Readings
LEC # | TOPICS | READINGS |
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I. Framing the brain | ||
1 | Introduction | No readings. |
2 | Neuroscience in historical context I |
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3 | Neuroscience in historical context II |
Gould, Stephen Jay. "Measuring Heads: Paul Broca and the Heyday of Craniology." Chapter 3 in The Mismeasure of Man. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 1996. [Preview in Google Books] |
4 |
Picturing the brain (neuroimaging) Guest lecture by Hans Breiter, MD, PhD, Massachusetts General Hospital |
Joyce, Kelly. "Appealing Images: Magnetic Resonance Imaging and the Production of Authoritative Knowledge." Social Studies of Science 35, no. 3 (June 2005): 437-462. Logothetis, Nikos. "What We Can and Cannot Do with fMRI." Nature 453 (June 12, 2008): 869-878. Lehrer, Jonah. "Picturing Our Thoughts." Boston Globe (August 17, 2008). OptionalCacioppo, John T., et al. "Just Because You're Imaging the Brain Doesn't Mean You Can Stop Using Your Head: A Primer and Set of First Principles." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 85, no. 4 (2003): 650-661. ( |
5 | Public circulation of brain images |
Colorado State University. "Brain Images Make Cognitive Research More Believable." ScienceDaily (October 8, 2007). Racine, Eric, et al. "fMRI in the Public Eye." Nature Reviews Neuroscience 6, no. 2 (February 2005): 159-164. |
II. Making brains mean | ||
6 | The evaluating brain (neuroeconomics) |
Blakeslee, Sandra. "How Brain May Weigh the World With Simple Dopamine System." New York Times, March 19, 1996. Rangel, Antonio, et al. "A Framework for Studying the Neurobiology of Value-based Decision Making." Nature Reviews Neuroscience 9 (July 2008): 545-556. OptionalGigerenzer, Gerd, and Daniel G. Goldstein. "Mind as Computer: Birth of a Metaphor." Creativity Research Journal 9, nos. 2&3 (1996): 131-144. ( |
7 | The impulsive brain |
Sanfey, Alan G., and Luke J. Chang. "Multiple Systems in Decision Making." Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1128 (2008): 53-62. McClure, Samuel M., et al. "Separate Neural Systems Value Immediate and Delayed Monetary Rewards." Science 306 (October 15, 2004): 503-507. Coy, Peter. "Why Logic Often Takes a Back Seat: The Study of Neuroeconomics May Topple the Notion of Rational Decision-making." Business Week, March 28, 2005. |
8 | Finding God in the brain (neurotheology) |
Johnson, George. "God in the Dendrites: Can 'Neurotheology' Bridge the Gap Between Religion and Science?" Slate, April 26, 2007. Monastersky, Richard. "Religion on the Brain: The Hard Science of Neurobiology is Taking a Closer Look at the Ethereal World of the Spirit." The Chronicle of Higher Education, May 26, 2006. Optional
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9 | The moral brain |
Saxe, Rebecca. "Do the Right Thing: Cognitive Science's Search for a Common Morality." Boston Review, September/October 2005. Greene, Joshua, et al. "An fMRI Investigation of Emotional Engagement in Moral Judgment." Science 293 (September 14, 2001): 2105-2108. ( Keim, Brandon. "Brain Scanners Can See Your Decisions Before You Make Them." Wired, April 13, 2008. |
10 |
The empathic brain (social neuroscience) Guest lecture by Susan Lanzoni, PhD |
Rizzolatti, Giacomo, et al. "Mirror Neurons and Autism." Scientific American, November 2006. Hotz, Robert Lee. "How Your Brain Allows You to Walk In Another's Shoes." Wall Street Journal, August 17, 2007. Carey, Bjorn. "Men Enjoy Physical Revenge, Brain Study Suggests." LiveScience, January 18, 2006. Iacoboni, Marco, et al. "This is Your Brain on Politics." New York Times, November 11, 2007.
