This page provides access the teaching materials for the course Brain and Mind presented for the LIFE Institute at Ryerson University in the autumn of 2016. This is a revised version of a the Human Brain course given earlier in the spring. The new course does not consider the basis science of the brain in as much detail, and spends more time on neuropsychology. If you wish more information about the basic sciences, please consult the webpage devoted to the previous course (especially the first 3 sessions). The new course has more material on perception (session 3), emotions (session 6), free will (session 7), psychiatry (session 8), and wisdom (session 8).
Simply click on the hyperlinks to obtain pdf versions of the presentations:
Session 2. Moving to the Music
Session 3. Sensation and Perception
Session 5. Learning and Memory
Session 6. Language and Emotion
The header for this page illustrates the idea that thought occurs through the interactions between multiple areas of the brain. It contains from left to right a diagram of the different regions of the cerebral cortex (Glasser et al., Nature, 536, 171-178, 2016), a figure of the interconnecting networks in the cortex (Meunier et al., Frontiers in Neuroinformatics, 3, 37, 2009), and a reproduction of Rodin’s Thinker (1904).
Books that might be helpful are:
Ashwell, K. W. S. (2012). The brain book: Development, function, disorder, health. Richmond Hill, ON: Firefly Books. (amazon.ca)
Carter R., Aldridge, S., Page, M., & Parker, S. (2014). The human brain book. New York: DK Publishing (amazon.ca)
In 2021 during the COVID pandemic, I gave a version of the Brain and Mind course via video to the Living and Learning in Retirement Group . The mp4 video files (very large) are available to view and download on my google drive using the following link:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1qUd1mk-8zJcPwWZTsXj5G7ySqVSCjzYN?usp=sharing
The files will take a while to download (depending on your internet connection and computer speed). Your downloading program may note that the files are too large to be scanned for viruses. You can proceed to download anyway – they do not have any viruses.
Each of the ten lectures takes about an hour. If you want to get a sense of what they are like I would recommend the last on (Brain and Mind 10: Madness and Wisdom). I apologize for the fuzziness of aome of the visuals and the huskiness of my voice.