Hispanic and European Studies Program
Course title: Neuroscience for Humanities
Language of instruction: English
Professor: Fernando Giraldez
Professor’s contact and office hours:
CEXS-UPF, at PRBB c/Dr. Aiguader 88, 08003, Barcelona
Office: 328.06. Office hours: 9am-5pm
Phone: 933160838
[email protected]
Course contact hours: 45
Recommended credit: 3 US credits-5 ECTS credits
Course prerequisites: There are no prerequisites for this course.
Keywords: Neurosciences, Perception, Mind, Art, Philosophy, Law.
Language requirements: None
Number of students (max.): 20
Course focus and approach:
Neurosciences study the brain, from genes and cells to behavior and it has
provided radical new clues about how the brain works. This knowledge has
strong implications for many areas of human activity outside the conventional
environment of medicine or psychology, and expands to economics, laws,
philosophy or art. On the other hand, Neuroscience has attracted the attention
of society, sometimes beyond evidence. The course focuses on a solid dialogue
between neurosciences and humanities.
Course description: include here a brief description of the course contents
(about 100 words)
This is an accessible account of selected areas of Neurosciences of particular
interest for Humanities and Social Sciences. The course starts with a general
overview of the brain to then review how the sensory systems build up a
representation of the world, with particular reference to the visual and auditory
systems. Then we analyze examples of the constructive character of
perception, brain categorization, and the construction of sensory images, space
and movement. Finally, we address the question of consciousness and
perception of self, to discuss the implications of Neurosciences in the
foundations of knowledge, Law and Arts.
Learning objectives: All courses should have a list of at least three academic
goals clearly stated and defined by professor.
Major goals are:
1) To understand the basic principles of brain function.
2) To understand the neural basis of perception.
3) To be able to apply knowledge in Neurosciences to central problems of
Philosophy, Law and Arts..
Hispanic and European Studies Program- Universitat Pompeu Fabra
2011
1
Hispanic and European Studies Program
Course workload: The course is based on lectures and discussion sessions.
Students will read 4 short papers (two-three pages) and write 2 short
papers/reports (one page) along the course. Students will do a 10 minute oral
presentation to the class. There will be a mid-term and a final exam.
Teaching methodology:
The course will be developed in a set of lectures (50%), seminar session (30%)
and demonstrations (20%).
Lectures are developed in 45 minutes and materials, power point PDFs, will be
available in advance. There will be some selected lectures given by guest
speakers.
Seminars consist of problem solving, paper discussions and general
discussions with invited speakers. Demonstrations include animations and
interactive materials.
Activities will be developed in English.
It is expected that students contribute with their own background to discussions
and works.
Assessment criteria:
Midterm exam: 30%
Final exam: 30%
Class participation: 10%
Term paper and class presentation: 30%
Midterm and final exam consist of an assay with four to five questions or
problems to solve (typically in one written page)
Term paper and class presentation. For the Student Talks (STs), students
will make an oral presentation to their classmates and teachers. Students will
select a topic from a list of offered articles, or they may propose their own
before week 5. They have to deliver an abstract by week 8, when presentations
begin. The activity includes: 1) One page abstract of no more than 550 words
(Arial 10) containing the relevant information and three references. A figure may
be included if appropriate. 2) A talk of 10 minutes + 10 minutes discussion. 3)
The presentation will be on the blackboard, a so-called "chalk talk", Power-Point
not allowed.
Hispanic and European Studies Program- Universitat Pompeu Fabra
2011
2
Hispanic and European Studies Program
Absence policy
After the add/drop, all registrations are considered final and HESP Absence
Policy begins to apply. For the academic year 2014-2015, such policy is as
follows:
Attending class is mandatory and will be monitored daily by professors. Missing
classes will impact on the student’s final grade as follows:
Absences
Up to two (2) absences
Three (3) absences
Four (4) absences
Five (5) absences or more
Penalization
No penalization
1 point subtracted from final grade
(on a 10 point scale)
2 points subtracted from
final grade (on a 10 point scale)
The student receives an
INCOMPLETE (“NO
PRESENTAT”)
for the course
The PEHE/HESP attendance policy does not distinguish between justified
or unjustified absences. The student is deemed responsible to manage
his/her absences.
Emergency situations (hospitalization, family emergency...) will be analyzed on
a case by case basis by the Academic Director of the HESP.
Classroom norms:
- No food or drink is permitted in class
- Students will have a ten-minute break after one one- hour session
Weekly schedule (start Tue Jan13 )
Week 0
Lesson 1. Introduction to the course I
Lesson 2 Introduction to the course II
Week 1
Lesson 3 The evolution of the brain. How to explore the brain.
