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Course Description

Summary

How does light energy falling on the back of our eye get interpreted as a particular image of our friend or a painting or a leaf? How does a cockroach escape imminent predation by a toad? How does a slug remember that a recent poke wasn't dangerous? How do we remember? A rigorous consideration of general principles of neural integration at the cellular, sensory, central, and motor levels of organization serves as the groundwork for an examination of such questions of integration. Then we apply those principles to particular systems including: locust flight, cockroach escape, the role of giant fibers in crayfish behavior, memory and learning in invertebrates and vertebrates, and vertebrate visual systems (from light transduction in the retina through integration in the visual cortex). Students read appropriate primary literature and conduct their own research projects. Corequisites: Must register for lab, BIO4202L.