Prof. Irving Biederman
Psychology 540
University of Southern California
Spring 2010
SYLLABUS: COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE
IB's Office: Hedco 316, Ext. 0-6094, bieder@usc.edu.
Time: Class meets: Monday 2-6. Place: DNI second floor conference room.
Required Text + Journal Articles (Denoted by *)
Text: Gazzaniga, M.S., Ivry, R. B., & Mangun, G. R. (2009). Cognitive
Neuroscience: The Biology of Mind. Third Edition. New York, N.Y.:
WWNorton. [GIM]
Journal articles can be downloaded (in Adobe Acrobat) from the course
Blackboard site. Some readings will be added during the semester.
Evaluation: Evaluation will be based on class participation (10%), a midterm
(40%) and a final examination (50%). A large pool of possible exam questions
will be made available prior to each exam (two weeks before the midterm,
about one week before the final). Approximately 80% of the exam will be
composed of these questions.
Topics: Roughly corresponding to weeks. There will be some
reordering/rescheduling of topics and additions/subtractions of readings.
1. Jan. 11. Introduction: Modularity. Brain Development. Cortical visual
pathways for shape. Broadbent’s Flowchart Model of Attention.
*GIM Chapters 1-4.
Cherniak, C. (1994). Component placement optimization in the brain.
Journal of Neuroscience, 14, 2418-2427.
2. Jan 18. No class. MLK day.
3. Jan 25. Sensation and Perception. Early sensory processing. How to
get the world into the head. Speech Perception.
*GIM Chapter 5. Sensation and Perception.
*Kobatake, E., & Tanaka, K. (1994). Neuronal selectivities to complex object
features in the ventral visual pathway of the macaque cerebral cortex.
Journal of Neurophysiology, 71, 856-867.
4. Feb. 1. Object Recognition
*GIM Object Recognition. Chapter 6.
*Hayworth, K. J., & Biederman, I. (2006). Neural evidence for intermediate
representations in object recognition. Vision Research, 46, 4024-4031.
N. Kriegeskorte, M. Mur, D. A. Ruff, R Kiani, J. Bodurka, H. Esteky, K. Tanaka,
P. A. Bandettini. Matching categorical object representations in inferior
temporal cortex of man and monkey. Neuron, 60, 1126-1141.
Biederman: PSYCH 540 Cognitive Neuroscience Spring 2009 Syllabus
Page 2
*Ullman, S. (2007). Object recognition and segmentation by a fragment-based
hierarchy. TICS, 11, 58-64.
*Freedman, D. J., Riesenhuber, M., Poggio, T., & Miller, E. K. (2003). A
Comparison of Primate Prefrontal and Inferior Temporal Cortices during Visual
Categorization The Journal of Neuroscience, 23, 5235–5246.
5. Feb. 8.. Attention & Consciousness. The Control of Action.
*GIM. Chapter. 12. Attention & Consciousness
*GIM. Chapter 7. The Control of Action.
*Sheinberg, D. L., & Logothetis, N. (1997). The role of temporal cortical areas
in perceptual organization. PNAS, 94, 3408-3413.
7. Feb. 15. No Class. President’s Day.
8. Feb. 22. Learning and Memory. Clive Wearing.
*GIM. Chapter 8.
*Polyn, S. M., & Kahana, M. J. (2008). Memory search and the neural
representation of context. Trends in Cognitive Science, 12, 24-30.
*Bakker, Kirwan, Miller, & Stark. (2008). Pattern separation in the human
hippocampal CA3 and dentate gyrus. Science, 319, 1640-1642.
9. March 1. Frank Manis. Reading & Dyslexia. Language. Syntax.
*Chapter 10. Language.
10. March 8. More language. Hemispheric Specialization and Concepts.
Distribution of midterm question pool.
*GIM Chapter 11 Hemispheric Specialization.
*Golinkoff, R. M., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2008). How toddlers begin to learn
verbs. TICS.
*Mitchell, T. M. et al. (2008). Predicting Human Brain Activity Associated with
the Meanings of Nouns Science, 320, 1191.
11. March 15. No Class. Spring Recess.
12. March 22. Midterm Exam.
13. March 29. Emotion.
*GIM. Chapter 9.
*Tsuchiya, N., & Adolphs, R. (2007). Emotion and Consciousness. TICS, 11,
159-167.
*Murray, E. A. (2007). The amygdala, reward and emotion. TICS, 11, 489497.
14. April 5. Working Memory and Cognitive Control.
*GIM. Chapter 13.
Biederman: PSYCH 540 Cognitive Neuroscience Spring 2009 Syllabus
Page 3
*Badre, D. (2008). Cognitive control, hierarchy, and the rostro-caudal
organization of the frontal lobes. Trends in Cognitive Science, 12, 193-200.
15. April 12. Social Cognition
*GIM. Chapters 14. Social Cognition
*Donalson, Z. R., & Young, L. J. (2008). Oxytocin, Vasopressin, and the
neurogenetics of sociality. Science, 322, 900-904.
16. April 19. Antonio Damasio. Consciousness and Self; Social Cognition
Network
17. April. 26. (Last Class.) Evolutional Psychology and Behavioral
Genetics. Love, Individual Differences, Personality, and Intelligence.
Distribution of final question pool.
*GIM. Chapter 15. Evolutionary Perspectives.
*Bouchard, T., Lykken, D.T., McGue, M., Segal, N. L., & Tellegen, A. (1990).
Sources of human psychological differences: The Minnesota study of twins
reared apart. Science, 250, 223-228.
*Haidt’s, J. (2007). The new synthesis in moral psychology. Science, 316,
998-1002.