September 8 2010

1. Neuroscience 3680 Cognitive Neuroscience Matthew Tata Robert Sutherland Fall 2010 September 8 2010

2. The Plan • Techniques of Cognitive Neuroscience • Some functional anatomy • Vision • Attention • Memory • Language and Music • Executive Control • Emotions • Consciousness Foundations The Brain in Action

3. Textbook • Cognitive Neuroscience, Second or Third Edition by Gazzaniga, Ivry and Mangun

4. Website • www.uleth.ca -> Class Web Sites -> Neuroscience -> NEUR 3680 click on “A” • Course outline will be available here • Lecture slides will be available here

5. Evaluation • Class Participation 10% • Mid-Term 1 20% Tentatively Oct 6; date to be adjusted slightly • Mid-Term 2 20% Tentatively Nov 3; date to be adjusted slightly • Final 25% Monday Dec 13, 9:00 to 12:00 • Project 25% Due in last class Midterms will be in-class, location of final T.B.A.

6. Evaluation • Project will be a written research proposal describing a research question, a theory that potentially answers this question and an experiment to test that theory…more details in the coming weeks

7. Grades Rounding will be by convention except when we decide otherwise!

8. Interaction • Matt’s Office hours: immediately after class • Email: matthew.tata@uleth.ca or robert.sutherland@uleth.ca • Rules: • 1. No emailing the night before a test • 2. You must try to answer your question on your own first before emailing me…trust me

9. Interaction • TAs: • Tine Gulbrandsen (tine.gulbrandsen@uleth) • Wahab Hanif (hanif@uleth.ca) • email them to make an appointment

10. What is Cognitive Neuroscience? • Cognition = “Representing”, interpreting, using and storing information by the mind • Neuroscience = the study of the nervous system

11. What is Cognitive Neuroscience? • Cognition = “Representing”, interpreting, using and storing information by the mind • Neuroscience = the study of the nervous system • Cognitive Neuroscience = the study of the neurobiology that [“underlies” “creates” “is” ]cognition

12. What is Cognitive Neuroscience? • Cognition = “Representing”, interpreting, using and storing information by the mind • Neuroscience = the study of the nervous system • Cognitive Neuroscience = the study of the neurobiology that [“underlies” “creates” “is” ]cognition So why isn’t all Neuroscience “Cognitive Neuroscience”?

13. Topics we will (try) to cover • Methods of Cognitive Neuroscience • Perception (Mainly Vision) • Attention • Memory • Language and Music • Emotions • Consciousness

14. Start Thinking Like a Neuroscientist... • How many of you have heard the statement that you only use 10% of your brain?

15. Start Thinking Like a Neuroscientist... • How many of you have heard the statement that you only use 10% of your brain? • What do you suppose this means? Would that be a bad thing?

16. Start Thinking Like a Neuroscientist... • Does it refer to 10% of brain tissue or 10% of a more abstract “functional capacity”? • If it refers to 10% of brain tissue, then which 10%!? • Does it mean “at any moment” or “ever in your life”? • If it means “at any moment” (and it were true), would it be a good thing to boost this number to 100%!? • What does “use” mean?

17. Start Thinking Like a Neuroscientist... • Is the 10% “myth” true? • More importantly, how could you go about testing this proposition?