Neuroscience
Advisors; Professors DRISCOLL (director), ERDAL, HORNER; Associate Professors DAUGHERTY, DOUNAY, HATTON, KILLIAN; Assistant Professors COURSE, FERNANDEZ-PETERS
Neuroscience at Colorado College is an interdisciplinary investigation into the structure and functioning of the nervous system. Students who major in Neuroscience gain familiarity with experimental approaches in neuroscience from molecular to behavioral, and they learn to critically read, write about, and discuss primary literature in neuroanatomy, neuropsychology, neuropharmacology, and neurophysiology.
Major Requirements
Major Requirements
Students wishing to major in neuroscience complete a minimum of 14 courses (15 units) across several departments. See the Neuroscience section of the course catalog for a summary of regular course offerings.
1. Required courses
PSYCHOLOGY (PY)
- PY100 (or 105): Introduction to Psychology
- PY205: Introduction to Methods and Statistics AND PY305 (or 301): Topics in Advanced Methods and Statistics
- PY299: Neuroscience (2 blocks)
CHEMISTRY (CH)
MATHEMATICS (MA)
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY (MB)
- MB131: Introduction to Molecular and Cellular Biology
and two of the following upper-level courses:
- PY408: Topical Seminar (Neuroscience topics only)
- PY412: Neuropsychology
- PY419: Neuroscience Methods
- PY420: Cognitive Neuroethology
- PY433: Neuropharmacology
- MB335: Molecular Neurobiology
- MB415: Developmental Neurobiology
CHEMISTRY (CH)
- CH241 Analytical/Bioanalytical Chemistry
- CH251: Reactions of Organic Molecules
- CH382: Biochemistry I
- CH383: Biochemistry II
- CH410: Medicinal Chemistry
- CH480: Advanced Metabolic Pathways
COMPUTER SCIENCE (CP)
HUMAN BIOLOGY AND KINESIOLOGY (HK)
MATHEMATICS (MA)
- MA256 - Mathematical Models in Biology
MOLECULAR BIOLOGY (MB)
- MB201: Laboratory in Molecular and Cellular Biology and Genetics
- MB231: Genetics
- Any 300-level MB course
PHYSICS (PH)
- PC141: Physics for the Life Sciences I
- PC142: Physics for the Life Sciences II
- PC241: Physics for the Physical Sciences I: Mechanics
- PC242: Physics for the Physical Sciences II: Electricity and Magnetism
PSYCHOLOGY (PY)
- Any 300-level or 400-level PY course
Students must give an oral or poster presentation at the Psychology/Neuroscience Poster Day, CSURF, or other departmental or professional conference of research they have conducted or an internship in which they have participated during their time at CC. The research or internship experience can be a research course from one of the following:
It can also be a structured on-campus or off-campus research or internship experience during the summer or school year. The research or internship experience must be approved by, and the presentation scheduled with, the Director of Neuroscience at least one semester prior to the presentation.
Courses
Psychology
issues in psychology such as intelligence, development, perception, learning, abnormal behavior, language, and social behavior are explored. Scientific methodology and its application to psychological phenomena are stressed. Meets the Critical Perspectives: Scientific Investigation of the Natural World lab or field requirement. Meets the Critical Learning: SA requirement.
Examination of psychological phenomena from biobehavioral and sociobehavioral perspectives. Contemporary issues in psychology such as intelligence, development, perception, learning, abnormal behavior, language, and social behavior are explored. Scientific methodology and its application to psychological phenomena are stressed. Meets the Critical Perspectives: Scientific Investigation of the Natural World requirement.
This course will cover the sociological, psychological, religious, and biological contributions to what is called mental illness inside and outside of the United States. Care will be taken to place our current diagnostic system in historical context and to note the Western frame that currently permeates much of the world's attention to mental illness. Select disorders will be chosen to focus on rather than surveying a broad swath of diagnoses, and stigma emanating from medicalization in the West will be addressed. (Not offered 2025-26).
