Experimental Lab Methods in Neuroscience

Catalog description

Scientists use a wide range of laboratory methods to elucidate the function of the brain and nervous circuits in enabling behavior. This course will provide an overview of these methods, in order to allow students to understand a wide range of scientific studies and to be able to select an appropriate method for a specific research topic. For understanding human cognitive functioning such methods include neuroimaging, psychophysiology, single-cell recordings, computational modeling, and cognitive psychology and behavioral methods that use measures such as response time and decision accuracy to test theories concerning the nature of mental processes and representations. The methods employed in animal behavior research use animal models, such as rodents, drosophila, nonhuman primates, as well as stereotaxic surgeries and electrode implants. Microscopy, manipulating and visualizing neural activity, as well as genetic, cellular and molecular techniques are among the arsenal of methods used in neuroscience to achieve understanding of neural system functioning at various levels.