Brain and Mind

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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 1. Introduction

Session 2. Moving to the Music

Session 3. Sensation and Perception

Session 4. Consciousness

Session 5. Learning and Memory

Session 6. Language and Emotion

Session 7. Thought and Will

Session 8. Madness and Wisdom

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)