Physiological Psychology
Spring 2008 · Wake Forest University · PSY 320 & 620

Click HERE for a PDF copy of this syllabus.

Course Goals: The primary objective of this course on Physiological Psychology to make you "physiologically literate".  This means learning important anatomical terms and functions of discrete brain regions, as well as their interrelationships.  As upperclassmen, you have already learned a great deal about psychological processes.  In that the brain and nervous system is the machine running these processes, the study of physiology and anatomy will give you a better understanding of how these processes work.
 
Course Requirements: I will base your grade on four exams worth 100 point each.  Your lowest exam score will count 20%, your middle two exams will count 25%, and your highest exam score will count 30% of your final grade.  One third of each exam will test material from the text alone; one third will test material from the lectures alone.  These inquiries will be composed of multiple-choice questions, short answers, and some fill-in-the-blank.  The other third of each exam will be short essays (~25 lines each) that test readings assigned to each exam period from current Science articles.  You will have the entire class period for each exam.  Exams are not cumulative; however science is, so keeping abreast is the best strategy.  I will schedule three separate labs at night: a sheep brain dissection and two involving human subjects.  You will do lab work in pairs.

Grading: A=93%-100%; A-=90%-92%; B+=87%-89%; B=83%-86%; B-=80%-82%; C+=77%-79%; C=73%-76%; C-=70%-72%; D+=67%-69%; D=63%-66%;      D-=60%-62%; F<=59%

If you have a disability that may require an accommodation for taking this course, please contact the Learning Assistance Center (758-5929) within the first two weeks of the semester.

In case of a pandemic flu and school closing, lectures notes are available (see above), labs will be cancelled, and exams will be e-mailed to you on the honor system.

Jan. 16 Introduction –Welcome!

1. *Ch. 1 Introduction (required).
2. A History of Experimental Psychology[1] Chapters 3, 4, 25 (recommended).

Jan. 17, 23 Sexuality

1. *Ch. 10 Reproductive Behavior (required); Skim: Pheromones (pg. 340-342).
               I. The Cycling Female[5] Chapters 2, 3 (recommended).

Jan. 25, 28, 30 Gross Anatomy

1. *Ch. 3 Structure of the Nervous System (required); Skim: Figures 3.7, 3.8, 3.9, Table 3.2 and Terms: Telencephalon, Diencephalon, Mesencephalon, Myelencephalon.
   1. Tissues and Organs: A Text-Atlas of Scanning Electron Microscropy[4] Chapter 6, 15, 16 (highly recommended).

Weeknight of Jan 28-31: GSR and Polygraph Lab

Feb. 1, 4, 6 Human Emotions

1. *Ch. 11 Emotion (required).
2. Brain Control. A critical Examination of Brain Stimulation and Psychosurgery[8] (recommended).

Feb 8 EXAM I (100 pts)

Feb 11 NO CLASS (to make up for GSR Lab)

Feb 13, 15, 18 Neural Structure

1. *Ch. 2 Structure & Functions of the Cells in the Nervous System (required); Skim: Internal Structure (pg. 32-36).
2. *Kohler, E., Keysers, C., Umiltà, M.A., Fogassi, L., Gallese, V. & Rizzolatti, G.  Hearing Sounds, Understanding Actions: Action Representation in Mirror Neurons.  Science 2002 August 2; 297: 846-848 (required).
   1. Tissues and Organs: A Text-Atlas of Scanning Electron Microscropy[4] Chapter 6, Fig. 1, 2, 3 (pg. 78) (recommended).

Weeknight of Feb. 18-22: Sheep brain dissection 

Feb. 20, 22, 25 Psychopharmacology and Neural Transmission

1. *Ch. 4 Neural Communication (required); Skim: Lipids, Nucleosides & Soluble Gases (129-131).
2. *Gainetdinov, R.R., Wetsel, W.C., Jones, S.R., Levin, E.D., Jaber, M. & Caron, M.G.  Role of Serotonin in the Paradoxical Calming Effect of Psychostimulants on Hyperactivity.  Science 1999 January 15; 283: 397-401 (required).
   

Feb 27, 29, March 3 Sleep & Biological Rhythms

1. *Ch. 9 Sleep and Biological Rhythms (required).
2. * Braun, A.R., Balkin, T.J., Wesensten, N.J., Gwadry, F., Carson, R.E., Varga, M., Baldwin, P., Belenky, G. & Herscovitch, P. Dissociated Pattern of Activity in Visual Cortices and Their Projections During Human Rapid Eye Movement Sleep.  Science 1998 January 2; 279: 91-95
   1. The Clocks That Time Us [7] (recommended).

March 5 EXAM II (100 pts)

March 7 NO CLASS (to make up for sheep brain dissection lab)

March 10-14 NO CLASS (Spring Break)

March 17, 19, 24 Major Mental Disorders

1. *Ch. 16 Schizophrenia and the Affective Disorders (required).
2. *Andreasen, N.A. Linking Mind and Brain in the Study of Mental Illnesses: A Project for a Scientific Psychopathology.  Science 1997 March 14; 275: 1586-1593 (required).
   1. The Clocks That Time Us [7] (recommended).\
   2. Brain Control. A Critical Examination of Brain Stimulation and Psychosurgery [8] (recommended).

