Lecture: The Human Brain - Nancy Kanwisher

Introduction

• Start Time: 11:05 AM
• Professor: Nancy Kanwisher
• Course: 9.13 - The Human Brain
• Agenda:
  1. Brief story (~10 mins)
  2. Why, how, and what of studying the human brain
  3. Course mechanics, grades, etc.

Story: Medical Emergency & Brain Function

• Narrative Focus: Friend named Bob experiencing a medical emergency
• Themes:
  • Nature of the human mind
  • Organization of the human brain
  • Recovery post-brain damage
  • Resilience, privilege, expertise
• Incident: Bob collapsed at professor's house
• ER Visit: Initial tests normal, suggested possible heart issue
• Concern: Previous signs of navigational deficits
• Tumor Detection: MRI revealed a lime-sized meningioma
• Implications: Tumor located near the parahippocampal place area, critical for navigation
• Outcome: Successful surgery, navigational deficits remained

Key Themes and Ideas

• Specific Brain Functions:
  • Different brain areas responsible for different mental functions
  • Damage to specific areas affects specific functions
• Brain Structure: Has organization; different parts have different roles
• Specialization: Some brain parts have extremely specific roles
• Recovery: Brain damage recovery potential varies by age, injury location, and brain plasticity
• Research Methods:
  • Behavioral observations
  • Anatomical brain images
  • Functional imaging (fMRI)
  • Studying preserved/lost mental abilities

Why Study the Human Brain?

• Self-Knowledge: Understand the very core of our identity
• Human Knowledge Limits: Evaluate the capacity of human understanding
• AI Advancements: Contribute to AI by understanding the human brain
• Intellectual Pursuit: Considered the greatest intellectual quest

Levels of Brain Study

• Approaches:
  1. Molecules and interactions
  2. Properties of individual neurons
  3. Circuits of neurons
  4. Brain regions
  5. Interacting networks of brain regions
• Focus of this Course: Understanding the brain to understand the mind
  • Start with mental functions
  • Investigate brain bases for these functions
  • Methods: Psychophysics, perceptual illusions, neuropsychology, fMRI, neurophysiology, etc.

Topics Covered

• Mental Functions:
  • Visual perception: color, shape, motion
  • Visual recognition: faces, places, bodies, words
  • Understanding numbers
  • Perceiving speech/music
  • Understanding language
  • Understanding other minds (theory of mind)
• Major Themes:
  • Specialized Machinery
  • Brain Development
  • Animal and Human Comparisons
  • Broader networks of brain regions
• Additional Questions:
  • What makes the human brain unique?
  • Source of knowledge: innate vs. learned
  • Potentially changing the brain and its functions
  • Thinking without language
  • Cognitive processes without awareness

Not Covered in Detail

• Motor control
• Subcortical functions
• Circuit-level explanations of cognition
• Memory
• Reinforcement learning and reward systems
• Decision making

Course Structure

• Assignments: Focused on cognitive science and cognitive neuroscience
• Methods:
  • Reading and comprehending scientific papers
  • Quizzes to reinforce learning
  • Longer written assignments to design experiments
• Grading:
  • Midterm: 25%
  • Final: 25%
  • Regular reading and writing assignments
  • Participation in quizzes

Suggestions for Reading Papers

1. Identify the main question of the research
2. Understand the key findings
3. Interpret the significance of the findings
4. Analyze the experimental design and methods
5. Evaluate the statistical data and results
6. Ignore overly technical jargon unless directly related to understanding the study