Structure and Function of the Brain

Neuroanatomy, Neurophysiology, and Neuroimaging Physics

WINTER 2014 (go here for current/latest version)

Professor:

Marty Sereno -- email: m.sereno - AT - ucl

class (2014): Mon 9:30-13:00 (15 min break @10:45), BBK Malet Street, B36

expect to take copious notes since exam heavily based on lectures

Readings:

reading list and readings here

background reading:

    Squire, Berg et al., eds. (2008/2013) Fundamental Neuroscience, 3rd/4th ed.

    Kandel, Jessell, Schwartz, eds. (2008/2012) Principles of Neural Science, 5th/6th ed.

    Nieuwenhuys, Voogd, van Huijzen (2008) The Human Central Nervous System, 4th ed.

    Lecture notes (by Flavia Filimon, ed. by Tessa Dekker) lecture1, lecture2, lecture3, lecture4, lecture5

Revision sessions:

Mon, 24 March 2014, 9:30-13:00, BBK Malet Street Bldg, 532

Mon, 31 March 2014, 9:30-13:00, BBK Malet Street Bldg, G16

Exam:

multiple question short-answer (best 14 of 16 questions)

each question has several short-answer subsections

example questions mentioned each lecture

old pdf answer keys from my 30-hour ugrad Systems Neuroscience course (2007) here and here

N.B.: old course covered more topics; our exam will only cover topics covered in class

Lecture Topics (Winter 2014):

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13 Jan (9:30-13:00) -- (1) Neurons and Models, Development

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membrane (Nernst) potential
action potential, voltage-gated channels
post-synaptic potentials, ligand-gated channels
dendritic propagation, equivalent circuits
NMDA channels, synaptic plasticity
spike-timing-dependent plasticity
relation to simple Hebbian models
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gastrulation, neural plate, neural tube, optic cup
cylindrical coordinate system, temporal lobe formation
the 'rule of Sereno'

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20 Jan (9:30-13:00) -- (2) Visual System I

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retinal circuitry
dLGN (layers, non-lagged/lagged)
visual map structure (conformal maps)
edges, brightness, and primary motion in V1
cortical visual processing streams (interblobs, blobs, layer 4B)

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27 Jan (9:30-13:00) -- (3) Visual System II

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extrastriate visual areas overview
aperture problems and visual pattern motion
visual attention
visual object recognition

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03 Feb (9:30-13:00) -- (4) Somatosensory System

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somatosensory receptors types
arm diagram (length, force, alpha/gamma motoneurons)
somatosensory pathways (dorsal column, spinothalamic, spinocerebellar)
somatosensory cortical areas
somatosensory cortical plasticity

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10 Feb -- NO CLASS -- UCL READING WEEK

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17 Feb -- NO CLASS -- BBK READING WEEK

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24 Feb (9:30-13:00) -- (5) Auditory System

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auditory transduction and hair cell receptors
monaural cochlear nuclei responses
auditory brainstem sound localization
echolocation and speech sound processing
auditory cortical areas

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03 Mar (9:30-13:00) -- (6) Motor System

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gaze stabilization (VOR, OKN, pursuit)
superior colliculus retinal and motor maps
sensorimotor coord. transforms (double-step remembered saccade)
multisensory map interactions (SC:vis/aud VIP:somato/vis)
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cerebellum anatomy, physiology
cerebellum and learning/conditioning
cortical and spinal pattern generators
connectional/functional overview striatum

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10 Mar (9:30-13:00) -- (7) Limbic System

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connectional overview limbic system
H.M. and intermediate term memory
place cells
head direction cells
grid cells
models theta rhythms, attractor networks

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17 Mar (9:30-13:00) -- (8) MRI Physics; MEG/EEG Physics

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MRI hardware
spin and precession, Bloch equation
converting longitudinal recovery differences into recordable transverse
spin echo and gradient echo
phase-sensitive detection
frequency-encoding -- avoid this intuition
frequency-encoding -- correct intuition
spin phase in image space--what gradients do
complex numbers, e to the minus i-theta, Fourier transform
slice selection and phase encoding
fast gradient echo with small flip angle (FLASH)
echo planar imaging (EPI)
signal-to-noise considerations
- - - - - - - - - - -
derivation of current source density
linear forward solution
linear inverse vs. dipole fitting

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24 Mar (9:30-13:00) -- Revision Session 1

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31 Mar (9:30-13:00) -- Revision Session 2

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09 Apr (Wed), 10:00-12:00 -- EXAM

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NEW UCL Location: Room 5, Conference Suite, 188 Tottenham Court Road (map)
[OLD UCL Location: Wilkins Old Refectory -- *don't* go there!!]

BBK Location: 534 Malet Street Building