Psyc 2: Biological Foundations

Thank you for a great quarter.

PSYC 2: Biological Foundations - Fall 2012 - Professor Claffey

Instructor: Mike Claffey (mclaffey@ucsd.edu)
Location: Price Center Theater (map)

Scroll down for Syllabus
To view grades and discussion forums, go to csemoodle.ucsd.edu and use your UCSD login

Announcements

Course grades have been posted to moodle, including final exam, SONA, extra credit papers and the clicker-exempt adjustment.
Please try to resolve any questions before Wednesday, as that is when I'll be uploading to the UCSD grading system.
Final exam analysis is posted. Unlike the tests, the questions will not be posted online.

Calendar

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Weekly schedule for: Class Office Hours (OH)	1 PM class (Price Center Theater) 3:30 - 5 PM Brad OH (McGill 3340)		1 PM class (Price Center Theater)	3-5 Prof. Claffey OH (McGill 3340) 5-6 Sinjin OH (Muir Woods)	10:30-12 Hans OH (McGill 3318) 1 PM class (Price Center Theater)
Sept Week 0	24	25	26	27	28 Syllabus	29
Week 1	Oct 1 UNIT: NEURONS Notes: Neurons Neurons	2	3 Action potentials	4	5 Notes: Synapse Notes: Synapse part2 (Sinjin's PDF) Synapses/ neurotransmitters	6
7 Week 2	8 Synapses cont. Synaptic learning/ plasticity	9	10 Synaptic learning/ plasticity cont.	11	12 Cell Biology supplement added Quizlet EXAM 1 (PDF, Analysis) last day to add	13
14 Week 3	15 UNIT: SENSATION Notes: Vision part I Light / eyes	16	17 Lower vision Professor's OH, 3-5 PM, (McGill 3340)	18 This week only: professor's OH moved to Wednesday, Brad's OH 3:30-5 PM (McGill 3340)	19 Cortical vision Notes: Vision part II (Brad's lecture)	20
21 Week 4	22 Audition Notes: Other sense	23	24 Touch/ smell/ taste	25 Association for Women in Science SD Open House, 5:30 PM	26 EXAM 2 (PDF, Analysis) last day to drop without W	27
28 Week 5	29 UNIT: ORGANIZATION Notes: Anatomy of the nervous system (PDF)	30	31 (Halloween) Notes: Organization (PDF / HTML) Cortical/ subcortical structures	Nov 1	2 Motor system	3
4 Week 6	5 Lateralization	6	7 Development (Enrollment for Winter quarter begins)	8	9 EXAM 3 (PDF, Analysis) Study Guide Quizlet	10
11 Week 7	12 Veteran's holiday: no class	13	14 UNIT: COGNITION Notes: Cognition 1 (PDF / HTML) Executive Functions	15	16 Executive function cont.	17
18 Week 8	19 Notes: Cognition 2 (PDF / HTML) Human Memory	20	21 Animal memory (podcast only, no class)	22	23 Thanksgiving: no class	24
25 Week 9	26 CAPE evaluations start Notes: Cognition 3 (PDF / HTML) Motivation / Attention	27	28 Emotion	29 Review session: 6-7 PM, McGill 1350 Deadline to propose a topic is 11:59 PM	30 EXAM 4 (PDF, Analysis) Quizlet last day to drop with a W Deadline to have extra credit topic approved with professor (approved topics)	Dec 1
2 Week 10 TEDxWomen Conference	3 UNIT: DAMAGE & DISORDERS Notes: Damage & Disorders (PDF / HTML) Damage, Neural Recovery	4	5 Neuro-psychological Diseases 4 PM Deadline to assign Sona credits	6 4 PM Deadline to assign Sona credits Review session: McGill 1350, 6-7 PM	7 Finish neuropsych diseases, last lecture Deadline to turn in extra credit paper at beginning of class	8
9 Finals Week Last day to submit CAPES	10 FINAL 11:30-2:30 Location: Same as class (analysis)	11	12	13	14	15

Syllabus

Biological Foundations
PSYC 2
Instructor: Michael Claffey
Fall 2012

At a glance

How does the nervous system enable us to see, remember, think, act and feel? This is an intro course at the intersection of psychology and neuroscience. That means that we will be learning about the details of neurons, the retina, the frontal lobe and the hippocampus (to name a few topics) to help us understand human behavior.

The course will be organized in 4 units, each lasting about two weeks and having a multiple choice exam. These exams will be worth 50% of your grade with the cumulative multiple choice final worth 40%. The other 10% will consist of in class questions answered with iClickers (you'll only have to answer half of the questions correctly to get full credit, so low pressure).

The class will be tightly integrated with the textbook, so expect to read as necessary. Notes will be available online and the lectures will be podcast.

Description

Physiological and psychological mechanisms underlying selected areas of human behavior. Emphasis on sensory processes, vision, and the neuropsychology of motivation, memory, and attention.

