Psychology 312: Sleep and Circadian Rhythms
Fall 2014
Thursdays 1:30-4:00pm
Link 205
Instructor: Dan Cavanaugh, Ph.D.
Office: Sharpless 404B
Office Hours: Thursday 12:30-1:30; 4:00-5:00pm, by appointment only
Email: dcavanaugh@haverford.edu
Course Overview:
This seminar is divided into two related parts. The first half of the course will
cover circadian rhythms. The second part of the course will apply our
understanding of circadian rhythms to explore in depth one very prominent
circadian-regulated behavior: sleep. We will investigate these topics at several
different levels, spanning from cellular and molecular mechanisms to systems
and behavioral approaches, and finally will look at pathologies of these systems
that lead to human disorders.
Course Format:
Classes will be divided into three major components: instructor-led
lecture/discussion, student-led journal article discussion, and student-led special
topic presentation (see below for more detailed descriptions).
Prerequisites:
This course will assume a familiarity with fundamental concepts in neuroscience.
To be eligible for enrollment, students must have taken one of the following
courses: HC Psych 217 (Biological Psychology), BMC Psych 218 (Behavioral
Neuroscience) or BMC Bio 202 (Introduction to Neuroscience). In addition, since
we will be investigating the molecular and biological basis of circadian rhythms
and sleep, it is suggested that students have taken an introductory biology
course. If you are interested in this course but lack a basic biology background,
additional readings can be suggested by the instructor to bring you up to speed.
Required Texts:
• Foster and Kreitzman (2005) Rhythms of Life: The Biological Clocks That
Control the Daily Lives of Every Living Thing. Yale University Press.
• Moorcroft (2012) Understanding Sleep and Dreaming, 2nd Edition.
Springer.
In addition to these texts, we will read 1-3 journal articles each week, which will
be posted to Moodle.
Grading:
Participation (25%): This course is discussion based, and as such, your
participation is vital to making it a success. It is expected that you will come to
class on time, prepared, and ready to actively participate. To facilitate this,
students will prepare a short, written reaction to each week’s readings. These
will include a paragraph that summarizes the most important/interesting parts of
that week’s reading, as well as three discussion questions that relate to that
week’s topic. Reactions should be uploaded to Moodle and are due by midnight
on the Wednesday before each class. Students will receive a daily participation
score that will range from 0-5 points; up to 2 points allotted for reaction statement
(0 = failed to turn in on time, 1 = sub-standard effort, 2 = thoughtfully completed),
and up to 3 points for in-class participation (0 = unexplained absence, 1 =
present but minimal participation, 2 = variable participation, 3 = fully engaged
with active participation throughout class).
Journal Article Presentation (15%): Each week, we will focus our attention on
one journal article, selected by the instructor, that is relevant to that week’s topic.
We will discuss these articles in depth, in a journal club-style format. Each
student will be responsible for presenting one journal article over the course of
the semester. Students will prepare a Powerpoint-based presentation which
relates pertinent background information, lays out the major questions
posed, explains the experimental methods, summarizes the results (including
all figures/tables), raises any problems/concerns with the data or
interpretation, and suggests future directions that could be pursued. We will go
through the figures one by one as a class, and students will take turns taking us
through the figures (students will be selected at random to explain each figure).
Journal club presentations will be graded based on content (50%), structure
(30%), and delivery (20%).
Special Topic Presentation (15%): Staring in the 5th week, each class will
include 1-3 student-led special topic presentations. These will last 20 minutes
each, with an additional 10 minutes allotted for questions/discussion. Students
will chose from among a list of topics, which will be provided by the instructor.
These presentations should rely heavily on primary journal articles, and students
will be required to hand in a list of at least 3 journal articles they used as sources.
Special topic presentations will be graded based on content (50%), structure
(30%), and delivery (20%).
Midterm (20%): The midterm will be take-home (self-timed) and open book, and
will consist of short-essay questions. It will cover the circadian rhythms portion of
the course.
Grant Proposal (Final) (25%): In lieu of a final exam, students will prepare a
grant proposal. Students will choose a topic based on their own interest, become
experts in the latest research being undertaken in that field, and design specific
experiments to address questions that explore a new direction. Students will
select topics and get them approved by the instructor by the 10th week of
class (November 6th), and we will devote the entire class on November 20th to
working on our grant proposals.
93 – 100%
90 – 92.99%
87 – 89.99%
83 – 86.99%
A / 4.0
A- / 3.7
B+ / 3.3
B / 3.0
Grading Scale
80 – 82.99%
B- / 2.7
77 – 79.99%
C+ / 2.3
73 – 76.99%
C / 2.0
70 – 72.99%
C- / 1.7
67 – 69.99%
60 – 66.99%
below 59.99
D+ / 1.3
D / 1.0
F / 0.0
Attendance and Absence Policy:
Class attendance and participation are expected, and all homework assignments
should be completed on time according to the schedule. Any late assignments
will be accepted at my discretion, and docked the equivalent of 1/3 letter grade
for each day late (weekly reaction paragraphs will not be accepted after due
date). Because we meet only once a week, absences are especially disruptive.
Please do everything you can to be in class. If you must miss a class, please let
me know ahead of time (via email). If you miss class due to unforeseen
circumstances (illness, etc), please contact me as soon as possible to explain
your absence. You may be asked to make up for missed class time will additional
out of class assignments.
