The Emotional Brain Sample Syllabus
Dr. LeDoux
Structure:
Faculty Lectures will take place during the first 7 classes. Read the papers and participate in discussion. Midterm Exam will consist of multiple-choice questions taken from the readings and lectures up to that point.
Student Presentations Each student will be responsible for one presentation during the semester. We will have 3 presentations each week. Each should last about 20 min, followed by discussion. Each student has been randomly assigned to papers (see below). If you don’t like your time or topic, find someone to swap with and let me know.
Class Participation All class members are required to read the assigned papers and participate in the discussion of the papers. Asking questions about what is in the paper indicates you did not read the paper. Ask questions that dig deeper.
Term Paper will be due the last day of class (or earlier). Papers should be 5 double-spaced pages, with Times Roman/Cambria 12 point-font. MORE DETAILS LATER.
Grading:
*Student Presentation 1/3 *Midterm (multiple-choice) 1/3 *Term Paper 1/3 *Class participation will be used to add or subtract from your final grade. Lots of good participation turns a course grade of B to a B+ while sparse participation turns a B into a B
CLASS CALENDAR
Week 1 Introduction
Week 2 History of the Emotional Brain
Week 3 Fear and the Amygdala
Week 4 Rethinking the Emotional Brain
Week 5 A Philosophical Perspective on Emotional Consciousness
Week 6 Human Affective Neuroscience
Week 7 Mid-term exam (20 minutes); Deep History of Ourselves
Week 8 Memory and Emotion
Week 9 Stress
Week 10 Reward and Addiction - student presentations
Week 11 Eating Disorders - student presentations
Week 12 Depression - student presentations
Week 13 Anxiety - student presentations
Week 14 Term Paper Due
READINGS
Week 1 Introduction
Week 2 History of the Emotional Brain
Emotional Brain Chapter 3 – Blood, Sweat, and Tears Emotional Brain Chapter 4 – The Holy Grail Emotional Brain Chapter 5 – The Way Were, p. 104-125
Week 3 Fear and the Amygdala
Anxious Chapter 4 – The Defensive Brain Adolphs R (2013) The biology of fear. Curr Biol 23:R79-93.
Week 4 Rethinking the Emotional Brain
LeDoux J (2012) Rethinking the emotional brain. Neuron 73:653-676.
Week 5 A Philosophical Perspective on Emotional Consciousness
LeDoux JE, Brown R (2017) A higher-order theory of emotional consciousness. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 114:E2016-E2025. Anxious Chapter 6 – Let’s Get Physical
Week 6 Human Affective Neuroscience
Phelps EA (2006) Emotion and cognition: insights from studies of the human amygdala. Annu Rev Psychol 57:27-53. Hartley CA, Phelps EA (2010) Changing fear: the neurocircuitry of emotion regulation. Neuropsychopharmacology 35:136-146.
Week 7 Deep History of Ourselves
No readings
Week 8 Memory and Emotion
Hirst W, Phelps EA (2016) Flashbulb Memories. Curr Dir Psychol Sci 25:36-41. McGaugh JL (2000) Memory--a century of consolidation. Science 287:248-251. Alberini CM, LeDoux JE (2013) Memory reconsolidation. Curr Biol 23:R746-750.
Week 9 Stress
McEwen BS, Bowles NP, Gray JD, Hill MN, Hunter RG, Karatsoreos IN, Nasca C (2015) Mechanisms of stress in the brain. Nat Neurosci 18:1353-1363. Krugers HJ, Joels M (2014) Long-lasting Consequences of Early Life Stress on Brain Structure, Emotion and Cognition. Curr Top Behav Neurosci 18:81-92. Sorrells SF, Caso JR, Munhoz CD, Sapolsky RM (2009) The stressed CNS: when glucocorticoids aggravate inflammation. Neuron 64:33-39.
Week 10 Reward and Addiction
Everitt BJ, Robbins TW (2016) Drug Addiction: Updating Actions to Habits to Compulsions Ten Years On. Annu Rev Psychol 67:23-50. Nestler EJ (2014) Epigenetic mechanisms of drug addiction. Neuropharmacology 76 Pt B:259-268. Xue YX, Luo YX, Wu P, Shi HS, Xue LF, Chen C, Zhu WL, Ding ZB, Bao YP, Shi J, Epstein DH, Shaham Y, Lu L (2012) A memory retrieval-extinction procedure to prevent drug craving and relapse. Science 336:241-245.
Week 11 Eating Disorders
Volkow ND, Wise RA, Baler R (2017) The dopamine motive system: implications for drug and food addiction. Nat Rev Neurosci 18:741-752. Steward T, Menchon JM, Jimenez-Murcia S, Soriano-Mas C, Fernandez-Aranda F (2017) Neural network alterations across eating disorders: a narrative review of fMRI studies. Curr Neuropharmacol. Glenny EM, Bulik-Sullivan EC, Tang Q, Bulik CM, Carroll IM (2017) Eating Disorders and the Intestinal Microbiota: Mechanisms of Energy Homeostasis and Behavioral Influence. Curr Psychiatry Rep 19:51.
Week 12 Depression
Foster JA, McVey Neufeld KA (2013) Gut-brain axis: how the microbiome influences anxiety and depression. Trends Neurosci 36:305-312. Holtzheimer PE, Mayberg HS (2011) Deep brain stimulation for psychiatric disorders. Annu Rev Neurosci 34:289-307. Krishnan V, Nestler EJ (2010) Linking molecules to mood: new insight into the biology of depression. Am J Psychiatry 167:1305-1320.
Week 13 Anxiety
Grupe DW, Nitschke JB (2013) Uncertainty and anticipation in anxiety: an integrated neurobiological and psychological perspective. Nat Rev Neurosci 14:488-501. LeDoux JE, Pine DS (2016) Using Neuroscience to Help Understand Fear and Anxiety: A TwoSystem Framework. Am J Psychiatry 173:1083-1093.