After reading all of the class projects, complete this assignment - deadline = May 17, 1997
Psychology 325 PSYCHOBIOLOGY Spring, 1997
Dr. John M. Morgan 9:00-9:50 AM
MWF HGH 225
Text: Physiology of Behavior, Fifth Edition
by Neil R. Carlson
Allyn and Bacon, Inc., Boston, 1994
LECTURE AGENDA
Jan 22 (1) Introduction to Course
Jan 24 (1) Introduction Ch. 1 p. 1 - 18
Jan 27-Feb 19 (11) Learning and Memory:
Basic Mechanisms Ch. 14 p. 431 - 479
Feb 21 (1) First Midterm Examination
Feb 24-Mar 12 (8) Relational Learning
and Amnesia Ch. 15 p. 481 - 509
Mar 14 (Fri) (1) Second Midterm Examination
23
Mar 17-Mar 21 Spring Break
Mar 24-Apr 4 (6) Positive Reinforcement Ch. 14 p. 465-477
Addition Ch. 17 p. 582-594
Apr 7-Apr 16 (5) Genetic Basis of Learning
and Schizophrenia Handouts
Apr 18 (1) Third Midterm Exam
Apr 21-Apr 30 (5) Mental Disorders:
Schizophrenia &
Affective Disorders Ch. 17 p. 541 - 567
May 2-May (4) Mental Disorders: Anxiety Disorders,
44 Autism Ch. 18 p. 569- 5581
May 14 (Wed) Scheduled Fourth Midterm exam 8:00 - 8:50 AM
LABORATORY AGENDA
Jan 27 - Jan 29 Review of Biological Basis of Behavior
Introduction to Laboratory Procedures
Introduction to Sheep.exe computer aided
neuroanatomy
Feb 3 - Feb 5 Remove Dura Mater and Examine the Dorsal-
Exterior and Ventral Surfaces of Sheep
Brain
Figures 1 & 2 and refer to Sheep.exe
Relate to comparable screens of Brainiac
Feb 10 - Feb 12 Make and Examine the Sagittal Cuts
Figures 7 & 8 and refer to Sheep.exe
Relate to comparable screens of Brainiac
Take the practice laboratory test
Feb 17 - Feb 19 Inspect the Actual Human Brains and relate
them to the Sheep brains and Brainiac's
display
Repeatedly observe appropriate frames of
Human Brain Animation
Take the practice laboratory test
Feb 24 - Feb 26 Make the Coronal Sections of Figures 11 thru
14 and refer them to Sheep.exe
Repeatedly observe appropriate frames of
Human Brain Animation
Relate to comparable screens of Brainiac
Take the practice laboratory test
Mar 3 - Mar 5 Make the Coronal Sections of Figures 15 thru
18 and refer them to Sheep.exe
Relate to comparable screens of Brainiac
Repeatedly observe appropriate frames of
Human Brain Animation
Take the practice laboratory test
Mar 10 - Mar 12 Make the Coronal Sections of Figures 19 thru
23 and refer them to Sheep.exe
Relate to comparable screens of Brainiac
Repeatedly observe appropriate frames of
Human Brain Animation
Take the practice laboratory test
Mar 17 - Mar 19 Spring Break
Mar 24 - Mar 26 Description of Functional Anatomy of the Rat
Brain through Stained Sections on 35 mm
Slides
Mar 31 - Apr 2 Description of Functional Anatomy of the Rat
Brain through Stained Sections of Glass
Slides and Animated selections from Human
Brain Animation
Mar 27 (Fri) Midterm Laboratory Examination held in HGH 225
at 9 am
Apr 7 - Apr 9 Description of the Limbic and Extra-pyramidal
Systems
Movie: The Human Brain
Apr 14 - Apr 16 Demonstration and Discussion of the Event-
Related Potential Technique in both
Humans and Rats
Apr 21 - Apr 23 Comparative Literature discussion and student
presentations of Neuroanatomy function -
10 min
Demonstration and practice using Psych-RX
Apr 28- Apr 30 EEG Physiograph Demonstration of a Sleeping
Subject and also of Physiological
Correlates of Emotional Reactions in
Humans
May 5 - May 7 Biofeedback demonstration and discussion
Explore BrainMap computer system of
graphically searching the human brain
lesion/NeuroPsychology literature
through the Internet
May 9 Final Laboratory Examination held in HGH
225 at 9 am
The organization of the course will be lectures on Mon, Wed,
Fri with tests on four of the fridays and on alternate fridays
team discussions, some in private and some open in class for all
to profit. All sessions are mandatory.