In this course, we will be applying a feminist psychological science lens to the study of the body and the self, asking how is gender embodied and how are bodies gendered? We will pay special attention to examining the ways in which the body is always experienced and evaluated within contexts of power, and will focus particularly on how women’s bodies are disproportionately targeted for objectification, commodification, medicalization and exploitation. In addition to readings, we will be interrogating and curating works of art to explore how embodiment is integral to aesthetic experience, can serve to undermine the objectifying gaze, and hence may provide a foundation for feminist political resistance. Meets the Critical Learning: CP requirement. (Not offered 2025-26).
Introduces students to the theories and methods of studying culture and psychology. Focus is on psychological research that links culture to mental processes and the comparative study of cultural effects. Several topics are covered: development and socialization, self and personality, diversity and multicultural ideologies, ethnic and racial identities, bi/multiculturalism and intersectionality, stereotyping and bias, enculturation and acculturation, intergroup contact, motivation, cognition and perception, judgement and decision making, close relationships, emotion and mental health, and morality and justice. May meet either the Critical Perspectives: Global Cultures or Social Inequality requirement. Meets the Critical Learning: SHB requirement. (Not offered 2025-26).
Major psychoanalytic perspectives of the late 19th and 20th centuries on the concept of the unconscious in theory, case studies, and fiction. Emphasis on unconscious processes as they relate to the formation of identity. Reading from such authors as Freud, Jung, Klein, Winnicott, Kohut, and Yalom. Meets the Critical Learning: AIM requirement. Meets the Critical Learning: SHB requirement. (Not offered 2025-26).
WWII presented a unique set of social and identity-based challenges for Japanese Americans. We examine the manner in which the events of WWII influenced Japanese American identity. We also examine the perspectives of policy makers and non-Japanese Americans. The course includes a field trip. Meets the Critical Learning: CP requirement. (Not offered 2025-26).
What does it mean to “gaze?” What can psychological theories and research about emotion expression and empathy tell us about how and what we see in works of art such as frescoes, paintings, portraiture and sculpture? How is our appreciation of art embodied? How do expressive features in art works of the Renaissance tell a story about the emergence of individuality? How are genders depicted differently in such art works, and how do socio-cultural norms, values and beliefs about gender influence how we see the faces, bodies and emotions of others portrayed in art? How does our “gazing” itself proscribe and police the faces, bodies and emotions we see depicted in art and the real humans we see in the world? These are the questions that will guide our studies in both a classroom and in the “laboratory” of the museums, chapels, galleries, gardens and squares of Florence, Italy. Meets the Critical Learning: AIM requirement. Meets the Critical Learning: CP requirement. (Not offered 2025-26).
Whenever people make decisions that depend upon what others do or are expected to do, they are playing games. Game theory explores how people should play games in order to achieve the best outcome. However, failing to employ an optimal strategy can reveal a great deal about the psychological processes involved in decision making. This course offers an introduction to game theory and explores why people fail to make optimal decisions. Meets the Critical Perspectives: Scientific Investigation of the Natural World requirement. Meets the Critical Learning: FRL requirement.
What does it mean to be 'mad'? Is madness in the eyes of the beholder? This course examines the concept of madness as it has been applied to women from historical, psychological, social, and feminist perspectives. Our goal will be to critically examine the diagnostic criteria used by the psychiatric community and popular culture to define deviance. Using case material, we will investigate the 'logic' of madness, asking to what extent madness might be a reasonable response to unreasonable conditions? The course will include a careful consideration of the rising use of psychopharmacology, particularly in the treatment of depression in women. Meets the Critical Perspectives: Social Inequality requirement. (Not offered 2025-26).
Introduction to a problem of classic or contemporary interest covering source material in depth, and stressing history, theory and method.
