24
Lectures
30
minutes/lecture
1.
Brains and Minds, Evolution and Development
Professor Hinshaw lays the groundwork for this fascinating journey into the depths of the human mind by introducing the structure of the course, posing a series of provocative questions, and explaining the three predominant perspectives on our minds: the spirit-based, the naturalistic, and the humanistic.
1.
Brains and Minds, Evolution and Development
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13.
Parallels between Development and Evolution
Bring together several core points about individual development of the mind. As you'll discover, in the development of the minds of both individuals and our species as a whole, biology constantly interacts with environment and context to produce a wealth of change.
13.
Parallels between Development and Evolution
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2.
How the Human Brain Works
Delve into the make-up and inner workings of the brain, from the level of the individual neuron to the larger regions specialized for the mind's different functions. In addition, get a brief introduction to psychopharmacology, as well as to some of the latest technological advances that help us understand how our brains work.
2.
How the Human Brain Works
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14.
Myths and Realities of Heritability
With the mapping of the human genome, we now know that many traits and facets of the mind are more heritable than we once thought. In this lecture, Professor Hinshaw separates the facts from myths about how much importance our genes have in shaping our emotions, behaviors, and minds.
14.
Myths and Realities of Heritability
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3.
Development of the Human Brain
This lecture examines the ways in which our brains develop across the human lifespan. Professor Hinshaw uses a case study of children adopted from horribly deprived Romanian orphanages to focus on brain plasticity—the idea that changes in the brain result from experiences—and its potential long-term limitations.
3.
Development of the Human Brain
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15.
Genes and Environments Together
Move from behavior genetics to a detailed view of how genes and environments influence once another to shape our minds. By examining the ways genes and environments correlate and interact, you realize that the dichotomy of nature versus nurture is inaccurate; instead, it is nature and nurture.
15.
Genes and Environments Together
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4.
Evolution and the Brain
How did evolutionary forces shape our brains? Discover the answer to this core question in modern science with a look at some of the key features of the human mind produced by natural selection and the ways the brain evolved over the span of millions of years.
4.
Evolution and the Brain
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16.
The Abnormal Mind—What Goes Wrong?
Why do some minds suffer mental disorders such as depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and bipolar disorder? Answer this crucial question by exploring seven different perspectives—each of which contributes to our overall understanding of this pressing question in the study of the human mind.
16.
The Abnormal Mind—What Goes Wrong?
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5.
Psychological Views of the Mind
Zero in on two modern psychological theories of the mind that serve as counterpoints to the evolutionary theory: the instinctive and deeply symbolic psychodynamic theory, and social learning theory, which explains behavior through our minds' abilities to learn. In addition, address mysteries about human consciousness and self-awareness.
5.
Psychological Views of the Mind
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17.
Rationality, Psychosis, and Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is intimately involved with breakdowns in perception, rational thinking, and higher-order executive functions. Here, examine the roots of psychosis and make sense of the risk factors, characteristics, and treatment methods of one of the most devastating mental illnesses.
17.
Rationality, Psychosis, and Schizophrenia
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6.
Instinct, Learning, and Emotion
Take an in-depth look at instinct and emotion—two inescapable processes of the human mind. Among the intriguing issues covered in this lecture are the relationship between instinct and language formation, how our primary emotions signal our experiences and intentions to others, and ways we can consciously regulate their expression.
6.
Instinct, Learning, and Emotion
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18.
Emotion Regulation and Mood Disorders
The roots of mood disorders lie in the emotional and mood-related fluctuations that we all experience. After you learn the difference between emotions and moods, you take a closer look at the science of two major mood disorders: depression and bipolar disorder.
18.
Emotion Regulation and Mood Disorders
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7.
Microevolution, Culture, and the Brain
Return to the evolutionary theory and investigate the key concepts and debates regarding the shaping of the human mind. How have subtle—yet powerful—changes given the modern mind some of its key powers? What are the differences between primate and human brains? And what is the influence of cultural behaviors and values?
7.
Microevolution, Culture, and the Brain
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19.
Attention, Impulse Control, and ADHD
Turn now to a mental disorder that can affect the way the mind stays attentive and controls inhibitions: attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Examine four forms of attention and the importance of inhibitory control, then zero in on the causes and conditions of—as well as treatment options for—ADHD.
19.
Attention, Impulse Control, and ADHD
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8.
Infancy—Temperament and Attachment
In the first of four lectures on the development of a mind across the human lifespan, examine the first life stage: infancy. The two aspects you cover—temperament and attachment—are crucial for the development of personalities and minds and reflect the importance of the earliest years of life.
8.
Infancy—Temperament and Attachment
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20.