Seminar 1. How the brain works
Lesson 4. The neurons and the brain. Historical ideas on the brain. Basic
principles of neuron function. Neuronal circuits and brain areas.
Seminar 2. How the brain works.
Reading assignments:
Kandel et al. (2013) The Brain and Behavior, in Principles of Neural Science
chapter 1, pages 5-20
SfN (2012) Introduction to the Brain. Brain Facts. A companion to
BrainFacts.org A primer on the brain and Nervous System. Introduction and
Hispanic and European Studies Program- Universitat Pompeu Fabra
2011
3
Hispanic and European Studies Program
Part 1, pages 4-17.. The Society for Neuroscience,
http://www.brainfacts.org/~/media/Brainfacts/Article Multimedia/About
Neuroscience/Brain Facts book.ashx
Week 2
Lesson 5. The representation of the world: the sensory systems. Organization
of sensory systems: parallel processing sensory receptors, cerebral localization,
distortion. Top-down and bottom–up processing.
Seminar 3. Sensory Systems
Lesson 6. The visual world: from the retina to the brain. Rods and cones and
retinal processing. Contrasts.
Seminar 4. The retina
Week 3
Lesson 7. The visual areas in the brain. Feature extraction. The kantian brain.
Brain categorisation: shape and objects. The conceptual neurons "face cells",
the "object cells".
Seminar 5. The visual cortex
Reading assignments:
Vilis, T. (2014) L1The eye http://www.tutis.ca/Senses/L1Eye/L1eye.swf
Vilis, T L2 The visual cortex http://www.tutis.ca/Senses/L2VisualCortex/l2v1.swf
Week 4
4
Lesson 8. The construction of space. Binocular cues and monocular spatial
reconstruction. From Fra Angelico to Sorolla. The “tromp d’oeil”
Seminar 6. Space in painting
Lesson 9. Colour: what is colour and the construction of colour and light.
Colour contrast. From medieval miniatures to Mondrian
Seminar 7. Colours
Reading assignments:
Vilis, T. (2014) L1The eye http://www.tutis.ca/Senses/L1Eye/L1eye.swf
Vilis, T L2 The visual cortex http://www.tutis.ca/Senses/L2VisualCortex/l2v1.swf
Week 5
Lesson 10. Neuroscience and art. Beauty and meaning. The evolutionary
history of the beauty and history of art. Aesthetic universals?. Artists as intuitive
neurologists. Is cubism a neurological fiasco?
Seminar 8 Neuroscience and art.
Lesson 11. Beauty and Neuroscience.
Invited talk and discussion seminar. Thinking the Middle Ages: Images,
simulacra and phantasmata by Prof. María Morrás, UPF
Seminar 9 On images and phantasmata
Reading assignments:
Zeki (1997) Satement on Neuroesthetics
Hispanic and European Studies Program- Universitat Pompeu Fabra
2011
Hispanic and European Studies Program
http://www.neuroesthetics.org/statement-on- neuroesthetics.php
Conway & Livingstone (2007) Perspectives on science and art. Curr. Opin.
Neurobiol. 17: 476
Ramachandran (2003) Reith Lectures. The emerging mind. Lecture 3: The
artful Brain. Audio and printable versions:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/reith2003/lecture3.shtml
Week 6
Mid-term exam
Lesson 12 Hearing. The inner ear. The auditory brain. The auditory space.
Music, hearing and brain: from hair cells of ecstasy.
Seminar 10 Audition and music
Reading assignments:
Vilis (2014) L9 Hearing http://www.tutis.ca/Senses/L9Auditory/L9Auditory.swf
Zatorre & Salimpoor (2013) From perception to pleasure: music and its neural
substrates. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 110 Suppl 2 :10430-7
http://www.pnas.org/content/110/Supplement_2/10430.long
Week 7
Lesson 13. Smell, taste and flavour. The Proust's madeleine and the roots of
neurogastronomy.
Seminar 11. Smell tricks
Thursday
Lesson 14 Mirror neurons, visual arts and dance.
Invited talk and discussion seminar by Prof. Natalia Gozzano, Academia
Nazionale di Danza.
Seminar 12 Mirror neurons
Reading assignments:
Shepherd (2006) Smell images and the flavour system in the human brain.
Nature. 16;444(7117):316-21
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v444/n7117/full/nature05405.html
Week 8
Lesson 15 Genes and culture: Early experience and perception. The “critical
periods” of post-natal development. Brain plasticity: interactions between the
brain and the environment. The question of "nature and nurture”
Seminar 13 Genes and culture
Lesson 16 Perception and knowledge: epistemology and neuroscience.
Objectivity and truth. What is causality?