Letter grades are calculated on a curve generated only by
this class. There will be 4 periodic examinations worth 100 points
each. In lieu of the usual midterm and final examinations there
will be a first and second project worth 150 points each and a
take-home exam to ascertain whether or not each student in the
class has read and studied the projects of their colleagues (30
points) along with team peer evaluations of 20 points. The
laboratory exercises are worth 1/4 of the letter grade.
Additional credit points may be earned as follows:
20 points for the class crossword puzzle turned in on
time,
20 points for volunteering for a research project
sponsored by a Psychology faculty member.
Increase of either 1/3, 2/3 or 1 letter grade by an
extra credit term paper due by the day that the final
exam is scheduled.
My office is in room 116B of HGH (826-3747) and my office
hours are MW 10-12 & TTh 10-12. I invite you to consult with me
on any matter during my office hours or any time that is agreeable
to you and me either in person or by email
(jmm4@axe.humboldt.edu).
Projects
This is a new portion to my courses and stems from the
philosophy that the students should bear a reasonable share of the
work of a course. The first half of the course is composed of
exploring how the brain and nervous system can support the complex
human behavior of learning and memory. The second half is devoted
to a discussion of pleasure mechanisms/additions and the genetics
and psychobiology of normal and abnormal human behavior.
FIRST PROJECT
The first project will explore the workings of the brain by
requiring that each student team explore the mechanisms by which
one aspect of learning and memory takes place. The teams will
consist of 5 or 6 students from our class and each student will
accept responsibility to research, explore and describe for the
team and the rest of the class one of the mechanisms listed below:
I. Possible student's topic include human and non-human research
models and data investigating learning and memory:
Synaptic mechanisms underlying an aspect of learning and
memory, e.g. cell assemblies
Neural systems underlying an aspect of learning and memory,
e.g. limbic,
Synaptic specializations that allow learning and memory, e.g.
synaptic spines, etc.
Neural phenomena that allow learning and memory, e.g.
sprouting, neoneurogenesis, etc.
Intracellular mechanisms that allow learning and memory, e.g.
g proteins, NO, etc.
II. Each team will explore the above different mechanisms in one
of the following aspects of learning and memory, such as:
Short term episodic memory
Long term episodic memory
Long term syntaxical memory
Long term perceptual memory
Long term generic memory
Short term skill memory
Long term skill memory
Classical Conditioning
Operant Conditioning
Emotional Leaning
SECOND PROJECT
The second project will explore the workings of the brain by
requiring that each student team explore the theories and
supporting data and research designs that indicate that genetics
play a role in determining, allowing, facilitating, etc. human
behavior.
I. Each student topic will research the different issues
involved in the genetic mechanisms of behavior , such as:
Gene theory, e.g. relation of DNA to behavior
Gene theory, e.g. relation of RNA to behavior
Gene theory, e.g. relation of proteins to behavior
Debate of monogenetic vs polygenetic influences on behavior
Theoretical arguments concerning genes involvement in human
behavior, e.g. Nature - Nurture dispute
Effect of genes on the phenotype
Research designs utilized to investigate the effect of genes
and behavior
Advantages and disadvantage of specific research designs to
specific behaviors
(Remember the purpose is to discriminate the relative
importance between genetic influences on behavior and
environmental ones)
II. Each team will explore the above different aspects of
the gene behavior debate to one of the following behaviors:
Schizophrenia
Depression
Obsessive-Compulsive
Intelligence
Additions
Memory, e.g. normal age related forgetting, Alzihiemer's
disease
Sexual orientation
Food and water maintenance and body size
----------------------------------------------------
PROCEDURES FOR BOTH PROJECTS
III. Process of the project:
Solo Each student selects a drug group or brain area in which
to participate (II. above)
Solo Each student selects the aspect of the brain effected by
the drug or the prospective of a person dealing with the tumor or
lesion (I. above)
Team Members of the team negotiate with each other so that
each student is assigned a different brain aspect on which to
concentrate (I. above)
Solo Each student researches his/her topic and assimilates
the material, then writes a 2 page report in the format and style
agreed upon by the team.