Empathy, Social Connections, and Autism
Major difficulties in emotional and social connections with other people present huge problems for the development of the mind. Case in point: autism. Conclude your look at abnormalities in the human mind with a focus on this often-devastating and increasingly prevalent disorder.
20.
Empathy, Social Connections, and Autism
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9.
Childhood—Stages and Widening Contexts
Turn now to childhood, the second major stage of life during which our personalities and minds develop even further. It is during this stage, you learn, that factors such as families, peers, neighborhoods, and cultures work with our earliest biological and social foundations to mold the person we eventually become.
9.
Childhood—Stages and Widening Contexts
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21.
Evolution and the Paradox of Mental Illness
If mental disorders are passed through the generations by genes, then why haven't these disabling and maladaptive conditions simply been bred out of existence? Investigate how understanding 'heterozygote superiority,' gene interactions, and changing environments can help us finally answer this baffling question.
21.
Evolution and the Paradox of Mental Illness
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10.
Adolescence—Rebellion, Identity, and Self
Continue moving up the developmental ladder into adolescence: the crucial period of rebellion, turmoil, and identity formation that prepares us for adult life. How does the mind change during this time? What are the dangers of sleep deprivation? And what are considered normative and healthy self-perceptions?
10.
Adolescence—Rebellion, Identity, and Self
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22.
Roots of Religion, Aggression, and Prejudice
Investigate how evolution helps us understand these three wider aspects of human culture. Why are humans so prone to be religious? How aggressive are we as a species? How can natural selection help us understand why some people stigmatize their fellow humans?
22.
Roots of Religion, Aggression, and Prejudice
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11.
Adulthood—Aging, Horizons, and Wisdom
Does getting older predict inevitable declines in how your mind functions? Or could you actually become wiser and more positive as you age? The answers you uncover in this lecture are undoubtedly fascinating—and may just reshape your views of what aging does to the mind.
11.
Adulthood—Aging, Horizons, and Wisdom
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23.
Bringing in Personal Narratives
Personal narratives can play key roles in humanizing and helping us better understand the complexities of mental illness. As a powerful example, Professor Hinshaw details his own father's struggle with bipolar disorder —a story that proves just how important it is to blend the scientific and clinical with the personal.
23.
Bringing in Personal Narratives
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12.
Influences of Sex and Gender
Focus here on the association between sex and gender, on the one hand, and the brain and mind, on the other. Of vital importance to the study of the human mind, sex and gender have important implications for evolution, our diversity as a species, and our social relationships.
12.
Influences of Sex and Gender
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24.
The Future of the Human Mind
In this final lecture, probe some of the fascinating possibilities and ethical issues at the frontiers of the human mind. These include harnessing the hidden and untapped power of our unconscious; making startling advancements in the development of artificial intelligence; and creating the potential for humans to engineer their own minds.
24.
The Future of the Human Mind
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36
Lectures
30
minutes/lecture
1.
What Is Neuroscience?
Launch your investigation into neuroscience, a field that can explain many aspects of human behavior. After taking a brief tour of the brain, preview three classic problems on which neuroscience has shed new light—on the perception of red, dreaming, and early development.
1.
What Is Neuroscience?
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19.
The Mozart Myth and Active Learning
The Mozart myth is the widespread belief that playing classical music to babies increases their intelligence. Discover what is really going on in young minds, which need only normal experiences to thrive. Professor Wang offers advice on the best strategy for nurturing learning in children.
19.
The Mozart Myth and Active Learning
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2.
How Do Neuroscientists Study the Brain?
Professor Wang introduces the key approaches used by neuroscientists, each of which gives a different kind of evidence about the brain. Look at what neuroscience has to say about two common beliefs: alcohol kills neurons, and classical music makes babies smarter.
2.
How Do Neuroscientists Study the Brain?
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20.
Childhood and Adolescence
The most rapid changes in the brain happen before the age of six, but growth and maturation continue all the way through adolescence and beyond. Track the nature of this growth and how it explains the propensity of adolescents for risk-taking, hyperactivity, and short attention spans.
20.
Childhood and Adolescence
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3.
Evolution, Energetics, and the 10% Myth
Analyze how brains are similar across a wide range of species and how energy use in the brain allows the imaging of cognitive function. Also investigate two persistent myths about the brain: that it works like a computer, and that we use only about 10% of its capacity.
3.
Evolution, Energetics, and the 10% Myth
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21.
Handedness—Sports, Speech, and Presidents
Why are humans so overwhelmingly right-handed? What does this tell us about left-handed people? Look into the possible sources of this trait and the reason lefties excel at some sports but not others. Intriguingly, a possible connection with language processing may explain why several recent U.S. presidents have been left-handed.
21.
Handedness—Sports, Speech, and Presidents
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4.