Lectures

MWF 1:00-1:50 PM
Location: Price Center Theater (map)

Holidays:
Veteran's Day: Monday, November 12
Thanksgiving: Friday, November 23

Final Exam

There will not be make-ups for the final, so please consider alternative classes if you have a conflict.

Monday, December 10th, 11:30 - 2:30 PM
Location: TBD

The final exam will be multiple choice, cover the full course, and is worth 40% of your course grade.

Instructor

Michael Claffey
mclaffey@ucsd.edu
Office Hours: Thursday, 3-5 PM, McGill 3340

Units

The course will be organized into 4 main units. Each unit will last 2-3 weeks and have a unit test.

Unit 1: Neurons
Unit 2: Sensation
Unit 3: Organization of the nervous system
Unit 4: Cognition

Grading

Clicker Questions (in class)	10%
Unit Tests	50% (4 at 12.5% each)
Final	40%
Extra Credit	+3%

Your course grade will be assigned based on the number of points as follows:
A+ (97 or more), A (93-97), A- (90-93), B+ (87-90), B (83-87), B- (80-83), C+ (77-80), C (73-77), C- (70-73), D (60-70), and F (below 60). For example, a 92.9 is an A- and 87 is a B+.

Teaching Assistants

Name	Email	Office Hours
Brad Monk	bmonk@ucsd.edu	Mon 3:30-5 PM (McGill 3340)
Hans Peterson	h1peters@ucsd.edu	Fri 10:30-12 PM (McGIll 3318)
Sinjin Swartz	scswartz@ucsd.edu	Thurs 5-6 PM (Muir Woods)

Podcasts

After each lecture, video podcasts will be automatically available on the ucsd podcast site here. I will periodically copy these videos to Youtube because the interface is better. If you do not see a link for a YouTube lecture in the calendar above, check the ucsd site in the interim.

Lecture Notes

Any materials that are made available will be posted on this page in the calendar.

Clickers

For details on Clickers, see mikeclaffey.com/psyc2/clickers.html

Clickers are required for this class starting in week 2 (Monday, October 8th).

In each class, there will be live questions which you will respond to individually and after group discussion.

10% of your course grade will be based on your Clicker answers. You will only need to answer half of all questions correctly in order to receive full credit. This means you can attend all classes and only get half the questions right, or attend half of the classes and get all of the questions right, or some combintion between.

EXEMPTION: If you score 90% or higher on the Unit 1 Test, you will be exempt from Clicker questions. This is to allow students that can master the material to choose their own level of class room participation. Your grade will based on the higher of these two calculations: a no-clicker grade based on 56% tests and 44% final exam -OR- a standard grade based on the outline in the "Grading" section above. Note: if you get 100% on clicker participation, the standard grade calculation will be higher than the no-clicker calculation. This means that even if you are exempt, there is the potential to further boast your grade with good clicker performance.

For more information on iClickers, see acms.ucsd.edu/units/mediaservices/clickers.shtml

Textbook

Biopsychology, Pinel, 7th or 8th edition

The 8th Edition is the most current (amazon)

Biopsychology Pinel 8th Ed

The 7th edition is perfectly acceptable (amazon)

Biopsychology Pinel 7th

The 6th edition (and older) may be okay, but I haven't checked them and won't guarantee that they will have all content or that the chapter organization will be similar.

Biopsychology Pinel 6th

Unit Tests

There will be 4 unit tests throughout the quarter. These tests will be multiple choice and take the full class time. No notes will be allowed. See the calendar for dates and topics of the tests. Test scores will comprise 50% of the grade.

Homework

There is no assigned homework other than readings.

Extra Credit

You have two options to receive extra credit: experiment participation or a summary paper.

Experiments: You can sign up for experiments at ucsd.sona-systems.com. Experiments vary in length and descriptions are available on that website. One point will be added to your final course grade per hour of participation, up to 3 points total. As course instructor I do not have access to the sona system and will only assign credit based on the final numbers provided to me at the end of the quarter; please address any discrepancies to the help listed on the website.

Paper: Alternatively, individuals not wishing to participate in experiments can write a 3-4 page paper on a topic of their choosing relating to biopsychology. Paper topics must be cleared with the instructor no later than Nov 30th and emailed or handed in at the beginning of class on Dec 7th. Format: 3-4 pages double spaced, cite your works, can include images but does not count toward length, email or print ok.

Academic Dishonesty

Academic dishonesty in any form is against University policy and will NOT be tolerated.

Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to:
- Copying answers on tests
- Communicating with other students during a test
- Copying from a friend’s homework
- Misrepresenting a medical or family emergency or other personal contingency in order to delay a scheduled exam or get extra time on an assignment
- Modifying graded material and then resubmitting it to “correct the error in grading”

Acceptable Actions:
- Working with other students on homework assignments but completing the assignment “in your own words”
- Sharing notes with other students outside of exams