The purpose of this minor is to acquaint the student with different disciplines within the field of Neuroscience. The student will become familiar with the workings and functions of different types of brain cells and brain areas. The student will learn how this knowledge can be used to understand characteristics of the healthy brain (e.g., perception, attention, learning and memory), of the developing brain (pre- and postnatal), and of the diseased brain (e.g., depression, addiction, eating disorders).
In addition, the students will be familiarized with recent findings from the fields of human genetics and will actively participate in nature-versus-nurture debates. Finally, this minor provides an introduction into recent technological advances in brain-machine interfaces, deep brain stimulation, and robotics in the context of Neuroscience. The integration of disciplines such as biology, psychology, sociology, and genetics, is central to this minor. Students learn to think critically about how knowledge of the brain and the human genome can be applied to tackle societal issues.