Neurons and Synapses
The brain operates on just 15 watts of power—about the power of a refrigerator light bulb. See how this current translates into all the phenomena of the brain by examining the chemical pathways that neurons use to communicate across synapses.
4.
Neurons and Synapses
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22.
Reaching the Top of the Mountain—Aging
The brain continues to change throughout life. Assess these transformations at the level of neurons and see how they affect large-scale traits such as memory, verbal comprehension, and emotional control; the last two actually improve with age. Also consider debilitating changes such as Alzheimer's disease and stroke.
22.
Reaching the Top of the Mountain—Aging
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5.
Neurotransmitters and Drugs
Neurons “talk” to each other through neurotransmitters. Study how these chemicals act on special receptor molecules and how drugs can alter this system. The most abundant neurotransmitters are glutamate, GABA, and glycine. Supplementing these, the biogenic amines norepinephrine, dopamine, and serotonin play important roles in attention, reward, and mood.
5.
Neurotransmitters and Drugs
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23.
“Brain Exercise” and Real Exercise
How useful are brain-training exercises such as Sudoku puzzles? Discover that interpreting the ambiguous research results is a brain exercise in itself! Compare the limited benefits from these activities with the more robust cognitive effects of physical exercise, in which what helps the heart also boosts the mind.
23.
“Brain Exercise” and Real Exercise
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6.
Juicing the Brain
How do drugs work on the brain? Why are some chemicals addictive and others not? Explore the neuroscience of an array of psychoactive substances, including caffeine, marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, nicotine, opiates, L-dopa, and Ritalin. Each works by imitating or altering the action of neurotransmitters.
6.
Juicing the Brain
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24.
Animal and Human Personality
Starting a series of lectures on individual differences in brains, probe personality in humans and animals. Personality is a complex of traits that are partly inherited. On the other hand, shyness and anxiety are two attributes that can sometimes be reversed through early intervention.
24.
Animal and Human Personality
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7.
Coming to Your Senses
Trace the origins of your senses of touch, taste, smell, hearing, and vision, each of which results from a cascade of events at the molecular level. Discussing many examples, Professor Wang looks at why MSG tastes so good, loud music causes hearing loss, and men are more likely to be color blind than women.
7.
Coming to Your Senses
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25.
Intelligence, Genes, and Environment
Fluid intelligence is the ability to reason through an unfamiliar problem. Discover that there is a strong inherited component to this ability. However, under conditions of deprivation, fluid intelligence is mostly environmentally determined. Also see how intelligence test performance can be influenced by prior expectations on the part of the test taker.
25.
Intelligence, Genes, and Environment
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8.
Perception and Your Brain's Little Lies
At any given moment, your brain is probably lying to you. Although you think you perceive the world directly, your brain analyzes stimuli in ways that may not reflect reality. Experience a startling example with the “stepping feet” illusion.
8.
Perception and Your Brain's Little Lies
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26.
The Weather in Your Brain—Emotions
Investigate the essential function of emotions and where they originate. One emotional phenomenon—blushing—raises an intriguing question: Is it the effect of embarrassment or the cause, and what does this tell us about other emotions? Finally, look at the link between disgust and the moral sense.
26.
The Weather in Your Brain—Emotions
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9.
Pain—All in Your Head?
Pain is a perception generated entirely within the brain, yet it announces that something is drastically wrong. Learn that the intensity of pain depends on the context of an injury. Also investigate how pain responds to different drugs, meditation, and acupuncture.
9.
Pain—All in Your Head?
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27.
Fear, Loathing, and Anger
Probe deeply into primal emotions that originate in the brain's hippocampus, hypothalamus, and amygdala: namely anger, rage, fear, and anxiety. Evolution has equipped us to learn a specific fear after only a single experience, but unlearning the same fear requires prolonged conditioning.
27.
Fear, Loathing, and Anger
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10.
Decisions—Your Brain's Secret Ballot
When making decisions, are you a maximizer or a satisficer? The first seeks the best possible outcome from an array of options; the second is satisfied with a swift decision from limited choices. Studies show that our brains often make up our minds before we are aware of it.
10.
Decisions—Your Brain's Secret Ballot
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28.
From Weather to Climate—Mood
Mood is to emotion as climate is to weather; that is, mood is a long-lasting phenomenon. Delve into the nature of moods, which in their most extreme forms constitute major psychiatric problems. Finally, examine treatments for depression and other mood disorders.
28.
From Weather to Climate—Mood
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11.
Reward, Adaptation, and Addiction
Reward and addiction are two sides of the same coin. Examine how dopamine-secreting neurons reinforce behaviors that are beneficial to the organism. Unfortunately, certain drugs target these same neurons and put the reward system into overdrive, resulting in physical addiction.
11.
Reward, Adaptation, and Addiction
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29.
