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Spring 2008 First day of classes: Pitt January 7, 2008; CMU January 14, 2008. Core courses:
CMU Biological Sciences 03-761 Neural Plasticity in Sensory and Motor Systems: 9 units
Neural plasticity underlies the capacity of the central nervous system to encode new information, develop new abilities and adapt to the environment. Plasticity is required for learning and is modulated during development and by disorders of the brain. Recent advances in experimental methodology have led to new insights on the biological mechanisms underlying neural plasticity. The topics if the papers chosen for review will center on recent experimental and theoretical studies of topics such as synaptic plasticity, developmental and activity-dependent changes in sensory and motor maps. 03-815 Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Neuroscience: 9 units
The course is designed to introduce students to the fundamental principles of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and its application in neuroscience. MRI is emerging as the preeminent method to obtain structural and functional information about the living human brain. This methodology has helped to revolutionize neuroscience and the study of human cognition. The specific topics covered in this course will include: introduction to spin gymnastics, survey of imaging methods, structural brain mapping, functional MRI (fMRI), and MR spectroscopy (MRS). Approximately, one third of the course will be devoted to introductory concepts of magnetic resonance, another third to the discussion of MRI methods, and the remaining third will cover a broad range of neuroscience applications. Guest lectures will be incorporated into the course from neuroscientists and psychologists who use MRI in their own research. CMU Computer Science 15-685 Computer Vision: 12 units
This course deals with the science and engineering of computer vision, that is, the analysis of patterns in visual images of the world with the goal of reconstructing and understanding the objects and processes in the world that are producing them. The emphasis is on physical, mathematical, and information processing aspects of vision, but biological and psychological perspectives will also be considered. Topics covered include image formation and representation, multi-scale analysis, segmentation, contour and region analysis, reconstruction of depth based on stereo, texture shading and motion, and analysis and recognition of objects and scenes using statistical and model-based techniques. 10-701 Machine Learning: 12 units
15-785 Computional Perception: 12 units
The perceptual capabilities of even the simplest biological organisms are far beyond what we can achieve with machines. Whether you look at sensitivity, robustness, or sheer perceptual power, perception in biology just works, and works in complex, ever changing environments, and can pick up the most subtle sensory patterns. How do brains do it? Is it the neural hardware? Does biology solve funamentally different problems? What can we learn from biological systems and human perception? This course teaches advanced aspects of perception and scene analysis in both the visual and auditory modalities, concentrating on those aspects that allow us and animals to behave in natural, complex environments. In this course, you will learn how to reason scientifically about problems and issues in perception and scene analysis, how to extract the essential computational properties of those abstract ideas, and finally how to convert these into explicit mathematical models and computational algorithms. In the process, you will cover a wide range of literature that provide a very different perspectives on problems and properties of natural perception. CMU Psychology 85-712 Cognitive Modeling: 9 units
This course will be concerned with modeling of agent behavior in a range of applications from laboratory experiments on human cognition, high-performance simulations such as flight simulators, and video game environments like Unreal Tournament. The first half of the course will teach a high-level modeling language for simulating human perception, cognition, and action. The second half of the course will be a project in which students develop a simulated agent or agents for the application of their choice.
85-714 Cognitive Neuropsychology: 9 units
85-719 Introduction to Parallel Distributed Processing: 9 units
This course will provide an overview of parallel-distributed processing models of aspects of perception, memory, language, knowledge representation, and learning. The course will consist of lectures describing the theory behind the models as well as their implementation, and students will get hands-on experience running existing simulation models on workstations.
85-723 Cognitive Development: 9 units
The general goals of this course are that students become familiar with the basic phenomena and the leading theories of cognitive development, and that they learn to critically evaluate research in the area. Piagetian and information processing approaches will be discussed and contrasted. The focus will be upon the development of childrens information processing capacity and the effect that differences in capacities have upon the childs ability to interact with the environment in problem solving and learning situations.
85-729 Cognitive Brain Imaging: 9 units
This seminar will examine how the brain executes higher level cognitive processes, such as problem-solving, language comprehension, and visual thinking. The topic will be addressed by examining what recent brain imaging studies can tell us about these various kinds of thinking. This new scientific approach has the potential of providing important information about how the brain thinks, indicating not only what parts perform what function, but also how the activity of different parts of the brain are organized to perform some thinking task, and how various neurological diseases (e.g. aphasia, Alzheimer's) affect brain activity. A variety of different types of thinking will be examined, including short-term working memory storage and computation, problem solving, language comprehension, visual thinking. Several different technologies for measuring brain activity (e.g. PET and functional MRI and also some PET imaging) will be c onsidered, attempting to relate brain physiology to cognitive functioning. The course will examine brain imaging in normal subjects and in people with various kinds of brain damage. Graduate Students Only.
