Students will gain an understanding of the organization of the nervous system as well as an appreciation of the interdisciplinary nature of neuroscience and the study of mind, brain, and behavior.  Courses offered will allow students to explore the interaction between neural structure and function via the brain’s relation to behaviors such as motor control, basic -sensory processes (e.g., audition, proprioception, and vision), higher cognition (e.g., attention, memory, learning and language) and emotional processing. Major theories of brain-behavior relations will be studied. Several of these topics include behavioral neuroscience and learning, perception, neuropsychopharmacology and cognitive neuroscience.

Goal 1:  Understand core concepts in psychology, biology and/or chemistry, as providing the basis for the scientific study of the nervous system and its relationship to behavior and mental processes. 

Outcome 1:  Demonstrate understanding of neuronal communication via action potential.

Outcome 2:  Demonstrate understanding of the general organization of the brain.

Outcome 3:  Relate organization of the brain to cognitive processes (such as visual processing, auditory processing, attention and/or memory) via an understanding of functional lateralization and/or hemispheric specialization.

Outcome 4:  Demonstrate understanding of typical and atypical cognitive processes and the pathological mechanisms underlying common diseases and/or disorders of the nervous system.

Goal 2:  Appreciate, from a liberal arts perspective, the role of the neuroscience perspective to inform issues within the larger cultural, social, historical and ethical framework.

Outcome 1:  Demonstrate understanding of the strengths of the neuroscience approach in responding to societal, cultural and/or ethical issues such as substance use, poverty, criminal behavior, and/or therapeutic interventions.

Outcome 2:  Demonstrate understanding of the weaknesses of the neuroscience approach in responding to societal, cultural and/or ethical issues such as substance use, poverty, criminal behavior, and/or therapeutic interventions.

Goal 3:  Development of proficient scientific literacy and analytical skill to critically evaluate the scientific merit of original research, and scientific dissemination by popular and social media.

 Outcome 1:  Demonstrate proficiency in reading papers in the primary literature by recognizing the research question being investigated and its significance, the hypothesis being tested, and the predictions from the hypothesis.

Outcome 2:  Students should be able to evaluate the appropriateness of the experimental design and the interpretation of the results.

Outcome 3:  Students should be able to evaluate claims in mass media against what is known from the scientific literature.

Goal 4:  Demonstrate effective communication about neuroscience in both written and oral form.

Outcome 1:  Demonstrate effective writing skills

Outcome 2:  Demonstrate effective oral communication skills.

1. At least 1/2 of the courses fulfilling a minor must be distinct from the student’s major. That is, three of the five courses required for a minor cannot be used towards fulfillment of major requirements. A school core does not need to be completed for a minor. Minors are open to students regardless of school affiliation.

NEUROSCIENCE MINOR

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