypermart.net/teachers/Smap.htm

http://psychcentral.com/disorders/sleep/rem.htm

Chapter 14: How do We Learn and Remember?

Main points

·Learning and memory: how memory is studied, different kinds of memory

• Neural correlates of different types of memory
• Brain plasticity
• Recovery from brain damage

Special focus on
a) Remediating Dyslexia
b) Patient Boswell´s Amnesia
c) Alzheimer's Disease
d) Korsakoff's Syndrome
e) Movement, Learning, and Neuroplasticity

Comments and notes

This lesson deals with most important phenomena: how we learn and how memory works. Also what happens when memory doesn't work for different reasons. Illustrative animal studies complements the picture.

In the section on brain plasticity (pp. 501-513, and 518) the importance for the brain, especially the hippocampus of certain hormones is considered again (estrogen, NGF and not least glycocorticoids, primarily cortisol) (Robert Sapolsky).

Extend and deepen (ch. 14)

Memory disorders related to Alzheimer's disease:
http://www.alz.org

Chapter 15: What does the Brain Think?

Main points

• The Neural Unit of Thought
• Cognition and Association cortex
• The Split Brain
• Intelligence
• The Neural Basis of Consciousness?

Special focus on
a)Animal Intelligence
b)Consequences of Mirror-Neuron Dysfunction
c)Neuropsychological Assessment
d)The Sodium Amobarbital Test
e)A Case of Synesthesia

Comments and notes

Try to understand Characteristics of Human Thought and The Neural Unit of Thought (pp 522-525) and Cognition and the Association Cortex, including very important aspects like Knowledghe about Objects, Multisensory Integration, Spatial Cognition, Attention and Defects of Attention, Planning and Imitation and Understanding (pp 525-534).You should be able also to give an example of Split Brain research and know about the Mirror Neuron System.

Extend and deepen (Ch.15)

Contralateral Neglect: http://www.google.se/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:sv-SE:official&channel=s&hl=sv&source=hp&biw=1084&bih=545&q=contralateral+neglect&btnG=Sök+på+Google

The Mirror Neuron system: http://www.google.se/search?client=firefoxa&rls=org.mozilla:sv-SE:official&channel=s&hl=sv&source=hp&biw=1084&bih=545&q=mirror+neuron+system&btnG=Sök+på+Google

Chapter 16: What Happens when the Brain Misbehaves?

Main points

• Multidisciplinary Research on Brain and Behavioral Disorders (pp. 564-568)
• Early-Onset Schizophrenia (pp.569-570)
• Brain Stimulation Techniques
• TBI, Stroke, Epilepsy, MS, Parkinson´s , Alzheimer´s, Depression, Anxiety
• Stress and the HPI axis

Special focus on
a)PTSD
b)Treating Behavioral Disorders with TMS
c)Antidepressant Action in Neurogenesis
 

Comments and notes

The clinical approach in this chapter can be read with some selectivity, since the main focus in the course is normal behavior and its neural and neurobiological correlates.

The student therefore should be able to answer questions about significant neural and neurobiological aspects of some of the most wellknown problems, diseases and disorders mentioned in main points above.

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Please note: Only registered students can take the exam, and are entitled to tutorial.

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