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SYLLABUSCOURSE DESCRIPTIONBIONB 424 Neuroethology (also Psych 424) A lecture course on the neural mechanisms of animal behavior. This course is intended for upper-level undergraduate students and graduate students who already have some background in biology, animal behavior or psychology and neurobiology. Prerequisites: Introductory Biology for Majors or Psychology 223. Recommended courses BioNB 221 (Introduction to Animal Behavior) or BioNB222 (Introduction to Neurobiology) or Psych 233 (Introduction to BioPsychology). S-U grades or letter optional (C- passing grade for S/U). Offered Fall 2007. COURSE INSTRUCTORCarl D. Hopkins, Ph.D. Lectures and Discussions (see lecture schedule) :
M W F 10:10-11:00 AM (A106 Corson/Mudd Hall) . PURPOSEThis course is designed primarily for upper division undergraduates who already have an introductory background in biology and either neurobiology or behavior. The course will review the rapidly expanding field of neuroethology, providing a general introduction to the subject and some of its many model systems. The course is research oriented, with an emphasis on critical reading of reviews and original papers in the literature. COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADINGExams. There will be two examinations in this class: one preliminary exam and one final. The final examination will be comprehensive for the entire semester. Exam dates are listed in the syllabus. All students are expected to complete both examinations on the exam day. Students who cannot take the regular examination for medical or other emergency reasons must receive prior approval from Dr. Hopkins in order to take the make-up examination. Examinations will consist of written essay responses to specific questions, and will ask for both knowledge of specific factual information and evidence of correct scientific reasoning.
Each essay will be selected from a list of suggested conceptual topics provided and written in the style of Wikipedia. The articles will be short; organized into a series of 5 to 7 subtopics. Illustrations will be carefully selected to be of very high quality and have simple, easy to understand messages. Neuroethology is an advanced sub-discipline within the neurosciences, but few people have been exposed to research in this area. The lack of information about the field is due largely to the diversity of animals, behavioral systems, and approaches used in the discipline. While neuroethology is concerned with topics outside a typical medical-school curriculum, many of the insights gained from studies of specialized systems have been critical in understanding basic principles in neuroscience. There are a number of model systems each with its own animal group, behavioral question, or neural system that is explored in depth. Students taking this course will discover how some of the most remarkable behavioral adaptations can be understood in specialized neural circuits. By understanding the complexities of behavior, neural systems, phylogenetic relationships, and anatomy, we hope that students will be better equipped to understand the organization of neural systems and behavior. The writing project will help sharpen students' writing, and ability to understand complex research papers in the literature. Oral Presentation: Over the course of the semester we will hold approximately weekly discussions of original papers in the literature. Students will sign up to lead the discussion of the paper selected for the given day. All students will attend the class discussion and come prepared to ask and answer questions and participate in the review of the paper, in-depth questions about the methods used, and the implications of the results. Signup for oral presentations will be done on Wednesday, August 29th. Grading. Grades will be determined by student performance on examinations, in-class discussion, the web-site project, and the oral presentation at the final class symposium. The approximate percentage breakdown is as follows:
COURSE WEBSITE http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/bionb424/The course web site will be used to post important information about the readings, the assigned lecture topic, discussion sections. Some of the course web site will be password protected. Projects will be posted as web-pages until comments and corrections can be made. Students are responsible for the content of the course web site WHAT IS NEUROETHOLOGY?A good question. Many have tried to define and describe it. Here is my personal take on the subject. Neuroethology is the biological approach to the study behavior and its neural basis. While the focus is on the role of the nervous system in behavior, the perspective is that which is called 'ethological' which emphasizes the causation, the development, the evolution, and the function of behavior. Neuroethologists seek to understand this in terms of neural circuits. A hallmark of the field is the emphasis on study of natural behavior, which, in the older scientific literature, was called "instinctive behavior" or "innate behavior". Neuroethologists base their studies on behavioral studies that often are done in the field on the animal's own turf. The neural approaches used by neuroethologists are as diverse as the field of neuroscience itself. Some neuroethologists use behavioral methods only to ask profound questions about the organization of underlying neural circuits. Some use intracellular recording techniques to probe one cell at a time in some neural circuit that is involved in a particular behavior. Others use neuroanatomical techniques, or comparative methods to look at how nervous systems differ from one species to another. Molecular methods are used to explore phylogenetic relationships. All sorts of molecular and cellular methods are used to explore neural connections and to uncover diversity and specialization of nerve cells. Computer modeling is used to predict behavior of neural circuits. The subjects in neuroethology are as diverse as the animal kingdom. Neuroethologists are interested in comparative aspects of behavior and in the evolution of the nervous system. The comparative method is used in many studies. A typical assemblage of neuroethologists is likely to talk about jellyfish and corals, sea squirts and sea slugs, insects and insectivores, slugs and bugs, birds and bats, frogs or toads, platypus or porpoise. Some may be interested in behavioral processes, not a particular group, others in neural computation and algorithms, not any particular system. Somehow the field holds together by the mutual attraction of neuroethologists to like-minded concern for diversity of animal nervous systems and their role in behavior. CODE of ACADEMIC CONDUCTEach student in this course is expected to follow the Code of Academic Integrity set forth by the Council of Representatives on May 24, 1974. The Code is explained on the CODE of Academic Integrity Web Page. |
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