The human brain is our most complex organ and understanding its function is one of the most active frontiers of neuroscience today. In this course, we review what we know of how the brain works by making the connections between the brain's anatomy and human behavior. How come a patient suddenly becomes incapable of understanding language if a tiny portion of her brain is damaged, but another patient can seemingly live a normal life after almost half of her brain was surgically removed? We build a brain from the ground up, learning which brain areas, circuits, and types of neurotransmitters are understood and can be used by neuroscientists today. Each day, we have a short lecture followed by a class discussion. At the end of the course, students choose a question about the brain and explain how the material learned in class helps them think about it.
Harvard Pre-College Program
1100 Massachusetts Avenue
3rd Floor
Cambridge, MA 02118