Weeknight of March 24-28: Biofeedback Lab

March 26, 28, 31 Minor Mental Disorders

1. *Ch. 17 Anxiety, Autistic, Attention-Deficit and Stress Disorders (required).  Skim Psychoneuroimmunology (pg. 607-611).
2. Neuropsychological assessment[6] (recommended).

April 2, 4 Sensory Systems: Sight

1. *Ch. 6 Vision (required); Skim: Photoreceptors (pg. 173-176); Skim: Figures 6.7, 6.8 & 6.31.
2. * Supèr, H., Spekreijse,H. & and Victor A. F. Lamme, V.A.F.  A Neural Correlate of Working Memory in the Monkey Primary Visual Cortex.  Science 2001 July 6; 293: 120-124. (required).
   1. Tissues and Organs: A Text-Atlas of Scanning Electron Microscropy[4] Chapter 6, (highly recommended).

April 7, 9 Sensory Systems: Audition

1. *Ch. 7 Audition, The Body Senses, and the Chemical Senses (required); Skip pages 231-257.
2. * Seifritz, E., Esposito, F., Hennel, F., Mustovic, H., Neuhoff, J.G., Bilecen, D., Tedeschi, G., Scheffler, K. & Di Salle, F.  Spatiotemporal Pattern of Neural Processing in the Human Auditory Cortex.  Science 2002 September 6; 297: 1706-1708 (required).
   1. Tissues and Organs: A Text-Atlas of Scanning Electron Microscropy[4] Chapter 6, (highly recommended).

April 11 Exam III (100 pts)

April 14 NO CLASS (to make up for biofeedback lab)

April 16, 18  Motor Systems

1. *Ch. 8 Control of Movement (required); Skim: Cerebellum (284-288), Figures 8.22, 8-23.
2. *Ricaurte, G.A., Yuan, J., Hatzidimitriou, G., Cord, B.J. & McCann, U.D.  Severe Dopaminergic Neurotoxicity in Primates After a Common Recreational Dose Regimen of MDMA ("Ecstasy").  Science 2002 September 27; 297: 2260-2263 (required).
3. Deep Brain Stimulation Video: http://www.wfubmc.edu/slp3d/ (required).
   1. Tissues and Organs: A Text-Atlas of Scanning Electron Microscropy[4] Chapter 7, (highly recommended).

April 21, 23 Motivation (Eating)

1. *Ch. 12 Ingestive Behavior: Eating (required); Skim: Figures 12.18 & 12.19.
   II. *Walsh, B.T. & Devlin, M.J.  Eating Disorders: Progress and Problems. Science 1998 May 29; 280: 1387-1390 (required).
   1. Progress in Physiological Psychology, Vol. 4[3] (recommended).

April 25, 28, 30 Learning & Memory

1. *Ch. 13 Learning and Memory (required).
2. *Ch. 15 only the sections on Alzheimer’s disease and Korsakoff’s syndrome (required).
3. *Moser, E.I., Krobert, K.A., Moser, M. & Morris, R.G.M. Impaired Spatial Learning after Saturation of Long-Term Potentiation.  Science 1998 September 25; 281: 2038-2042 (required).
4. *de Fockert, J.W., Rees, G., Frith, C.D. & Lavie, N.  The Role of Working Memory in Visual Selective Attention.  Science 2001 March 2; 291: 1803-1806 (required).

May 5 – Monday 2:00 P.M. (Finals week) EXAM IV (100 pts)

REFERENCE TEXTS

1. Boring, E.G. (1950). A History of Experimental Psychology (2nd Ed.), Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.
2. Cooley, R.K. & Vanderwolf, C.H. (1979).  The Sheep Brain: A Basic Guide.  A.J. Kirby, Co.
3. Epstein, A.N. (1971). "The Lateral Hypothalamic Syndrome: Its Implications for the Physiological Psychology of Hunger and Thirst" In: Progress in Physiological Psychology, Vol. 4 E. Stellar & J.M. Spague (Eds.), Academic Press, N.Y.
4. Kessel, R.G. & Kardon, R.H. (1979). Tissues and Organs: A Text-Atlas of Scanning Electron Microscropy, W.H. Freeman & Co.
5. Lein, A. (1979). The Cycling Female: Her Menstrual Rhythm. W.H. Freeman & Co., San Fransisco, CA.
6. Lezak, M. D. (1976). Neuropsychological assessment, Oxford University Press, N.Y..
7. Moore-Ede, M.C., Sulzman, F.M. & Fuller, C.A. (1982). The Clocks That Time Us, Harvard U. Press, Cambridge, MA.
8. Valenstein, E.S. (1973). Brain Control. A Critical Examination of Brain Stimulation and Psychosurgery, John Wiley & Sons, N.Y.

REFERENCE COMPACT DISC

Williams, S.M. (2000). Sylvius 2.0: Fundamentals of Human Neural Structure, Sinauer Associates, Inc. Sunderland, MA

REFERENCE WEB SITES

Digital Anatomist Project:     http://www9.biostr.washington.edu/da.html
Neuroanatomy and Pathology:     http://www.neuropat.dote.hu/
Sheep Brain Dissection Guide:    http://www.uofs.edu/sheep/framerow.html
Spinal Cord/Brain Stem Interactive Atlas:http://lansing.bellarmine.edu/pt/atlas/cover.html
Neurological Names of Brain Structures: http://braininfo.rprc.washington.edu/menumain.html
Whole Brain Atlas:     http://www.med.harvard.edu/AANLIB/home.html