85-795 Applications of Cognitive and Perceptual Psychology: 9 units
The famous psychologist George Miller once said that Psychology should "give itself away." The goal of this course is to look at cases where we have done so -- or at least tried. The course focuses on applications that are sufficiently advanced as to have made an impact outside of the research field per se. That impact can take the form of a product, a change in practice, or a legal statute. The application should have a theoretical base, as contrasted, say, with pure measurement research as in ergonomics. Examples of applications are virtual reality (in vision, hearing, and touch), cognitive tutors based on models of cognitive processing, phonologically based reading programs, latent semantic analysis applications to writing assessment, and measurses of consumers' implicit attitudes. The course will use a case-study approach that considers a set of applications in detail, while building a genera l understanding of what it means to move research into the applied setting. The questions to be considered include: What makes a body of theoretically based research applicable? What is the pathway from laboratory to practice? What are the barriers - economic, legal, entrenched belief or practice? The format will emphasize analysis and discussion by students. CMU Robotics 16-725 Medical Image Analysis: 12 units
CMU Statistics 36-702 Statistical Machine Learning CR: 12 units
36-746 Statistical Methods for Neuroscience and Psychology CR: 12 units
Pitt Bioengineering BIOE 2540 Neural Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering CR HRS:
Pitt Mathematics MATH 3370 Mathematical Neuroscience CR HRS: 3.0
Pitt Psychology PSY 2135 Social Perception & Cognition CR HRS: 3.0
Focuses on how we perceive social objects (ourselves and other people). Topics include cognitive processes underlying social perception (e.g., mental representations, hypotheses testing implicit cognition, and use of judgmental heuristics) and basic social psychological processes such as attribution, norm perception, social comparison, stereotypes, detecting emotions and deception, and self-fulfilling prophecies. Addresses motives that influence social perception processes, and the role that the self plays as both an antecedent and consequence of these processes. Attention will also be paid to individual and cultural differences in social cognition. Basic knowledge of social psychology prior to enrollment strongly encouraged.
PSY 2455 Human Cognition: Language & Reading CR HRS: 3.0
This 3-term graduate course in the cognitive psychology of language and reading satisfies a core requirement of the cognitive psychology PhD program and is open to graduate students in other departments. A major goal of the course is that students learn the central theoretical issues and empirical results in the study of language and reading processes. A related goal is that students gain experience in reasoning about, discussing, and writing about these issues. A third goal is to acquaint students with research methods, including methods of high applicability to cognitive research in general and methods that have special applications to specific topics on cognition. Some course materials are available at http://www.pitt.edu/~perfetti/psych2455.htm. Readings from recent journals can be downloaded from the University of Pittsburgh electronic journals list. Pitt Neuroscience NROSCI 2012 Neurophysiology: CR HRS: 3.0
In this course we will examine the functioning of neurons and synapses, the basic units responsible for fast communication within the nervous system. The course will focus on the elegant use of electrical mechanisms by the nervous system, and on the powerful quantitative approach to scientific investigation that is fundamental to neurophysiology. Topics that will be addressed include: principles of electric current flow exploited by the nervous system; the basis of the resting potential of neurons; the structure and function of voltage-gated and neurotransmitter-gated ion channels; generation and propagation of action potentials; the physiology of fast synaptic communication.
NROSCI 2035 Control of Movement CR HRS: 3.0
NROSCI/MSNBIO 2102 Systems Neurobiology: CR HRS: 6.0
This course is a component of the introductory graduate sequence designed to provide an overview of neuroscience. This course provides an introduction to the structure of the mammalian nervous system and to the functional organization of sensory systems, motor systems, regulatory systems, and systems involved in higher brain functions. It is taught primarily in a lecture format with some laboratory work. The course covers in detail the major sensory, motor and behavioral regulatory systems of the brain. The course satisfies the CNBC core requirement in neuroanatomy.
NROSCI/MSNBIO 2110 Statistical Methods for Neuroscience CR HRS: 4.0
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