The Social Brain, Empathy, and Autism
Whether you realize it or not, as you watch these lectures you are deploying a theory of mind about Professor Wang's thoughts and motivations. Look more closely at this remarkable faculty—the social brain—by investigating a neurological disorder where it appears to be absent: autism.
29.
The Social Brain, Empathy, and Autism
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12.
The Many Forms of Memory
Chart the famous case of H. M., who lost the ability to form new memories after an operation for epilepsy. The tragic outcome sheds light on the location of different components of memory. Also probe the connection between declarative memory and our ability as animals to find our way in the world.
12.
The Many Forms of Memory
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30.
Mars and Venus—Men's and Women's Brains
While the brains of other animals often show striking differences between the sexes, male and female humans have remarkably similar brains. Learn the nature of our hormone-driven differences, for example, in toy preference, spatial reasoning, and susceptibility to certain neurological disorders.
30.
Mars and Venus—Men's and Women's Brains
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13.
Quirks of Memory
Memory evolved to deal with fear, spatial navigation, and factual knowledge. It can be rewritten and strengthened, but also altered in the rewriting. Study the quirks of memory that show up in source amnesia, post-traumatic stress disorder, and the formation of false beliefs.
13.
Quirks of Memory
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31.
Sex, Love, and Bonds for Life
Trace the source of human sexual behavior to the hypothalamus, where secretion of the hormones vasopressin and oxytocin play a role in the full range of sexual expression—from love and attachment to mating, birth, and bonding between mother and infant.
31.
Sex, Love, and Bonds for Life
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14.
Learning, Studying, and Sleep
Learn what it means to learn at the cellular level by focusing on two key principles: cells that fire together wire together; and out of sync, lose your link. Then get tips on how to study most effectively based on what neuroscience has discovered about learning. Finally, investigate the role of sleep in consolidating new knowledge.
14.
Learning, Studying, and Sleep
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32.
Math and Other Evolutionary Curiosities
Turn to two evolutionary curiosities that are uniquely human: humor and mathematics. Neither seems to provide a survival advantage through natural selection. Or do they? Professor Wang looks at the origins and function of humor. Then he searches for the roots of our mathematical ability.
32.
Math and Other Evolutionary Curiosities
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15.
Willpower and Mental Work
Willpower draws on a finite mental resource. Look into the famous “marshmallow study” with four-year-olds, which showed the far-reaching effects of childhood self-control on later life. Next, learn strategies for harnessing willpower most effectively, including the trick of brushing your teeth with your nondominant hand.
15.
Willpower and Mental Work
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33.
Consciousness and Free Will
Investigate two big ideas where neuroscience intersects philosophy: consciousness and free will. In exploring the many facets of consciousness, discover that we may be overrating it as a cause of behavior. Free will is even more difficult to evaluate and raises the question: Are we agents or are we robots?
33.
Consciousness and Free Will
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16.
Work, Play, and Stress
You don't want to be too relaxed. Study the role of stress as an adaptation to best respond to uncertainty or danger. Stress also has an intimate relationship to play. Trace the stress response from its source and learn the detrimental effects of chronic stress on the body and brain.
16.
Work, Play, and Stress
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34.
Near-Death and Other Extreme Experiences
Plumb the depths of extreme experiences to learn what neuroscience has to say about near-death visions, out-of-body experiences, haunted houses, and other paranormal phenomena. In each case, the brain appears to be trying to piece together a story from incomplete or highly unusual data.
34.
Near-Death and Other Extreme Experiences
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17.
Biological Timekeepers and Jet Lag
Anyone who travels quickly across several time zones is tinkering with the brain's circadian clock. Explore this biological timekeeper, which is located in the hypothalamus and takes its cues from light entering the eyes—a mechanism that suggests a strategy for combating jet lag.
17.
Biological Timekeepers and Jet Lag
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35.
Spirituality and Religion
How does the human brain lead to spirituality and religion? Chart the synchronous firing of neurons that accompanies deep meditative states. Then draw on what you have learned in the course to explore the role of the brain in finding transcendent meaning in the world through religion.
35.
Spirituality and Religion
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18.
The Hidden Talents of Infants
Begin a series of lectures on the developing brain by focusing on infants. Around three months of age, babies are learning to acquire information in five ways: by noticing rare events, reasoning from cause to effect, distinguishing objects from agents, categorizing, and discarding irrelevant information.
18.
The Hidden Talents of Infants
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36.
Happiness and Other Research Opportunities
Conclude the course by exploring a mysterious brain function that looms large for practically everybody: happiness. Finally, survey some of the new research trends in neuroscience that are leading to a deeper understanding of the everyday wonders of the human brain.
36.
Happiness and Other Research Opportunities
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