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The Brain and Space

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Course Summary

Explore the fascinating world of the human brain and learn how it shapes our perception, behavior, and emotions in this comprehensive course.

Key Learning Points

Understand the basic structure and functions of the human brain
Explore the latest research on how the brain processes information
Learn about common neurological disorders and their treatments

Learning Outcomes

Understand the basic structure and functions of the human brain
Critically evaluate scientific research on the brain
Recognize common neurological disorders and their treatments

Prerequisites or good to have knowledge before taking this course

Basic understanding of biology and psychology
Interest in neuroscience and brain functions

Course Difficulty Level

Intermediate

Course Format

Online self-paced
Video lectures
Quizzes and assignments

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Description

This course is about how the brain creates our sense of spatial location from a variety of sensory and motor sources, and how this spatial sense in turn shapes our cognitive abilities.

Knowing where things are is effortless. But “under the hood,” your brain must figure out even the simplest of details about the world around you and your position in it. Recognizing your mother, finding your phone, going to the grocery store, playing the banjo – these require careful sleuthing and coordination across different sensory and motor domains. This course traces the brain’s detective work to create this sense of space and argues that the brain’s spatial focus permeates our cognitive abilities, affecting the way we think and remember. The material in this course is based on a book I've written for a general audience. The book is called "Making Space: How the Brain Knows Where Things Are", and is available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or directly from Harvard University Press. The course material overlaps with classes on perception or systems neuroscience, and can be taken either before or after such classes. Dr. Jennifer M. Groh, Ph.D. Professor Psychology & Neuroscience; Neurobiology Duke University www.duke.edu/~jmgroh Jennifer M. Groh is interested in how the brain process spatial information in different sensory systems, and how the brain's spatial codes influence other aspects of cognition. She is the author of a recent book entitled "Making Space: How the Brain Knows Where Things Are" (Harvard University Press, fall 2014). Much of her research concerns differences in how the visual and auditory systems encode location, and how vision influences hearing. Her laboratory has demonstrated that neurons in auditory brain regions are sometimes responsive not just to what we hear but also to what direction we are looking and what visual stimuli we can see. These surprising findings challenge the prevailing assumption that the brain’s sensory pathways remain separate and distinct from each other at early stages, and suggest a mechanism for such multi-sensory interactions as lip-reading and ventriloquism (the capture of perceived sound location by a plausible nearby visual stimulus). Dr. Groh has been a professor at Duke University since 2006. She received her undergraduate degree in biology from Princeton University in 1988 before studying neuroscience at the University of Michigan (Master’s, 1990), the University of Pennsylvania (Ph.D., 1993), and Stanford University (postdoctoral, 1994-1997). Dr. Groh has been teaching undergraduate classes on the neural basis of perception and memory for over fifteen years. She is presently a faculty member at the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience and the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences at Duke University. She also holds appointments in the Departments of Neurobiology and Psychology & Neuroscience at Duke. Dr. Groh’s research has been supported by a variety of sources including the John S. Guggenheim Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Program, the McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience, the John Merck Scholars Program, the EJLB Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Whitehall Foundation, and the National Organization for Hearing Research.

Outline

Course Introduction and Vision (Part 1)
Lecture 1.1 - (S) Introduction to the Course
Lecture 1.2 - (S) Vision: What Do We See?
Lecture 1.3 - (S) Vision: How Light is Sensed by Neurons, Part 1
Lecture 1.4 - (S) Vision: How Light is Sensed by Neurons, Part 2
Lecture 1.5 - (S) Vision: How the Eye Forms an Image, Part 1
Lecture 1.6 - (S) Vision: How the Eye Forms an Image, Part 2
Lecture 1.7 - (E) Vision: Movie Interlude - Turning the World Upside-Down
Getting Started
Syllabus
Grading and Logistics
Philosophy
Readings
Module 1 Quiz

