Exploring the Mind
Overview
Exploring the Mind is an introduction to the multidisciplinary study of the mind. This cluster will address such questions as: the nature of minds and mental phenomena; the connection between perception, cognition, and the world; how the brain has evolved and how the mind develops through one’s life; how brain mechanisms contribute to our understanding of human experience; consciousness and the self; and the possibility of programming computers to have artificial minds. This cluster will appeal to anyone curious about understanding how the mind/brain works to produce sensation, perception, thought, emotion, consciousness, and language—and how these phenomena can be computationally modeled in machines. Students will be asked to participate in either Neurobiology of Mind or Neuroeconomics, and either the Science of the Mind or Language, Brain and Human Behavior courses.
Courses
Seminar: Linguistics 111FCS, Language, Brain and Human Behavior
Julie Tetel, Professor, Department of English and Linguistics Program
It is widely agreed that the understanding of human cognition intersects with an understanding of human language, but there the agreement ends. This seminar will explore the intersection of cognition and language by looking at a variety of theories of language, including: traditional models that vary according to how much the capacity for tlanguage is attributed to “the genes”
or to “the environment” and newer models that question and redescribe traditional definitions of terms such as “nature,” “nurture,” “genetic code” and “language.” We examine the ways in which traditional and new models of language interpret the capacity for language in its relationship to both cognition and social interaction.
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Seminar: Philosophy 98FCS Science of the Mind
Owen Flanagan, Professor, Department of Philosophy
This seminar will focus on the nature and constitution of mind. We will examine the relation between body and mind, and between consciousness and cognition. We will also study several related philosophical problems about the mind, such as: subjectivity, skepticism about other minds, the relation of language to mind, and the effects of brain lesions on mental life. Readings will be from a variety of sources, including philosophy, psychology and neuroscience.
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Seminar: Neurobiology 95FCS Neuroeconomics & Decision-making
Scott Huettel, Associate Professor, Departments of
Psychiatry, Psychology & Neurobiology;
Michael Platt, Associate Professor, Department of Neurobiology
Understanding human behavior is a central goal of
science. Historically, behavior has been studied using
two distinct perspectives: economic/psychological and
neuroscientific. Neuroscientists, psychologists, and
economists have recently come to recognize that these
perspectives are not independent, and that only by
combining the mathematical rigor and behavioral precision
of economics with the biological inferences drawn from
neuroscience can behavior be fully understood. The
emerging field of neuroeconomics considers such problems
as: what makes us trust someone with our financial
or emotional future? Why do addicts continue their
drug use, despite knowing its negative consequences?
How does emotional state influence consumer preferences?
How does advertising influence brain function? Topics
will include the basic structural and functional organization
of the brain, strengths and limitations of techniques
in neuroscience, how concepts from economics are being
introduced into neuroscience, and how results from
neuroscience are changing economics models. Readings
will be drawn from texts in both economics and neuroscience
and from primary academic research in neuroeconomics.
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Seminar: Neurobiology 93FCS Neurobiology of the Mind
William C. Hall, Professor, Department of Psychology & Neurobiology
No textbooks or lectures in this seminar. The course is taught by the Socratic Method. The students
read original papers authored by famous neuroscientists and then discuss and answer questions about the
papers in class. The papers are concerned with four topics: how information from our sense organs instructs
the centers in the brain that organize and initiate behavior, the cellular and molecular basis of learning
and memory, how nerve cells form their proper connections during the development of the brain and, finally,
why nerve cells fail to regenerate and reestablish connections that are severed by brain disease or injury.
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Focus 99FCS.04 Special Topics in Focus: Mind/Brain Science
Michele Diaz, Assistant Director, Brain Imaging and Analysis Center
The discussion course provides students with an integrative
understanding of central issues in the mind and brain
sciences. The course emphasizes interaction with student
peers and with the cluster faculty. As examples, students will learn
about artificial intelligence by speaking with a computer,
about decision making through playing interactive games,
and about functional neuroimaging through touring Duke
University research laboratories. Students will also learn
about research into mind-brain studies at Duke, through
panel discussions, and guest lectures from Duke faculty.
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