Lecture: The Human Brain - Introduction

Professor: Nancy Camwisher

Course Overview

• Course Code: 9.13
• Title: The Human Brain
• Instructor: Nancy Camwisher
• Agenda:
  • Story introduction (~10 min)
  • Why, how, and what of studying the human brain
  • Course mechanics and grades (covered in syllabus)

Story Introduction

• Purpose: Foreshadow themes in the course

• Personal Story: True story about a friend (Bob) with a brain issue

  • Scary medical emergency, foreshadows course themes
  • Incident involving collapse, ER visit, unrecognizable symptoms at first
  • Discover large, slow-growing tumor (meningioma)
  • Neurosurgery was successful but navigational abilities remained damaged

  Themes Highlighted

  • Nature of the Human Mind: Organization and specific functions of parts of the brain
  • Resilience and Recovery: Impact and recovery from brain damage
  • Privilege and Expertise: Access to top medical care, connections matter

Critical Points of the Story

• Bob's Symptoms: Frequent disorientation, inability to navigate familiar places
• Medical Response: Initially misdiagnosed in the ER
• Role of Navigation Region: Connection to professor's research on parahippocampal place area and retrosplenial cortex
• Outcome of Surgery: Successful removal but navigational issues persisted, reliance on GPS
• Broader Implications: Emphasizes the specificity of brain functions; importance of regions/organs
• Cognitive Neuroscience: Personal experience leading to broader understanding of brain function and structure

Why Study the Brain?

1. Know Thyself: Understand who we are and how our identity is tied to the brain
2. Limits of Human Knowledge: What understandings can we achieve about thinking processes
3. Advance AI: Insights into human cognition can enhance artificial intelligence
4. Intellectual Quest: Exploring neurological science is one of the greatest intellectual challenges

How Do We Study the Brain?

• Levels of Organization: Molecules, neurons, circuits, brain regions, networks
• Focus of the Course: Understanding how brain gives rise to the mind

Methods in Brain Study

1. Psychophysics: Behavioral responses to stimuli
2. Perceptual Illusions: Informative about brain processes
3. Neuroimaging: fMRI, PET scans, etc.
4. Neuropsychology: Studying patients with brain damage
5. Computer Modeling: Deep Nets, AI and its neuroscience applications

Course Content Breakdown

1. Vision: Color, shape, motion perception, and object recognition (Early Focus)
2. Higher Cognition: Scenes, navigation, language, music, and social understanding
3. Research Methods: Understanding and designing experiments
4. Readings: Mostly recent scientific papers (~2 papers/week)

Grading and Assignments

1. Midterm: 25%
2. Final: 25%
3. Reading/Writing Assignments: Frequent short assignments (starting February 12th)
4. Quizzes: ~8 in-class quizzes
5. Longer Written Assignment: Design an experiment (~3-5 pages)

Key Themes of the Course

• Specificity of brain functions and circuits
• Development and change in brain over time
• Methods to understand brain-mind relationship
• Impact of neurological disorders and recovery
• Converging evidence from multiple methodologies

Course Sessions & Topics

1. Neuroanatomy Introduction: Basic brain structures review
2. Special Lectures: Anatomy Dissection: By an expert (Ann Graybill)
3. Perception: Detailed study of high-level vision
4. Cognition and Navigation: Focus on specific cases and research
5. Unique Mental Functions: Music, Language, Theory of Mind
6. Networks of Brain Regions: How different regions interact for complex processing

Special Focus: Moving from specific functions to general cognition, understanding human uniqueness in evolution, language, social interactions, etc.

Tips for Reading Scientific Papers

• Identify the research question and main findings first
• Understand the methodology used and its rationale
• Separate out technical details that are not crucial for comprehension
• Read with an agenda: answer specific questions about the study's aim, findings, and significance