Dr. J. Gomez-Lavin
jglavin@yorku.ca

The scientific study of the brain has expanded in the past 150 years from a hobby-like side job for anatomists and coroners to a multi-billion dollar industry with tens of thousands of researchers working in tandem across the globe. What are these people doing? What are they studying? How do changing tools and innovations structure the ways in which neuroscience is done? How do neuroscientists make coherent, testable predictions and in so doing build better explanations about what is likely the most complex system known to humankind? Where might neuroscience go? This course takes methods from the philosophy of science broadly construed and applies them to the historical and present practices of scientists who intervene, observe, and experiment on the brain.

As such, the course will be divided into roughly three parts: First, we will begin with a primer on issues in the philosophy of explanation and experimentation alongside a general historical overview of the development of the neurosciences, then we will focus on the tools that have been devised to study the brain moving from lesion and electrophysiological interventions, to neuroimaging—ultimately taking a look at newer techniques including optogenetics and so-called “big-data” neuroscience, finally we will end by reflecting on some core philosophical fissures that still sit at the heart of neuroscientific work, including: What is the nature of neural activity? and, Are neuroscientific tools sufficient to explain mental phenomena?

Technical requirements for taking the course:

This course will have a mixture of in-person (on-campus) and online components. We expect meetings to take place in-person and on-campus throughout the Fall semester. Students should be prepared for the possibility that the some or all meetings in the course become fully remote, with meetings being hosted on Zoom, as circumstances require. In order to fully participate in Zoom meetings, students should ensure that they have access to a stable, higher-speed internet connection, as well as a computer with a webcam and microphone, and/or a smart device with these features. Students should bring such a device to class as well, in order to complete in-class, online hosted assignments as needed.

All assignments except for in-class exams, the schedule of readings, course announcements, and course policies will be posted to the eClass site for this course. All assignments—including in class quizzes—will either be submitted via eClass, a York U hosted Qualtrics link created by the instructor, or completed within the eClass interface (e.g. posting on discussion forums). The instructor will also use eClass as their primary way of communicating with students.

Here are some useful links for student computing information, resources and help

Student Guide to Moodle

Zoom@YorkU Best Practices 

Zoom@YorkU User Reference Guide

Computing for Students Website

Student Guide to eLearning at York University

To determine Internet connection and speed, there are online tests, such as Speedtest, that can be run.]

Times and locations:

Unless otherwise directed, meetings will be held in-person and on-campus on Wednesdays 2:30pm-5:30pm EST at Lassonde Building (LAS) C.

Students are expected to follow the most up-to-date safety protocols laid out by the Province and by York University, including completing daily screenings. For more information, see: https://www.yorku.ca/bettertogether/students/. Students should be prepared for the possibility that class be held fully remotely, via Zoom, depending on the evolving circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The instructor will attempt to record all lectures using the PANOPTO software suite integrated with the course in eClass. This should allow students who cannot attend (e.g., because of isolation procedures) to view the lecture. Additionally, those students will be required to still complete the daily quiz hosted on eClass or Qualtrics. Further details will be provided on the first day of class.

Virtual office hours:

Each week I will hold a virtual office hour for the course from Tuesdays from 3-4pm via zoom. I will post the recurring zoom link on our eClass site on the first day of class.

Papers and readings will be posted on our eClass site. It is your responsibility to check the eClass site for new readings as they are made available.

Weekly quizzes: 25%

Midterm exam: 25%

Final exam: 25%

Paper*: 25%

*n.b. the paper will be broken up into several components including but not limited to: a proposal, a meeting with the instructor etc. All weightings are subject to change.

Weekly seminar meetings (3 hours, with breaks). Class meetings will be conducted in-person and on-campus at the designated classroom. Some exceptions will be explicitly noted, especially the one-on-one meeting that students will have with the instructor in late November to discuss their final paper proposal.

After completing this course, students should be able to:

1. Understand core positions in the philosophy of explanation, including mechanistic and interventionist views, and be able to apply or detect features of these views in contemporary empirical work in neuroscience.
2. Understand the historical progression of tools and techniques in the neurosciences.
3. Know the fundamentals of various key tools used in the neurosciences, from lesion studies to fMRI, alongside their development, and particular up- and down-sides.
4. Demonstrate a capacity to critically and charitably engage with contemporary empirical neuroscience.
5. Demonstrate an ability to write a succinct, clear, and charitable argumentative based essay analyzing the explanatory limits of a given tool or investigation-area in the neurosciences.

Course policies

Missed quizzes: No extensions or redos will be given for quizzes, no exceptions, including technical difficulties. However, students will be permitted to drop the lowest two quizzes.

Attendance: Attendance is mandatory, with exceptions due to illness, permitted excuses as required by university policy, and failure to pass the YU screen daily screening. In the event you cannot attend in person class, you must still complete the daily quiz during the start of our class time, as it will be made unavailable shortly afterwards. You would also be strongly advised to consult the recorded PANOPTO lecture, if available. If you continuously miss class, I may contact you to discuss options for your future in the course. Attendance and active engagement are the keys to successfully completing the course.

