Introduction to Physiological Psychology
Psych 372, Fall 2002
T, Th 9:10 - 10:25
CL 225

Instructor Mike Morgan (morgan@vancouver.wsu.edu)
Office CL 208D
Office hours Thursday 11:00 -12:00 and by appointment
Book Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain,2nd Edition,  by Bear, Connors, & Paradiso
Teaching Assistants Jennifer Grazian, Deborah Langley

Physiological Psychology (also called Biological Psychology or Neuroscience) is the study of the nervous system. Neuroscience is one of the fastest growing and most exciting areas in science today. The goal of this class is to provide you with an understanding of the neural basis of behavior.

Schedule

The course schedule is outlined below. This schedule lists the topics covered each day, the corresponding reading assignments, the dates of the quizzes and exam, and the due date for the paper. This is a tentative schedule. Changes to this schedule will be announced in class.
 
Week
Tuesday
Thursday
1. August 27 & 29 Introduction
pg 3-12; 23-40
Methodology
pg 13-20; 173-175
2. Sept. 3 & 5 Q1; Resting Potential
Ch. 3 (51-65)
Action Potential
Ch. 4 (74-92 bottom)
3. Sept. 10 & 12 Q2; Synapses
Ch. 5 (99-120)
Neurotransmitters
Ch. 6 (140-147)
4. Sept. 17 & 19 Q3; Drugs
Ch. 15 (512-520)
Anatomy
Ch. 7 (164-170 bottom)
5. Sept. 24 & 26 Q4; 1. Sensory
       2. Vestibular (385-393)
Audition
Ch. 11 (351-377)
6. Oct. 1 & 3 Q5; Vision
Ch. 9 (281-294; 301-307)
Vision
Ch. 10 (314-324; 343-347)
7. Oct. 8 & 10 Q6; Somatosensation
Ch. 12 (397-415)
Nociception
Ch. 12 (421-432)
8. Oct. 15 & 17 Review Midterm Exam
9. Oct. 22 & 24 Motor System
Ch. 13 (437-442)
Motor System
Ch. 14 (466-490)
10. Oct. 29 & 31 Q7; Genetics Hormones & Sex
Ch. 17 (499-505; 548-577)
11. Nov. 5 & 7 Q8;Development
Ch. 22 (705-721)
Brain Transplant video
12. Nov. 12 & 14 Q9; Brain Damage Sleep
Ch. 19 (607-633)
13. Nov. 19 & 21 Q10; Learning
Ch. 24 (776-786; 791-796)
Learning 2
Ch. 23 (740-756; 769-771)
 Nov. 26 & 28 Thanksgiving Holiday Thanksgiving Holiday
14. Dec. 3 & 5 Q11; Emotion (505-512)
Ch. 18 (581-592; 600-604)
Language
Paper; Ch. 20 (638-659)
15. Dec. 10 & 12 Q12; Mental Illness
Ch. 21 (686-700)
Mental Disorders
Review
16. Dec. 16 - 20 Final 8:45 - 10:00 AM

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Grades: Grades will be assigned on a 90% (A), 80% (B), 70% (C), 60% (D) scale. Points will be awarded on the basis of your understanding of the material as assessed by 10 quizzes, a one-page paper, and a midterm and Final exam.
 

Quizzes (100 pts), Every Tuesday
Each quiz is worth 10 points. Only 10 of the 12 quizzes will count towards your grade (I will drop your two lowest scores).  If you miss a quiz, you will receive zero points and that quiz score will be dropped. There are no late or makeup quizzes.


Paper (20 pts), 5:00 P.M.,Dec. 5

You are required to write a review of a published article. The article must have a neuroscience theme and can be from a scientific journal or a magazine (e.g., Scientific American, The Neuroscientist, Newsweek, Discover, etc.). The article must be at least two pages long, but your review must not exceed one page (typed, single spaced, 12 point font, 1 inch margins). I recognize that writing a summary on a technical article is more difficult than an easy article and will take that into account when I assign grades. A 10% penalty per class day will be applied to late papers. Your review must include a copy of the article and have the following headings:
a)  Summary: Your goal is to teach me something. Begin by stating the objective of the article (i.e., why was the article written?) and sufficient background information to put the article in context. Most of this section should focus on summarizing the main points of the article.

b) Evaluation:I want to know your honest opinion of the article. This includes what is good and what is bad. Evaluate the article for both content and presentation.
 

Exams (80 pts), Oct. 17 & Finals week There will be a midterm exam covering the material from the first half of the class (40 pts), and a final exam covering the material from the second half of the class (40 pts).
Reasonable accomodations are available for students who have a documented disability.  Please notify Professor Morgan during the first week of class of any accomodations needed for the course.  Late notification may cause the requested accomodations to be unavailable.  Students needing accomodations must have them approved through the Associate Director of Student Services, SS203A.

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