Vision (Part 2), the Body, and Neural Signals
Lecture 2.1 - (S) Vision: Binocular Cues for Depth Perception
Lecture 2.2 - (S) Vision: Monocular Cues for Depth Perception
Lecture 2.3 - (S) Introduction to Body Position Sensing
Lecture 2.4 - (S) Body Position Sensory Receptors
Lecture 2.5 - (G) Neural Signals: The Resting Membrane Potential
Lecture 2.6 - (G) Neural Signals: The Action Potential
Lecture 2.7 - (S) Converting the Mechanical to the Electrical
Lecture 2.8 - (E) Body Position Illusions and Experiments I: Pinocchio and Crossed Hands
Lecture 2.9 - (E) Body Position Illusions and Experiments II: Prisms
Module 2 Quiz

Brain Maps
Lecture 3.1 - (S) Introduction: Figures and Backgrounds
Lecture 3.2 - (S, G, E) Synapses and Center-Surround Organization
Lecture 3.3 - (S) Maps of Visual Space
Lecture 3.4 - (S) Orientation and Border Ownership
Lecture 3.5 - (S, E) Phantom Limb and the Blind Spot
Lecture 3.6 - (S, E) Motion Vision
Module 3 Quiz

Sound and Brain Representations
Lecture 4.1 - (S) What is sound and how is it sensed?
Lecture 4.2 - (S) Deducing the Location of Sounds
Lecture 4.3 - (S) Movements and the "Cone of Confusion"
Lecture 4.4 - (S) Spectral Cues and the "Cone of Confusion"
Lecture 4.5 - (S) Learning to Find Sounds
Lecture 4.6 - (S, E) Ventriloquism and Finding Sounds
Lecture 4.7 - (S) Determining the Distance of Sounds
Lecture 4.8 - (S) Brain Maps as Representations
Lecture 4.9 - (S) Brain Meters as Representations
Lecture 4.10 -(S) Brain Meters and Movements
Lecture 4.11 -(S, E) Translating Maps to Meters
Lecture 4.12 - (S, E) Brain Representations for Sound
Module 4 Quiz - Part I
Module 4 Quiz - Part II

Reference Frames and Navigation
Lecture 5.1 - (S) Defining Spatial Locations
Lecture 5.2 - (S) Visual Space is Synthesized Across Eye Movements
Lecture 5.3 - (S, E) Sensing Eye Position via Motor Commands
Lecture 5.4 - (S, E) Coordinating Between Vision and Touch
Lecture 5.5 - (S, E) Coordinating Between Vision and Hearing
Lecture 5.6 - (S, E) Translating Auditory Information into Visual Coordinates
Lecture 5.7 - (S) Going Places I: The Vestibular System
Lecture 5.8 - (S) Going Places II: Vision and Movement
Module 5 Quiz

Memory and Cognition
Lecture 6.1 - (S) Memory and Space: A Two-Way Street
Lecture 6.2 - (S) Memory in Neural Activity
Lecture 6.3 - (S) Memory in Synapses
Lecture 6.4 - (S, E) Memory and Parietal Cortex
Lecture 6.5 - (S, E) Memory, Navigation and the Hippocampus
Lecture 6.6 - (S) Space and Thinking
Lecture 6.7 - (S, E) Behavioral Ties Between Space and Thought
Lecture 6.8 - (S, E) Brain Evidence Connecting Space and Thought
Lecture 6.9 - (S) Space and Abstract Thought
Module 6 Quiz

Summary of User Reviews

Discover the wonders of the human brain through this engaging course on Coursera. Users have described it as informative and fascinating, providing a great overview of brain anatomy and function. One key aspect that many users thought was good is the interactive and visual nature of the course material.

Pros from User Reviews

Informative and engaging content
Clear explanations of brain anatomy and function
Interactive and visual course material
Great overview of the human brain
Well-structured course with easy to follow modules

Cons from User Reviews

Some users found the course material to be too basic or introductory
Limited interaction with course instructors
Not enough depth on certain topics
Some technical issues with the platform
No certificate of completion for free users

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