Exam makeups: Alternative arrangements and makeups will not be allowed, except as required by university policy: e.g., if you fail the screening or the course is required to move online, alternative arrangements (e.g., an essay exam delivered via eClass or Qualtrics) will be devised.

Assignment Submissions: Assignments will be submitted via eClass. Additionally, I will request that you print out and hand in hardcopies of your papers and their subcomponents at the relevant point in the semester.

Papers: Late papers may be accepted at the instructor’s discretion, if there are circumstances calling for an extension. Papers turned in late without reasonable mitigating circumstances will incur at least a 10% reduction in your score. It best that you contact me as soon as possible if you’re going to be late (preferably before the due date).

Contacting the instructor: You should contact the instructor via email or the eClass direct message function. Please note that we will be responding to messages within 24 hours during working days (i.e. not on weekends or holidays).

Academic honesty and integrity: In this course, we strive to maintain academic integrity to the highest extent possible. All submitted coursework must be an expression of the student’s own understanding and ideas. Please familiarize yourself with the meaning of academic integrity by completing SPARK’s Academic Integrity module at the beginning of the course. Breaches of academic integrity range from cheating to plagiarism (i.e., the improper crediting of another’s work, the representation of another’s ideas as your own, etc.). All instances of academic dishonesty in this course will be reported to the appropriate university authorities, and can be punishable according to the Senate Policy on Academic Honesty.

Turnitin: To promote academic integrity in this course, students will be normally required to submit their written assignments to Turnitin (via the course eClass) for a review of textual similarity and the detection of possible plagiarism. In so doing, students will allow their material to be included as source documents in the Turnitin.com reference database, where they will be used only for the purpose of detecting plagiarism. The terms that apply to the University’s use of the Turnitin service are described on the Turnitin.com website.

“Closed-book” policy: It is expected that students will complete in-person quizzes and exams on their own without help from any other person, and without access to notes, articles covered in class, or other materials that have been provided over eClass. These quizzes and exams are designed so that you can complete them without referring to minutia in the text, and doing so with consume valuable time that would be better used in thinking through the essay and answer prompts. In the event that the course is moved online, quizzes and exams may be “open book” at the instructor’s discretion. In this event, more information will be provided.

Intellectual property: All course material (this syllabus, power points, assignments, paper rubrics, etc), except the outside assigned articles, is the intellectual property of the course instructor and cannot be reproduced in any way without my permission. Assigned articles are the intellectual property of their respective copyright holders and usually cannot be reproduced or posted publicly.

Course recordings: Any recordings for this course should be used for educational purposes only and as a means for enhancing accessibility. Students do not have permission to duplicate, copy and/or distribute the recordings outside of the class (these acts can violate not only copyright laws but also FIPPA).

Student conduct: All students are expected to treat their fellow students and the instructor with respect and charity, both in class in person and on any of our online platforms.. Especially through mediums like Zoom and the course eClass, no form of harassment, trolling, or disrespect will be tolerated.

Grading: The grading scheme for the course conforms to the 9-point grading system used in undergraduate programs at York (e.g., A+ = 9, A = 8, B+ - 7, C+ = 5, etc.). Assignments and tests* will bear either a letter grade designation or a corresponding number grade (e.g.  A+ = 90 to 100, A = 80 to 90, B+ = 75 to 79, etc.). Final course grades may be adjusted to conform to Program or Faculty grades distribution profiles.

If and only if we must move to zoom:

Zoom sessions: For those attending the live Zoom classes, you are not allowed to take any screenshots or recordings of any kind. This is to respect the privacy of your fellow students. Recordings of the lecture portions (which only involve myself) and my slides will be made available on eClass. You also do not have permission to reproduce any lecture recordings on any platforms or websites outside of eClass.

Video policy: I understand that some of you might have privacy concerns about using your video during Zoom classes, and that others might have limited internet bandwidth that might make live-streaming difficult. Therefore, it is not required that students have their videos on if meetings must be moved online. That being said, having video cameras on can make a big difference in terms of creating a sense of community within our class, so that we feel more like a normal, in-person classroom. For this reason, I do very sincerely encourage you to use your video as much as possible if privacy or tech issues are not preventing you from doing otherwise. If you do need to keep your video off, please be sure to put a profile photo on your Zoom account, so that your classmates feel like they are talking to a person, rather than a black box with a name in it.

Zoom Chat policy: If meetings are held on Zoom, the option to privately message other students in the chat will be disabled. Messages in the public chat should be respectful and stay on point.

Student Accommodations: We are committed to fairly accommodating students with disabilities. Please contact the instructors and Student Accessibility Services (https://accessibility.students.yorku.ca/) as soon as possible, and we will all work together to find a fair accommodation. Note that in addition to sending the letter, accommodations for individual assignments must specifically be requested well ahead of the assignment's deadline.

Further links: For more information on relevant university policies, please see: Student Rights & Responsibilities, Academic Accommodation for Students with Disabilities, and Important Course Information.