Learning Objectives
This course will help you to …
gain a basic understanding of the cortex across different human and non human animal species.
By the end of this course, you will have advanced your understanding of fundamental brain anatomy, the cortico-thalamic (C-T) system of the brain and how it functions.
learn about basic neurobiology, sensory pathways, connectivity and neural signaling.
You will also advance your knowledge about the conscious and unconscious workings of the mind and brain.
think about the similarities of brains in birds, reptiles, and mammals.
It will help you to study more advanced scientific research on these topics. Understanding these features offers a new understanding of vertebrate brain evolution.
reflect on the possibility of consciousness as a biological phenomenon.
Advance your understanding of higher order consciousness, behaviors, sensory anatomy & function as markers for subjectivity across human and non human animals.
recognize the information flow in the living brain.
The “connectome” gives us the city map of the brain, and modern recording methods give us the traffic flow over that map. Together, the map and the traffic tell us a great deal.
learn some of the brain regions associated with conscious, voluntary and unconscious events in the brain.
Two major regions of the brain are very different with respect to consciousness. The cortex and the cerebellum look different, and they have comparable numbers of neurons, but cortex enables conscious experiences, while the cerebellum does not. Why is that?
understand how thalamus & cortex make up a single system.
The visible anatomy of the brain shows two different looking pieces of the puzzle. The cortex is large and shaped like a helmet, and inside there are two egg-shaped structures we call the thalamus. Thalamus and cortex look separate but they are part of the same, tightly coupled system that enables the conscious mind.
understand how thalamus & cortex interact.
The thalamocortical system is viewed as a “unified oscillatory machine” (Steriade, 1999). A city is more than its structures, it is also the human traffic that works to keep the city alive and well.