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DRUGS AND BEHAVIOR
Neuroscience 0081 (10931)
L9 Clapp Hall
MWF 1:00–1:50pm
Fall 2019
Instructor:
Dr. Joe Brague
Email: joebrague@gmail.com
Office: BST3 6068
Graduate TAs:
Jeremy Gedeon
Email: jyg2@pitt.edu
Office: BSTWR E1404
Kaitlyn Petersen
Email: kap206@pitt.edu
Office:
Undergrad TAs:
Jessica Taylor Anisha Venkatesh
jht9@pitt.edu
anv62@pitt.edu
Office hours: Emailing the graduate TA’s is the preferred and most efficient way to have your
questions answered. However, all of TAs are happy to meet in person if necessary. Since the
instructors and Grad TAs all have offices at BST3 or BST, the TA’s will be available for office hours
from 2-3pm on Friday in Langley A410, or by appointment. I also encourage you to get in touch with
one of the Undergrad TAs since they may be more accessible to you.
Class Resources: There is no required text for this course. Instead, we will be using TopHat (join
code: 397962) to serve two primary functions: (1) to provide you with an “eTextbook” that will be a
supplement to the in-class lectures, and (2) to allow for in-class participation using the “Question”
function. TopHat can be accessed using any web-enabled device (laptop, tablet, smartphone), or via
SMS texts/in offline mode. If you do not have access to any of these devices, please contact me so I
can make other arrangements. Pitt has a contract with TopHat, making it totally free for students! In
addition, CourseWeb will be used to take quizzes and to submit your writing/homework assignments.
However, if you’d like a textbook as a backup resource, I recommend the following:
Julien's Primer of Drug Action, Fourteenth Edition, by Claire D. Advokat, Joseph E. Comaty, and Robert
M. Julien, ISBN-13 978-1319015855 ISBN-10: 1319015859
Recitation: Recitation will be held Fridays from 3:00-3:50pm in Langley A221. Attendance is optional,
but recommended should you have questions about the material covered in class. The Grad TA will
post weekly review sheets to Courseweb on the content covered in recitation.
Course Objectives: The overall goal of this course is to provide you with a broad overview of the
relationship between drugs and behavior. The specific goals are to teach you the basic concepts and
principles of brain anatomy and physiology, how the brain is modified by drugs, how drugs alter
behaviors, and how disorders of brain function can be affected by a variety of drugs. You will become
acquainted with the major issues in the field of behavioral neuroscience and be better able to evaluate
the various claims made about brain research and function, particularly those pertaining to drugs.
Course Requirements: You will be required to take 6 quizzes, 4 exams, and 2 homework/class
discussion activities, and participate by answering questions in class.
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Class Format: The majority of course format will be lecture, but in-class discussions are welcome.
Please do not hesitate to ask about material that you do not understand, or to raise questions for class
discussion regarding materials covered in class, or experiences you have outside of class relevant to
the topics covered. We also have a few in-class activities planned. It is recommended that you read the
assigned chapter in TopHat before each class, and this material will be reinforced in lecture. Please
only use your web-enabled devices to take notes and for participation in TopHat questions during class.
Attendance: You are STRONGLY encouraged to attend all classes, for two major reasons. (1) An
outline of the lecture slides will be provided prior to each class; however, it is up to you to fill in the
outline with the details of the lecture. Full PowerPoint slides will NOT be made available, so if you miss
a class, please ask a classmate to share their notes. (2) You will be earning in-class participation credit
(see details below), and we will be doing some in-class activities aimed at gaining a deeper
understanding of the material.
Class Participation: Although the lectures are important, we can all use a break from them! By
participating in class, you will be enhancing your learning of the topics covered. Questions will be posed
in class and will be answered using the TopHat app.
Quizzes: Quizzes are designed to assess your comprehension of the material covered in class and to
serve as test prep. Quizzes are open-note and will be taken online through CourseWeb, and will be
open for 3 days (due at 12:59pm before class on the third day). Therefore, there will be NO MAKEUP
QUIZZES. Incomplete quizzes will receive a 0. These are expected to be completed individually.
Exams: Exams will be multiple choice only and will be taken in class. Exams will focus on material
covered in lecture, and anything presented during lecture is considered testable material, unless
otherwise indicated. The recitation that precedes each exam will focus on exam prep, and a review
session will be held the evening before the exam. All resources/materials (laptops, tablets, phones,
notes, etc.) must be put away during the exam. Graded exams must be returned or you will receive a 0.
If you have any questions about your grade for an exam, please set up an appointment with me.
Missed exam policy: If you have a planned absence on the day of an exam, such as an interview, a
court appearance, or an off-campus activity sponsored by the University, you must arrange with me to
take the exam early with at least one week’s notice - no make-up exams will be allowed for these types
of absences! Make-up exams will only be made available if you have an emergency, such as a health
crisis requiring medical attention, or you experience a serious family or personal crisis. You must notify
me of an emergency before the exam. You must also schedule to take a make-up exam within one
week of the missed exam. This policy applies only to exams, not class participation, quizzes, the
writing assignments, or activities.
Activities: To engage more deeply with the material and to help prepare for the exams, you will have
two homework/in-class activities. Activity 1 will involve creating a concept map of how neurons
communicate, and Activity 2 will involve drawing a prototypical synapse, labeling targets of drug action.
Both assignments will be completed in groups and then discussed in class. You will have ~1 week to
complete each assignment.
