Fall 2024 Neuroscience and Behavior BC3591 section 001

NEUROSCIENCE GUIDED RESEARCH

NEUROSCIENCE GUIDED RESEA

Call Number 00113
Day & Time
Location
T 1:10pm-4:00pm
LL104 Diana Center
Points 4
Grading Mode Standard
Approvals Required None
Instructor Luca Iemi
Type LABORATORY
Course Description

This lab-based course introduces students to advanced methods in cognitive neuroscience, focusing on the application of electroencephalography (EEG) for real-time recording of brain activity. Unlike traditional approaches that study how the brain responds to different external stimuli or task demands, this course centers on spontaneous brain activity that occurs during rest or just before experimental events. Whether or not spontaneous brain activity is just meaningless noise remains an active area of research in cognitive neuroscience. Some researchers believe that spontaneous brain activity may be an important factor shaping our subjective experience of the world. However, the underlying mechanisms remain elusive in part due to the challenges in objectively defining and measuring subjective experience.

In this course, students will address this challenge by developing methods to study the relationship between spontaneous brain activity and subjective experience, with a particular focus on mind-wandering and the sensory phenomena elicited by Ganzflicker and Ganzfeld stimulation. The course culminates in independent research projects where students test their hypotheses by collecting and analyzing behavioral and EEG data. Key questions to address include: can spontaneous fluctuations in brain activity account for why people sometimes zone out while performing a task? Can the same fluctuations explain why people sometimes have different sensory experiences despite constant external stimuli? Do individual variations in spontaneous brain activity help explain why some people are more likely to report such experiences?

Note: The course involves weekly in person meetings as well as asynchronous work on data acquisition, analysis, and primary article readings for approximately 6 additional hours per week (on average).

Web Site Vergil
Department Neuroscience & Behavior @Barnard
Enrollment 12 students (12 max) as of 9:05PM Tuesday, April 1, 2025
Status Full
Subject Neuroscience and Behavior
Number BC3591
Section 001
Division Barnard College
Note Prereq NSBV BC3592
Section key 20243NSBV3591X001