What are racism and sexism? Why are people prejudiced? What can be done to improve the strained relationship between groups? This course will introduce students to various frameworks for understanding prejudice, intergroup perception/relations, and the management of conflict between social groups. Students will examine case studies, psychology theories, and will think about their own perceptions of and interactions with people from different social groups. Students will also reflect on the notions of multiculturalism and social justice. Meets the Critical Perspectives: Social Inequality requirement. Meets the Critical Learning: SHB requirement. Meets the Equity and Power: EPUS requirement. (Not offered 2025-26).
Introduction to how psychological processes influence behaviors that help or hurt the environment, and how psychology can help encourage environmental conservation. Readings will be drawn from all areas of psychology. Investigates psychological theories relevant to environmental conservation and how to design research-based interventions to promote conservation. (Not offered 2025-26).
Every action, perception, thought, and decision we make is mediated by neurons in our nervous system. This class provides a detailed understanding of the structure, function, and development of neurons, how they connect to each other, and how these connections underlie how our nervous system acts, learns, and processes information. This course serves as an introduction to neuroscience and establishes the foundation for further study of the nervous system. (Not offered 2025-26).
This course introduces students to the common methods used in psychological science, as well as the statistical, written, and graphical tools for appropriately conveying research in psychological science. Topics covered include critical thinking in evaluating quality of information, the process of scientific inquiry in psychology, ethics of research with both human and non-human animals, basic issues in measurement, reliability and validity, inferential statistical thinking, and the American Psychological Association’s stylistic conventions for writing about and presenting empirical research.
Research in an area supervised by a faculty member. The project may be a review of the literature or a research apprenticeship with a faculty member.
Research in an area supervised by a faculty member and completed in its entirety in a single block. The project may be a review of the literature, a research apprenticeship with a faculty member that may include participant runs, data analysis or lab work, or a directed field study.
Research in an area supervised by a faculty member and completed in its entirety in a single block. The project may be a review of the literature, a research apprenticeship with a faculty member that may include participant runs, data analysis or lab work, or a directed field study.
What is happiness? Do we really know what will make us happy? This course will introduce students to the science of positive psychology, which encompasses the study of positive experiences, character strengths, relationships, institutions and practices that facilitate well-being. We will address questions of how meaning, compassion, fulfillment and resilience relate to happiness and living a satisfying life. We will learn about the basic areas of theory and research in positive psychology and the methods that researchers use to study happiness. We will discuss how the scientific findings related to happiness can be put into practice to allow us to live a happier and more fulfilling life. Finally, we will also discuss how to apply these findings beyond our own lives to enable our communities to flourish. (Not offered 2025-26).
Explores the intersection of developmental psychology and learning theories from early childhood through adolescence. Across the course, the focus is on understanding how development milestones facilitate learning and what teachers can do to cultivate students’ skills and identities as learners. Drawing from contemporary works in cognitive and social development, special education, and the learning sciences, this course connects theory to educational practice both in and out of formal classrooms. It is strongly recommended students take this course after ED260 or equivalent research methods course.
This course will be an in-depth exploration into the lives and theories of a number of influential personality theorists. We will cover several theories from their earliest versions, through changes and modifications with time and research, in order to explore the process of theory-building with respect to understanding people. We will also delve into a number of scientific controversies surrounding personality. For example, what units shall be used to measure personality? Are humans more the product of their dispositions or of the situations in which they find themselves? Is the concept of the self useful and necessary? What is the unconscious? Why do or don't people change?
This course provides an introduction to Industrial and Organizational Psychology, the psychological study of human experience and performance in the workplace. Topics include personnel selection, performance appraisal, professional mentoring, assessment validity, motivation and attitudes, leadership, etc. An important objective of this course is to use an anti-racist approach to understand workplace and organizational dynamics so as to contribute to building future workplaces that are equitable and just. Meets the Critical Learning: SHB requirement. (Not offered 2025-26).
An introduction to the neural bases of behavior, cognition, and emotion. Focus is on neurofunctional systems involved in information processing, plasticity, endocrine regulation, sensation and perception, learning and memory, motivation, and motor systems. Cannot be taken after PY299.
