Course Meeting Times
Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session
Course Description
This course highlights the interplay between cellular and molecular storage mechanisms and the cognitive neuroscience of memory, with an emphasis on human and animal models of hippocampal mechanisms and function. Class sessions include lectures and discussion of papers.
Textbook
Gluck, Mark, Eduardo Mercado, and Catherine Myers. Learning and Memory: From Brain to Behavior. New York, NY: Worth Publishers, 2007. ISBN: 9780716786542.
Class Presentations
In each class, two assigned articles will be presented by students, followed by class discussion. Before each class each student is to prepare a synopsis of the two articles that will be presented by students. This exercise is intended to make you sufficiently familiar with the articles to permit an intelligent discussion after each presentation.
Grading
| ACTIVITIES | PERCENTAGES |
|---|---|
| Class presentations and participation | 25% |
| Twelve 8-minute quizzes | 25% |
| Mid-term test | 25% |
| Final examination | 25% |
| (Optional 10-15 page paper) | (20%) |
Calendar
| LEC # | TOPICS | INSTRUCTORS | KEY DATES |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The psychology of learning and memory | Wilson | |
| 2 | The neuroscience of learning and memory | Wilson | |
| 3 | The neuroscience of learning and memory (cont.) | David Ziegler | 8 minutes quiz |
| 4 | Episodic and semantic memory: memory for facts and events | Corkin | |
| 5 | Episodic and semantic memory: memory for facts and events (cont.) | Corkin | 8 minutes quiz |
| 6 | Episodic and semantic memory: memory for facts and events (cont.) | Corkin | 8 minutes quiz |
| 7 | Skill memory: learning by doing | Vincent Cheung | |
| 8 | Skill memory: learning by doing (cont.) | Corkin | 8 minutes quiz |
| 9 | Working memory and executive control | Paymon Hosseini | 8 minutes quiz |
| 10 | Working memory and executive control (cont.) | Corkin | |
| 11 | Non-associative learning: learning about repeated events | Wilson | 8 minutes quiz |
| 12 | Non-associative learning: learning about repeated events (cont.) | Wilson | |
| 13 | Classical conditioning: learning to predict important events | Wilson | 8 minutes quiz |
| 14 | Classical conditioning: learning to predict important events (cont.) | Wilson | |
| Mid-term test | |||
| 15 | Instrumental conditioning: learning the consequences of behavior | Wilson | |
| 16 | Instrumental conditioning: learning the consequences of behavior (cont.) | Wilson | 8 minutes quiz |
| 17 | Generalization, discrimination, and the representation of similarity | Wilson | 8 minutes quiz |
| 18 | Generalization, discrimination, and the representation of similarity (cont.) | Wilson | |
| 19 | Observational learning: watching, listening, and remembering | Wilson | 8 minutes quiz |
| 20 | Observational learning: watching, listening, and remembering (cont.) | Josh Sarinana | |
| 21 | Emotional leaning and memory | Corkin | 8 minutes quiz |
| 22 | Emotional leaning and memory (cont.) | Corkin | |
| 23 | Learning and memory across the lifespan | Corkin | 8 minutes quiz |
| 24 | Learning and memory across the lifespan (cont.) | Corkin | |
| 25 | Language learning: communication and cognition | Corkin | 8 minutes quiz |
| Final examination | |||