[bioundgrd] Fwd: *New Subject Offerings in Brain and Cognitive Sciences*

[Janice Chang]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Meredith Canode <mcanode at mit.edu<mailto:mcanode at mit.edu>>
Subject: *New Subject Offerings in Brain and Cognitive Sciences*
Date: December 5, 2017 at 4:13:38 PM EST

The two classes below might be appropriate for Biology students. These are new offerings in BCS in Spring 2018 for undergraduates. Irene Pepperberg (renowned animal behaviorist) from Harvard is teaching an animal cognition course for us this Spring, which I expect could be of great interest.

Thank you!
Meredith


Subject 9.11
Tier 2
Title: The Human Brain
Instructors: Professor Nancy Kanwisher
Schedule: MW 11-12:30pm in Bldg 46 Room 1015, (possible recitation tbd)
Units: 3-0-9
Prerequisites: 9.00 or 9.01; or permission of instructor
Description:
The last quarter century has revealed the functional organization of the human brain in glorious detail, including an unexpectedly precise mapping of specific perceptual and cognitive functions to particular brain regions. This course surveys the core perceptual and cognitive abilities of the human mind and asks how these abilities are implemented in the brain. Key themes include the representations, development, connectivity, interspecies homologies, and degree of functional specificity of particular brain regions. The course also emphasizes the methoods available in human cognitive neuroscience, and what inferences can and cannot be drawn from each


Special topics subject 9.S51
*For BCS Majors Minors, can count as a tier 2 subject towards the BCS program requirements*
Title: Animal Cognition
Instructors: Professor Irene Pepperberg
Schedule: TR 1-2:30pm in 46-3310
Units: 3-0-9
Prerequisites: 9.00
Description:
Whether animals think is no longer an issue; the questions are how do they think, how do their cognitive process compare to those of humans, and how do cognitive processes compare among various species? Exactly how “smart” are animals? What do they know, how do we determine what they know, and how much of what they know is influenced by their ecological niche, their sensory capacities, and the way that humans design the tasks they are given? This course involves reading original papers, discussing the pros and cons of the experiments and experimental methods, and learning as much as possible about animal behavior in a single semester. The topic of animal cognition now covers an immense range of topics and species. We will do little more than scratch the surface…but the representative topics and papers should at least serve to excite interest in the field.



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