Academic Integrity Policy:
You are expected to abide by Haverford’s Honor Code. You will be asked to refer
suspected violations of the Honor Code to Honor Council.
Disability Statement:
This course is open to all students who meet the academic requirements for
participation. Students who need accommodations in this course because of the
impact of a disability are encouraged to contact me privately to discuss the
situation. Students should also contact the Office of Disabilities Services
(http://www.haverford.edu/ods/) to coordinate reasonable accommodations.
Additional Notes:
No cell phones will be allowed during class time. Please silence all phones and
put them away during class.
I will make every effort to respond to email within 24 hours, but don’t expect me
to get back immediately or outside of normal class hours.
Schedule of Topics and Assignments:
PART I: CIRCADIAN RHYTHMS
September 4
Introduction and Course Overview
(week one)
September 11
Circadian Phenomenology
(week two)
Readings:
Rhythms of Life, Introduction; Ch 1-4; Ch 10, pg 168-181
Journal Club Article:
Karatsoreos IN, et al. (2011) Disruption of circadian clocks has
ramifications for metabolism, brain, and behavior. Proc Natl
Acad Sci U S A. 108:1657-62.
September 18
(week three)
Cellular Basis of Circadian Rhythms
Readings:
Rhythms of Life, Ch 5
Welsh et al., 2010
Saper et al., 2005
Journal Club Article:
Aton SJ, et al. (2005) Vasoactive intestinal polypeptide
mediates circadian rhythmicity and synchrony in mammalian
clock neurons. Nat Neuro. 8:476-83.
September 25
(week four)
Molecular Basis of Circadian Rhythms
Readings:
Rhythms of Life, Ch 7
Gallego et al., 2007
Journal Club Article:
Xu Y, et al. (2005) Functional consequences of a CKIdelta
mutation causing familial advanced sleep phase syndrome.
Nature 434:640-4.
October 2
(week five)
Entrainment
Readings:
Rhythms of Life, Ch 6
Golombek and Rosenstein, 2010
Journal Club Article: Guler et al. (2008) Melanopsin cells are
the principle conduits for rod-cone input to non-image-forming
vision. Nature 453: 102-106.
Special Topic Presentation:
Food Entrainable Oscillator
October 9
(week six)
Circadian Misalignment: Jet Lag and Shift Work
Readings:
Rhythms of Life, Ch 11 and 12
Revell and Eastman, 2005
Grens, 2013
Journal Club Article:
Yamaguchi et al. (2013) Mice genetically deficient in
vasopressin V1a and V1b receptors are resistant to jet lag.
Science 342: 85-90.
Special Topic Presentation:
Social Jet Lag
PART II: SLEEP
October 16
NO CLASS – FALL BREAK
(week seven)
October 23
Sleep Phenomenology
(week eight)
Readings:
Understanding Sleep and Dreaming, Ch 1, 2, and 6
Journal Club Article:
Vyazovskiy VV, et al. (2011) Local sleep in awake rats. Nature
472:443-7.
Special Topics Presentation:
Sleep in Marine Mammals
October 30
(week nine)
The Molecular and Cellular Basis of Sleep
Readings:
Understanding Sleep and Dreaming, Ch 5
Saper et al., 2005
Journal Club Article:
Brisbare-Roch C, et al. (2007) Promotion of sleep by targeting
the orexin system in rats, dogs and humans. Nature Med. 13:
150-5.
Special Topics Presentation:
Sleep Medication
November 6
(week ten)
Sleep Deprivation
Readings:
Understanding Sleep and Dreaming, Ch 3-4
Hersher and Chervin, 2014
Journal Club Article:
Markwald RR, et al. (2013) Impact of insufficient sleep on total
daily energy expenditure, food intake, and weight gain. Proc
Natl Acad Sci U S A. 110:5695-700.
Class Experiment Discussion:
PVT and Sleep Logs
November 13
(week eleven)
Dreaming
Readings:
Understanding Sleep and Dreaming, Ch 7-8 ; Ch 9 pg 214-224
Nir and Tonini, 2010
Journal Club Article:
Wamsley, EJ et al. (2010) Cognitive replay of visuomotor
learning at sleep onset: temporal dynamics and relationship to
task performance. Sleep 33: 59-68.
Special Topics Presentation:
Lucid Dreaming
November 20
(week twelve)
Functions of Sleep and Dreaming
Readings:
Understanding Sleep and Dreaming, Ch 10-11
Diekelmann and Born, 2010
Journal Club Article:
Xie L, et al. (2013) Sleep drives metabolite clearance from the
adult brain. Science 342:373-7 (Science in the Classroom).
Special Event:
Radiolab: Sleep
November 27
(week thirteen)
NO CLASS - THANKSGIVING
December 4
(week fourteen)
December 11
(week fifteen)
Grant Proposal Workshop
Sleep Disorders
Readings:
Understanding Sleep and Dreaming, Ch 12-13
Journal Club Article:
Jacobs GD, et al. (2004) Cognitive Behavior Therapy and
Pharmacotherapy for Insomnia. Arch Int Med 164: 1888-1896.
Special Topics Presentation:
Insomnia
Sleep Apnea
Restless Leg Syndrome
Narcolepsy
REM Behavior Disorder