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11 | The brain on love |
Bartels, Andreas, and Semir Zeki. "The Neural Basis of Romantic Love." NeuroReport 11, no. 17 (27 November 2000): 3829-3824. ( Kettlewell, Julianna. "'Fidelity Gene' Found in Voles." BBC News, 16 June 2004.
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12 | Male and female brains |
"Testosterone." This American Life. Episode #220, February 22, 2008. Chicago Public Radio. Barres, Ben A. "Does Gender Matter?" Nature 442 (July 13, 2006): 133-136.
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13 | Homosexual brains |
Carey, Benedict. "Straight, Gay or Lying?: Bisexuality Revisited." New York Times, July 5, 2005. Swaab, Dick. "Sexual Orientation and its Basis in Brain Structure and Function." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105, no. 30 (July 29, 2008): 10273-10274. Wolpe, Paul R. "Ethics and Social Policy in Research on the Neuroscience of Human Sexuality." Nature Neuroscience 7, no. 10 (October 2004): 1031-1033. Cloud, John. "Yep, They're Gay." Time Magazine, January 26, 2007. |
III. Social problems: problematic brains | ||
14 | The addicted brain |
Lemonick, Michael D., and Alice Park. "The Science of Addiction." Time Magazine, July 5, 2007. Satel, Sally, and Scott Lilienfeld. "Medical Misnomer: Addiction Isn't a Brain Disease, Congress." Slate, July 25, 2007. Brody, Jane E. "Addiction: A Brain Ailment, Not a Moral Lapse." New York Times, 30 September 2003. Weiss, Friedbert, and Linda J. Porrino. "Behavioral Neurobiology of Alcohol Addiction." Neuroscience 22, no. 9 (May 1, 2002): 3332-3337. |
15 | The stressed brain |
Lehrer, Jonah. "The Reinvention of the Self." Seed Magazine, February 23, 2006. Optionalde Kloet, E. Ron, Melly S. Oitzl, and Marian Joëls. "Stress and Cognition: Are Corticosteroids Good or Bad Guys?" TINS [Trends in Neurosciences] 22, no. 10 (1999): 422-426. |
16 |
Racial prejudice in the brain? Guest lecture by Emile Bruneau, PhD, MIT-BCS postdoctoral scholar in Cross-Cultural Social Cognition |
Burton, Robert. "We're Prejudiced, Now What?" Salon.com, October 31, 2007. Phelps, Elizabeth A., and Laura A. Thomas. "Race, Behavior, and the Brain: The Role of Neuroimaging in Understanding Complex Social Behaviors." Political Psychology 4, no. 4 (2003): 747-758. ( Begley, Sharon. "How Your Brain Looks at Race." Newsweek, February 23, 2008. Kristof, Nicholas D. "What? Me Biased?" New York Times, October 30, 2008. OptionalPhelps, E. A., et al. "Performance on Indirect Measures of Race Evaluation Predicts Amygdala Activity." Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 12, no. 5 (2000): 1-10. ( |
17 | Violence in the brain? |
Miczek, Klaus A., et al. "Neurobiology of Escalated Aggression and Violence." The Journal of Neuroscience 27, no. 44 (October 31, 2007): 11803-11806.
OptionalBegley, Sharon. "Why the Young Kill." Newsweek, May 3, 1999. Motluk, Alison. "Do Games Prime Brain for Violence?" NewScientist 2505 (June 23, 2005). |
IV. Interventions | ||
18 |
Brains on the stand Guest lecture by Ruth Greenberg, Esq. |
Eastman, N., and C. Campbell. "Neuroscience and Legal Determination of Criminal Responsibility." Nature Reviews Neuroscience 7, no. 4 (2006): 311-318.