Seminar 14 Reading on knowledge
Reading assignments:
Kandel et al. (2013) Experience and refinement of synaptic connections in
Principles of Neural Science, chapter 56, pages 1259-1283
Hispanic and European Studies Program- Universitat Pompeu Fabra
2011
5
Hispanic and European Studies Program
Week 9
Lesson 17 “Knowledge and theory of mind“ More on knowledge Invited talk and
discussion seminar by Prof. Danielle Cozzoli UPF
Seminar 15 Discussion seminar
Lesson 18 Neurosciences and the Law. Subjective responsibility. The question
of the determination and free will. Invited talk and discussion seminar by Prof.
ML Iglesias, UPF
Seminar 16 Discussion seminar
Reading assignments:
Cashmore.A (2009)The Lucretian swerve
http://www.pnas.org/content/107/10/4499.long
Ryle(1949) The concept of mind. Chapter III, The will, pages 49-68
Week 10
Student term paper presentations ST1
Student term paper presentations ST2
Week 11
Student term paper presentations ST3
Seminar 17 General discussion
6
Week 12
Final exam
Hispanic and European Studies Program- Universitat Pompeu Fabra
2011
Hispanic and European Studies Program
Recommended bibliography: (ordered from most general to specific)
KANDEL, E.R., SCHWARTZ, J.H., JESSEL, T.M., SIEGELBAUM, S.A. and
HUNDSPETH, A.J. (2013) Principles of Neural Science. Fifth Edition. McGrawHill, New York, USA
PURVES, D., CABEZA, R., HUETTEL, S.A., LaBAR, K. S., PLATT, M.L.
WOLDORFF, M. G. (2013) Principles of Cognitive Neuroscience Second
Edition., Sinauer Ass., Inc. Publishers, USA
VILIS, T. (2014) The Physiology of the Senses
Transformations for Perception
and Action http://www.tutis.ca/Senses/index.htm
ZEKI, S. (1997) The Wodhull Lecture: visual art and the visual brain. Proc.
Royal Institution of Great Britain, pp29-63
http://www.vislab.ucl.ac.uk/pdf/Woodhull.pdf
EDELMAN, G.M., GALLY, J.A. and BAARS, B.J. (2011) Biology of
consciousness. Front. Psychol. 2011 Jan 25;2:4.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3111444/
BUCKHOLTZ JW, MAROIS R. (2012) The roots of modern justice: cognitive
and neural foundations of social norms and their enforcement. Nat
Neurosci.15(5):655-6
http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v15/n5/full/nn.3087.html
Further reading (following the order of lessons)
ZEKI, S. (1999) Inner Vision. An exploration of art and the brain. Oxford
University Press
LIVINGSTONE, M. (2014) Vision and Art: The Biology of Seeing, Harry N.
Abrams Pub. See also: (2009) What art can tell us about the brain. Lecture at
the University of Michigan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=338GgSbZUYU
TH NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES (2006) From mirror neurons to the
Mona Lisa. Visual Art and Brain.
http://www.nyas.org/publications/EBriefings/Detail.aspx?cid=c9e01685-57ed4a63-b917-f3bb862caa2b
CONWAY, B.R. (2012) Color Consilence: color through the lens of art practice,
history, philosophy, and neuroscience Annals of the New York Academy of
Sciences, 1251, The Year in Cognitive Neuroscience pages 77–94
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.17496632.2012.06470.x/abstract;jsessionid=B9E1A47026571CF924C26D219375B
D9D.f04t02
BIZLEY J.K., COHEN Y.E. (2013) The what, where and how of auditory-object
perception. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2013 Oct;14(10):693-707
http://www.nature.com/nrn/journal/v14/n10/full/nrn3565.html
SACKS, O. (2008) Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain. Vintage Books,
US
ZATORRE RJ, SALIMPOOR VN. (2013) From perception to pleasure: music
and its neural substrates. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 110 Suppl 2:10430-7
http://www.pnas.org/content/110/Supplement_2/10430.long
Hispanic and European Studies Program- Universitat Pompeu Fabra
2011
7
Hispanic and European Studies Program
SHEPHERD GM (2006) Smell images and the flavour system in the human
brain. Nature. 16;444(7117):316-21.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v444/n7117/full/nature05405.html
RYLE, G. (1949) The concept of mind. Routledge, 2009
UTHealth (2014) Neuroscience Online. An electronic textbook for the
Neurosciences, University of Texas, Dept. Neurobiology and Anatomy
http://nba.uth.tmc.edu/neuroscience/
THE SECOND RAYMOND AND BEVERLY SACKLER U.S.A.-U.K.
SCIENTIFIC FORUM: NEUROSCIENCE AND THE LAW
http://sites.nationalacademies.org/PGA/stl/PGA_062477
8
Hispanic and European Studies Program- Universitat Pompeu Fabra
2011