An in-depth exploration of neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and neuropharmacology. The neural substrates and functional underpinnings of processes such as sensation, movement, emotion, memory, and (sub)cortical processing are examined.
Provides students with the opportunity to explore topical areas of psychology in depth, study the current literature, and conduct empirical research.
Mediation (identifying mechanisms) and moderation (identifying interaction effects) allow us to determine why, when, and how an effect occurs. In this course, we will explore the theoretical and computational issues that underlie mediation and moderation analyses. We will also combine these two approaches and consider more advanced modeling techniques, such as conditional process analysis (moderated mediation). Meets the Critical Learning: SA requirement.
Building on the statistical skills developed in PY205, students will explore more advanced statistical techniques. Each section of PY305 will emphasize different areas of statistics and may use different software, so check the department website for more details on each section. Example topics include: Statistical Analyses with R, Experimental Designs using ANOVA, and Mechanisms and Interactions. In all sections, students will design, conduct, and write up their own study.
This half-block course provides students with the opportunity to explore topical areas of neuroscience through current publications. These readings will consist of recent trade books, review articles, journal articles, and/or neuroscience information in the popular press. The course will be conducted in a seminar format with heavy emphasis on discussion of the relevant readings. May be repeated multiple times for credit. (Half block) 0. (Not offered 2025-26).
A research-based analysis of perceptual processes associated with vision, audition, somatosensory, and the integration of these senses. Emphasis will be placed on psychophysical methods and experimental techniques used to investigate sensation and perception. Lecture, discussion and laboratory.
Functional relations between animal and environment that defines learning. The course emphasizes the significance of behavior and plasticity in adaptation and concentrates on learning and how evolutionary processes affect learning. Experimental work involves a range of animals. Lecture, discussion and laboratory.
The process of knowing explored from an empirical perspective. Topics include remembering, thinking, categorizing, meaning, representing, problem solving, imaging, sensing, perceiving and acting. The course has a significant laboratory component of original research using human subjects. (Not offered 2025-26).
Surveys major psychological disorders as scientific as well as sociocultural constructs. Prevalence, assessment, causal factors, treatment approaches, and the legal and ethical implications of 'abnormality' are addressed.
An investigation into the efficacy claims of controversial assessment techniques, diagnoses, and forms of psychotherapy. Assessment of whether claims are empirically supported according to scientific as well as legal standards of evidence. The Commercialization of mental health treatments will also be addressed.
An in-depth exploration of the psychological science of emotion, examining theoretical, philosophical, and empirical research on the nature of emotional experience, expression, and biopsychosocial construction.
A research-based analysis of perspectives, issues, and influences on human development from conception to death. Content areas to be examined include aspects of cognitive, social-emotional, and physical development. Course combines lecture, discussion and laboratory work.
Social psychology is the scientific study of the way people think, feel, and behave in social situations. Topics include attitudes and persuasion, conformity and obedience, social cognition, aggression, prejudice, self-justification, and attraction, with emphasis on critical thinking about integrating theory, research, and everyday situations.
For advanced students to do intensive study in a special area of current faculty interest. (Not offered 2025-26).
An in-depth consideration of the functional organization of the human central nervous system. General topics explored include neurology (e. g., language, spatial memory, sensorimotor, and emotional disorders), brain imaging techniques, and neuropsychological assessment. Field experience with brain-damaged/impaired individuals.
An empirically-based survey of the prevalence, etiology, course and treatment of child and adolescent psychological disorders. Biological and sociocultural aspects of psychopathology are addressed and ethical implications of common treatment strategies are discussed. (Not offered 2025-26).
This course will delve into the electrical properties of neurons and principals of synaptic transmission, integration, and information processing. We will analyze the foundation of modern neurophysiology and the development of research methods to measure electrical activity and signal processing at the level of the synapse, single neurons, circuits, and systems. Special emphasis will be placed on peripheral and central auditory neurophysiology and the perception of vocal communication signals in human and non-human animals. (Not offered 2025-26).