OptionalBoire, Richard G. "Searching the Brain: The Fourth Amendment Implications of Brain-based Deception Detection Devices." American Journal of Bioethics 5, no. 2 (March/April 2005): 62-63. Rosen, Jeffrey. "The Brain on the Stand." New York Times, March 11, 2007. Henig, Robin Marantz. "Looking for the Lie." New York Times, February 5, 2006. |
19 |
Crime and punishment Guest lecture by Monty Brower, MD |
Brower, M. C., and B. H. Price. "Neuropsychiatry of Frontal Lobe Dysfunction in Violent and Criminal Behaviour: A Critical Review." Journal of Neurol, Neurosurg, and Psychiatry 71 (2001): 720-726. University of Wisconsin-Madison. "Brain Study Sheds Light on Impulsive Violence." ScienceDaily.com, August 15, 2000. Rose, Nikolas. "The Biology of Culpability: Pathological Identity and Crime Control in a Biological Culture." Theoretical Criminology 4, no. 1 (2000): 5. "'My Lobotomy': Howard Dully's Journey." All Things Considered, National Public Radio, November 16, 2005. [Howard Dully describes his lobotomy experience.] |
20 |
Disciplining the brain Guest lecture by David Jones, MD, PhD |
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21 | Treating the brain (psychopharmaceuticals) |
Dumit, Joseph. "Drugs for Life." Molecular Interventions 2, no. 3 (June 2002): 124-127.
Friedman M. D., Richard A. "Who Are We?: Coming of Age on Anti-Depressants." New York Times, April 15, 2008. |
22 | Enhancing the brain |
Carey, Benedict. "Brain Enhancement is Wrong, Right?" The New York Times, March 9, 2008. Farah, Martha J., et al. "Neurocognitive Enhancement." Nature Reviews 5 (May 2004): 421-425. Baard, Erik. "The Guilt-Free Soldier: New Science Raises the Specter of a World Without Regret." The Village Voice, January 21, 2003. Optional
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23 |
The consumer brain Guest speaker: Drazen Prelec, PhD, MIT Sloan School of Management |
Knutson, B., et al. "Neural Predictors of Purchases." Neuron 53 (2007): 147-156. ( Rangel, Antonio, et al. "Marketing Actions Can Modulate Neural Representations of Experienced Pleasantness." Proc Natl Acad Sci 105, no. 3 (2008): 1050-4. Reinberg, Steven. (HealthDay News.) "Study Spotlights Marketing's Impact on the Brain." ABC News, January 14, 2008. |
24 |
Branding the brain (neuromarketing) Guest speaker: Nate Greenslit, PhD, MIT Media Lab postdoctoral scholar in Neuromarketing |
McClure, Samuel, et al. "Neural Correlates for Cultural Preference of Culturally Familiar Drinks." Neuron 44 (2004): 379-387. (
Thompson, Clive. "There's a Sucker Born in Every Medial Prefrontal Cortex." New York Times, October 26, 2003: 54. Elliott, Stuart. "Is the Ad a Success? The Brain Waves Tell All." New York Times, March 31, 2008. Editorial. "Brain Scam?" Nature Neuroscience 7, no. 7 (2004): 683. Brammer, Michael. Letter to the Editors: "Brain Scam?" Nature Neuroscience 7, no. 10 (2004): 1015. Wahlberg, David. "Advertisers Probe Brains, Raise Fears." Atlanta Journal-Constitution, February 1, 2004. Rushkoff, Douglas. "Reading the Consumer Mind." New York Press, February 2004. |
V. Conclusions: brave new neurosociety? | ||
25 | Promises and perils I (neuroethics) |
Farah, Martha. "Emerging Ethical Issues in Neuroscience." Nature Neuroscience 5, no. 11 (2002): 1123-1129. ( "Open Your Mind: The Ethics of Brain Science." The Economist. May 23, 2002. Kennedy, D. "Neuroscience and Neuroethics." Science 306, no. 5695 (2004): 373. |
26 |
Promises and perils II (neurosociety) Guest speaker: Jonah Lehrer, journalist |
No readings. |