Human Neuroscience Seminar Wtr 2024
Psych 555B (Seminar in Cognition & Perception)
KINCAID 102
UNDERGRADS: Email Ione Fine ionefine@uw.edu for an add code!
Instructor: Ione Fine
Ever wanted to look inside your own brain? Thanks to a generous Student Tech Fee grant the Center for Human Neuroscience has the opportunity to offer students the chance to carry out their own research in human neuroscience.
SCHEDULE
| 1 | Wed, Jan 3, 2024 (John) |
Welcome to brain imaging!This class consists of a tour of the scanner and a brief introduction to the history of neuroscience. |
| 2 | Wed, Jan 10, 2024 (Ione) |
This class consists of a very brief introduction to MR neuroimaging and the kinds of data that will be questions that can be asked by the STF collective. HOMEWORK 1. Class slides are here. 2. Please submit three questions here (using your UW email address). I am not collecting names (you can add your name/email optionally if you want me to give you some informal feedback) so I’m relying on the Honor system. But you aren’t neuroscientists, so that should be fine … 3. If you want to be involved in collecting data in any way you need to do CHN-MRI Level 2 Safety Training (3hrs):This is the standard Safety Training for CHN-MRI researchers, and by attending you will be certified as having Level 2 Researcher Safety Training to run scans at CHN with the MRI technologist. Anyone doing research at CHN-MRI needs to complete this training. Training will be in person in Kincaid Hall and include a center tour and safety walkthrough and a break. If you’d like to attend Safety Training, indicate your availability here asap: https://whenisgood.net/chnsafetyjan2024 |
| 3 | Wed, Jan 17, 2024 (Ione) |
In this class we’ll discuss questions.
HOMEWORK 1. This is the list of topics we want to generate questions on. (Please don’t sign up for a question until you are ready to work on it.) 2. This is the draft document for the rating scales. I’ve added a few to get you started, so it’s worth having a look at my examples if you feel uncertain about what you are meant to be doing. 3. Look around in the literature to see if someone already has a scale that might work. It’s usually better to use a scale that has been validated (happy to talk about what that means in next class if we have time). {Oddly I found searching using google was better than google scholar or pubmed} A good search strategy is to add “short rating scale” to terms related to the concept you are interested in, e.g. “short rating scale for introversion extroversion” Try not to add a 40 question rating scale. If that’s all you can find, maybe select a subset of questions? 4. If you can’t find a rating scale – make up your own! 5. Add your rating scale to the draft document. 6. Extra credit (not really, this is a 1 CR class). Look at what other people have done and maybe make constructive comments? |
| 4 | Wed, Jan 24, 2024 | HOMEWORK
1. This is the list of questions we want to generate questions on. Red means they aren’t yet in the ITHS survey. 2. This the ITHS RedCap site 3. If you haven’t yet joined ITHS, then register using your UW email and then send me that email address so I can add you to the project. 4. Add questions to the database. 5. Go back to the list of questions and make those questions black. |
| 5 | Wed, Jan 31, 2024 | Class will consist of individual Zoom sessions where I’ll help you with your stats and presentation. |
| 6 | Wed, Feb 7, 2024 | Class will consist of individual Zoom sessions where I’ll help you with your stats and presentation. |
| 7 | Wed, Feb 14, 2024 (John) |
Look at the big brain on Brad! Each of you will do the first steps in looking at the anatomy, connections, and functional connections (neurons talking to each other) within your own brain. In honor of Valentine’s day there will be a prize for the more adorable brain (yes, some brains are more adorable than others). |
| 8 | Wed, Feb 21, 2024 (John & Ione) |
Look at the big brain on Brad …continued. |
| 9 | Wed, Feb 28, 2024 (Ione) |
Class presentations. These will be really casual – just explaining what you did with the stats and what you eventually want to do once you have brain data. The idea is simply that you have a chance to discuss your ideas with the class. |
| 10 | Wed, Mar 6, 2024 (Ione) |
Presentations continued. |
Although this is listed as a Cognition and Perception class, it’s open to a wide variety of students: from clinical psychology to philosophy – anyone interested in human neuroscience.
To facilitate access, we’re offering a seminar that will help students design and carry out their own human neuroscience experiments. Classes will be in person, with the option of attending on Zoom (though that’s not advised for some hands-on classes). Registration is optional, though preferred.
This class is suitable for all undergraduate and graduate students with an interest in brains.
The basic format of the class is that this quarter you will (1) design survey questionnaire data (2) get your brain scanned (optional), (3) practice some basic analyses on the survey data and do some basic analyses on your own brain.
Although this class won’t allow you to run a full experiment in a single quarter (it’s a 1 credit class!), your questions will become part of the STF database, so hopefully next quarter you would be able to complete your experiment.