Grading: Your final grade will be calculated from your scores on class participation, quizzes, exams,
and the writing assignments. Do not expect that grades will be curved. However, students who are on
the cusp of two final grades may be bumped up based on attendance/participation
Grade Breakdown:
Category
Points
Class
Participation
30 points total
Dropped
Grades
none
Points Applied to
Final Grade
30
3
Quiz
20 points each
Drop 1 out of 6
100
Exams
100 points each
Drop 1 out of 4
300
Activities
10 points each
none
20
TOTAL
Grading scale:
Letter Grade
A+
A
AB+
B
B-
460
Percentage Range
98.0 - 100
93.0 - 97.9
90.0 - 92.9
88.0 - 89.9
83.0 - 87.9
80.0 - 82.9
Letter Grade
C+
C
CD
F
Percentage Range
78.0 - 79.9
73.0 - 77.9
70.0 - 72.9
60.0 - 69.9
59.9 or Less
Academic Integrity: Please see the College of General Studies web page for details on academic
integrity www.cgs.pitt.edu. Students are expected to comply with the University of Pittsburgh's Policy on
Academic Integrity. Any student suspected of violating this obligation for any reason during the
semester will be required to participate in the procedural process, initiated at the instructor level, as
outlined in the University Guidelines on Academic Integrity. This may include, but is not limited to, the
confiscation of the examination of any individual suspected of violating University Policy. A minimum
sanction of a zero score for the quiz, exam or paper will be imposed. Furthermore, no student may
bring any unauthorized materials to an exam, including dictionaries and programmable calculators or
cell phones.
Email Communication: Each student is issued a University e-mail address (username@pitt.edu) upon
admittance. This e-mail address may be used by the University for official communication with students.
Students are expected to read e-mail sent to this account on a regular basis. Failure to read and react
to University communications in a timely manner does not absolve the student from knowing and
complying with the content of the communications. The University provides an e-mail forwarding
service that allows students to read their e-mail via other service providers (e.g., Gmail, AOL, Yahoo).
Students that choose to forward their e-mail from their pitt.edu address to another address do so at
their own risk. If e-mail is lost as a result of forwarding, it does not absolve the student from responding
to official communications sent to their University e-mail address. To forward e-mail sent to your
University account, go to http://accounts.pitt.edu, log into your account, click on Edit Forwarding
Addresses, and follow the instructions on the page. Be sure to log out of your account when you have
finished. (For the full E-mail Communication Policy, go to www.bc.pitt.edu/policies/policy/09/09-1001.html.)
Disabilities: If you have a disability that requires special testing accommodations or other classroom
modifications, you need to notify both the instructor and the Disability Resources and Services no later
than the 2nd week of the term. You may be asked to provide documentation of your disability to
determine the appropriateness of accommodations. To notify Disability Resources and Services, call
648-7890 (Voice or TTD) to schedule an appointment. The Office is located in 216 William Pitt Union.
I reserve the right to make any changes to the syllabus as I see fit. However, if any changes are
made that affect due dates, I will do my best to make sure that you have plenty of time and warning
beforehand.
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Date
L
8/26 M
8/28 W
8/30 F
9/2 M
9/4 W
1
2
3
9/6 F
9/9 M
9/11 W
9/13 F
9/16 M
9/18 W
9/20 F
9/23 M
9/25 W
9/27 F
9/30 M
10/2 W
10/4 F
10/7 M
5
6
7
8
9
10/9 W
10/11 F
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Reading
Introduction to Course
TH1
History and study of drugs
Cells of the nervous system
No Class-Labor Day
Cells of the nervous system
TH2
TH3
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
11/15 F
11/18 M
11/20 W
11/22 F
32
33
34
35
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
11/24-12/1
36
37
Assignment Due
TH3
Neurophysiology/
Neural communication
TH4
Neurotransmitters
TH5
Exam 1
10/14 T
10/16 W
10/18 F
10/21 M
10/23 W
10/25 F
10/28 M
10/30 W
11/1 F
11/4 M
11/6 W
11/8 F
11/11 M
11/13 W
12/2 M
12/4 W
12/6 F
12/12 Th
Topics
Add/drop period ends
Quiz 1 open
Quiz 1 due; Discuss Activity 1
Exam 1 (Lectures 1-9)
Neuroanatomy
TH6
Introduction to Pharmacological
Concepts
TH7
Tolerance, Drug Dependence,
and Addiction
TH8
Legality of drugs
TH9
Quiz 3 open
Drug Discovery
TH10
Quiz 3 due
Exam 2
OTC Drugs
Antipsychotics
TH11
TH12
Psychomotor Stimulants
Quiz 2 open
Quiz 2 Due (10/5/19)
Exam 2 (Lectures 10-20)
TH13
Caffeine & Methylxanthine
Nicotine & Tobacco
Antidepressants
TH14
TH15
TH16
Psychedelics/Hallucinogens
TH17
Anxiolytics
Exam 3
Depressants/SedativeHypnotics
Dissociative Anesthetics
Alcohol
Opioids
No class-Thanksgiving Break
Opioids continued
Cannabinoids
Wrap-up
Exam 4 (Finals week) – 12/12
TH18
Quiz 4 open
Quiz 4 due (11/2)
Discuss Activity; Quiz 5 open
Quiz 5 due
Exam 3 (Lectures 21-31)
TH19
TH20
TH21
TH22
Quiz 6 open
Quiz 6 due
TH22
THC
4:00pm
Exam 4 (Lectures 32-37)