Behavioral Neuroscience
Behavioral Neuroscience explores the biological foundations of behavior and cognition, focusing on how the nervous system enables perception, movement, emotion, learning, and higher mental processes. Students will gain an understanding of the structure and function of the brain, from individual neurons to large-scale neural systems.
The course introduces the scientific methods used to study the brain and examines current findings in neuroscience. Topics include neuroanatomy, neural communication, brain development and evolution, sensory systems, movement, homeostasis, sleep, emotion, stress, memory, attention, and executive functions.
Through lectures, readings, discussions, and student presentations, participants will develop the ability to evaluate neuroscientific evidence and connect biological processes to behavior. By the end of the semester, students will be able to explain how neural mechanisms contribute to both everyday experiences and complex cognitive functions.
Lecture 01
This lecture introduces behavioral neuroscience, the scientific study of how the brain produces behavior, cognition, and other mental phenomena. It reviews key historical discoveries that established the brain as the biological basis of the mind and examines why neuroscience remains one of the most important and rapidly growing scientific fields. The lecture also introduces the scientific method and the principles used to evaluate evidence in neuroscience research.