Core Curriculum

This course is designed to provide a broad overview of the field of computational neuroscience and psychiatry. The course will cover the basics of brain anatomy and function, as well as the methods used to study the brain. We will then discuss how the brain processes information, and how this processing can go awry in mental illness. Finally, we will discuss how computational approaches can be used to understand the brain and mental health.

Recommended schedule

• Roughly one class per day or one class every other day for 2-3 weeks

• Complete classes 1-4 before doing the readings ahead of live session 1

• Complete classes 5-7 before doing the readings ahead of live session 2

• Complete classes 8-9 before doing the readings ahead of live session 3

Computational Psychiatry and Neuroscience	View
Class 1 - Overview of the brain	https://forms.gle/sHWNNTwDUD5DU7QR7
Class 2 - Neurons and neurotransmission	https://forms.gle/ZTMqGXoUSSyUP1uK9
Class 3 - Neuroanatomy and sensory systems	https://forms.gle/LZjMnnLC8tsR8DN3A
Class 4 - Neurodevelopment and neural plasticity	https://forms.gle/gbcYKqVPeLuVhx9b6
Class 5 - Neuroscience research methods	https://forms.gle/8RJxgJEkoYnSLecEA
Class 6 - Learning, memory, and spatial coding	https://forms.gle/pt5Kt8EdPKRvNs6NA
Class 7 - Motivation and reward	https://forms.gle/3ZHPjiqJpNp7cw4T9
Class 8 - Mental illness	https://forms.gle/kZgwSfsWRTQjoihm8
Class 9 - Computational psychiatry	https://forms.gle/ET99rg45GrzEeCwi6

Key dates and readings to complete for live sessions

Live session 1: Wednesday, Jul 12, 2023 at 3pm

Classes to have watched: 1-4 (come with questions from the lectures!)

Readings due:

• “Arrested development: early prefrontal lesions impair the maturation of moral judgment” (See class 4 form for PDF download, or download here)

Live session 2: Monday, Jul 17, 2023 at 3pm

Classes to have watched: 5-7 (come with questions from the lectures!)

Readings due:

• “Neural Activity in Human Hippocampal Formation Reveals the Spatial Context of Retrieved Memories” (see class 5 form for PDF download, or download here)

• “Ventral Striatum/Nucleus Accumbens Activation to Smoking-Related Pictorial Cues in Smokers and Nonsmokers: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study” (see class 7 form for PDF download, or download here)

Live session 3: Friday, Jul 21, 2023 at 3pm

Classes to have watched: 8-9 (come with questions from the lectures!)

Readings due:

• “Prefrontal dysfunction during emotion regulation in generalized anxiety and panic disorders” (see class 8 form for PDF download, or download here)

• “Computational psychiatry” (see class 9 form for PDF download, or download here)

• “Anxious individuals have difficulty learning the causal statistics of aversive environments” (see class 9 form for PDF download, or download here)