Team Members of the team meet often and produce a team report
that integrates each of the member's reports in a publishable
format and that maintains each student's section separate and
signed.
IV. Resources:
Text book of the course
Book section (stacks) of the library
Periodical section of the library (see attached list of
Neuroscience journals)
Search of electronic indexes through the library, e.g.
Medline, Psychlit, ERIC, etc.
Internet newsgroups and lists (see attached list for
examples)
Search internet for specific topic home pages
Physician, Patient and/or survivor home pages and/or
newsgroups on internet
V. Final Report will be published on the Internet as a
product of our class. Only those reports that are of sufficient
quality will earn course credit and be published for all to read.
The individual student will write his/her part individually but
the team will be responsible to insure that each part fits well
with each other part. Therefore, the team needs to meet several
times during the period in order to insure that the individual
reports mesh together in substance and style. Each section needs
to use some of all of the resources listed above and referenced on
the third page of the report for all to reference. The individual
reports should be 2 single-spaced, full pages. Each of these
reports need to be highly compacted with knowledge and data
written in a very concise form. There is no room for sentences
which do not materially advance the topic or that repeat a
previously state thought. Personal, unsubstantiated opinions have
no place here. This is not an "I think" piece or a composition
for an english class but a report on hard data that extends the
textbook treatment of the topic.
Please be sure to follow these guidelines:
1 Establish your specific topic with the other members of your
team after repeated meetings and together write an introduction to
the team report.
2 Research and write your part of the team report in the word
processor of your choice consulting periodically with your team
members.
3 When completely finished with your part, examine it to follow
these cautions:
a Use only one set of formatting codes and place them only
at the beginning of your report.
b Use Courier or New Courier font only
c Use 12pt font size only - do not change this anywhere in
the body of your report.
d Use single space vertical line spacing only.
e Use 1" margins at the top, bottom, left and a 1.5"
margin at the right. Otherwise, the lines overrun the viewers
screen.
f Do not use hyphens anywhere in the text. They will not
translate well.
g Do not use fancy formatting anywhere in the text, e.g.
avoid hanging indents for the bibliography.
h. Avoid underlines, italics, etc. because they will not
translate to the web.
4. Save your work to floppy disc using only ASCII (DOS) TEXT
file type, not ASCII delimited nor your word processor's
proprietary file type.
5. Get together with the rest of your team and join all of your
team member's individual reports together as one sequential team
report, eliminating any formatting codes in the body of the team
report and placing them at the very beginning of the document
only.
VI. Evaluation: Total Points
Mandatory:
4 tests @ 100 points each 400
2 projects: Solo portion @ 100 points each 200
Team portion @ 50 points each 100
2 Take home exam over the published team
projects @ 30 (use on-line form) 60
2 Team peer evaluation @ 20 40
----------
Total for the Semester 800
Voluntary extra credit:
2 Crossword puzzles 40
2 Volunteering to be a subject in a Psychology dept
experiment 40
1 Extra credit term paper 1/3 or 2/3 or 1 letter grade
increase variable
My Wide World Web site is http://users.humboldt.edu/jmmorgan
My Internet email address is jmm4@axe.humboldt.edu
Letter grades are calculated on a curve generated by this
class only. The laboratory midterm and final examinations are each
50 minutes long and are together worth 267 points (i.e. 1/4 of
the letter grade) where as the lecture portion of the course is
worth 800 points(i.e. 3/4 of the letter grade).
My office is in room 116B of HGH (826-3755) and I invite you to
consult with me on any matter during my office hours or any time
that is agreeable to you and me.
Go back to the beginning
Copyright © 1995, Dr. John M. Morgan, All rights reserved -
This page last edited October
23, 1996
If you have any feedback for the author, E-mail
me
