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Biology 386--Neurobiology
Welcome
 Student introductions
 Instructor Introduction
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Goals and Objectives
The goal of this course is for you to gain a
solid understanding of the most
fundamental aspects of modern
neuroscience. The course provides an
introduction to an enormous body of
knowledge. By necessity many areas will
be covered sparsely, but not superficially.
 A word on knowledge
 A word on reading assignments

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Goals Objectives
I will be teaching this course at a level
deeper than suggested by the text.
 Note on the syllabus that we are covering a
considerable amount of material...will
require that you keep up.
 Keep good notes. Not everything covered
is in the text.
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Goals and Objectives

Experimental Neuroscience.
The majority of developments in
Neuroscience are the direct consequence
of experimental work. If you do not
grasp the experiments you are missing
something central.
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Goals and Objectives

Structure-function relationships.
Structure and function, at the molecular,
cellular, and systems levels are mutually
explanatory.
An emphasis on these
relationships makes it easier to grasp
many concepts.
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Goals and Objectives

The history of Neuroscience.
The path of discovery is often tortuous
and stories do not develop as neatly as
textbooks portray it. An understanding of
how things happened will help you retain
important concepts.
We tend to
remember stories.
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Organization of Course
Text:Buy the text and bring it to class
(illustrations)
 Note at end of chapters:

– Review questions (may have some on tests).
– Glossary- use glossary or index to look up
things you may not be familiar with--part of
investigative learning. Learn these words. You
cannot talk Neuroscience without them.
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What I Expect of You
Participation
 Timely attendance to class
 A word on note taking
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C. Levinthal
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The magic word is “pass”
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The Brain
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Men ought to know that from the brain, and from
the brain only, arise our pleasures, joys, laughter
and jests, as well as our sorrows, pains, grief, and
tears. Through it, in particular, we think, see, hear,
and distinguish the ugly from the beautiful, the
bad from the good, the pleasant from the
unpleasant. It is the same thing that makes us mad
or delirious, inspires us with dread and fear,
whether by night or by day, brings sleeplessness,
inopportune mistakes, aimless anxieties, absentmindedness, and acts that are contrary to habit.
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The Brain

These things that we suffer come all from the
brain, when it is not healthy, but becomes
abnormally hot, cold, moist, or dry, or suffers any
other unnatural affection to which it is not
accustomed. Madness comes from its moistness.
When the brain is abnormally moist, of necessity
it moves, and when it moves neither sight nor
hearing are still, but we see and hear now one
thing now another, and the tongue speaks in
accordance with the things seen and heard on any
But all the time the brain is still, a man can think
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Is that true?
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The brain is made of neurons
Neurons do not divide
Neurons are beautifully spaced (Fig. 2.7)
We use only 10% of our brain
Intelligence is easily measurable, as a single variable
(G). Some races are smarter than others.
The brain is a deterministic machine. (remember
Hippocrates. The mind is just a manifestation of the
causal interactions between the machine’s parts.
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Syllabus/Organization of course
Please examine your syllabus carefully
 Absence Policy
– Please let me know if you have to miss a
test.
– Late exams permitted but justification is
required
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Organization of Course

Grading
– 3 class tests 2@ 75, 1@ 100=250 points
– 1 final @ 100
– Problem set 50 points (a good sample of possible exam
questions)
– Participation 50 points
– Total 450 points
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Tests
– Subject to the code of academic integrity
– dates
– Type
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Office hours
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