Aesthetic experiences can arise from the appreciation of human artifacts such as artworks or natural objects like sunsets or mountain scenes. Aesthetic experience is emotionally rewarding, but puzzlingly so, because nothing urgent or even immediately personally relevant need be happening. The psychology of aesthetics is one of the oldest fields in psychology, occupying the scholars who developed psychology as a discipline in the late 19th century, and yet it remains relatively obscure because of the difficulty of studying what “moves us” with the tools of psychological science. In this course we will explore cerebral and embodied approaches to understanding aesthetic experience, as well as the relationship between aesthetic experience and personal, interpersonal, and even cultural well-being. (Not offered 2025-26).
Introduction to basic neuroscience laboratory and research methodology. Students will gain experience in nonhuman behavioral analyses, drug administration, and perfusion techniques; tissue preparation, histology, and sectioning; quantitative neuromorphology and stereology techniques.
This course will examine questions of morality, moral behavior and conflict in humans and non-humans from a wide variety of angles within psychology. We will place special emphasis on social psychology's efforts to unravel the causes and consequences of 'evil. ' Finally, we will conduct an in-depth analysis of a current area of moral and political conflict - capital punishment, abortion, global sustainability, etc. - in an effort to apply the lessons learned from psychology to its resolution. (Not offered 2025-26).
An exploration of psychological variables that impact sport participation and behavior in sport settings. Applied, experimental, and clinical aspects of sport psychology are covered in a discussion-based format. Specific topics, which originate from core psychological principles, include but are not limited to sport-related motivation, superstition, and anxiety, the use of imagery and drugs, and how age, gender, race, and spectators impact sport. (Not offered 2025-26).
Is 'storm and stress' a normal part of adolescence? Is adolescence a discrete developmental stage or a social construction? This course examines the adolescent experience from theoretical, empirical, cross-cultural, and biographical perspectives. A case analysis approach is used to examine the implications of cognitive, socio-emotional and physical changes that occur during adolescence. The course investigates the nature of the adolescent passage in its typical and atypical forms and examines socio-cultural factors that contribute to healthy or maladaptive adolescent development.
Neuroscience is based on the premise that thoughts, sensations and actions are, at some level, encoded in chemical and electrical signals. This course explores central nervous system pharmacology at multiple levels, including the cellular and molecular bases of neurochemical signaling and its modulation, mechanisms of action of pharmacological agents on neurotransmitter system dynamics, and foundations of behavioral pharmacology. Having covered these fundamentals, the course explores current topics, including cellular models of learning and memory, pharmacology of neurological diseases and their treatment, and drug abuse and dependence.
Game Theory is used in a variety of fields to explore how people (and other animals) should make decisions when the actions of others are involved in the outcome. Game theory can tell us the optimal solution in these kinds of interactions. However, failing to employ an optimal strategy can reveal a great deal about the psychological processes involved in decision making. This course offers an introduction to game theory and explores why organisms fail to make optimal decisions. Meets the Critical Perspectives: Scientific Investigation of the Natural World requirement.
This course explores the impact of natural selection on human and animal behavior. It begins with an overview of evolutionary processes and covers such topics as: emotion, morality, mate selection, learning, altruism, parent-offspring interaction, ownership and irrationality. The course focuses on primary reading from Darwin through contemporary scholarship in biology and psychology. Critiques of this approach are also discussed. (Not offered 2025-26).
In depth exploration of a particular topic under the supervision of a faculty member. A final project may take several forms: (a) supervised independent research leading to a publishable paper, (b) a review of the literature to address a particular issue, or (c) directed field study.
In depth exploration of a particular topic under the supervision of a faculty member. A final project may take several forms: (a) supervised independent research leading to a publishable paper, (b) a review of the literature to address a particular issue, or (c) directed field study.
In depth exploration of a particular topic under the supervision of a faculty member. A final project may take several forms: (a) supervised independent research leading to a publishable paper, (b) a review of the literature to address a particular issue, or (c) directed field study.