Washington State University Vancouver Neurosci 150: Art and the Brain, Fall 2015 Page 1 Neurosci 150: Art and the Brain
OPEN TO ALL MAJORS; NO PREREQUISITES Bill Griesar, Ph.D., Science Instructor VCLS Room 208Q, x69720 bgriesar@wsu.edu Office hours: TBA , Teaching Assistant; Jeff Leake, Art Instructor VCLS Room 208Q, x69720 aspragus@yahoo.com Office hours: TBA ANGEL course login webpage: https://lms.wsu.edu/default.asp FALL SEMESTER, 2015: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 12:00 – 1:15pm August 24 through December 11, 2015; Class TBA TEXTBOOK (recommended): Sensation & Perception, 2nd Edition, Wolfe et al ADDITIONAL BOOK (optional): Hallucinations, by Oliver Sacks ART SUPPLIES: Sketchbook (standard 11” x 14” drawing, 80 pound weight paper, smooth surface, with at least 24 sheets), colored pencils (basic set, with 12 assorted colors, Prismacolor recommended), one pound block of air dry clay (from Das) NOTE: You will need $2.50 to participate in the Portland Art Museum tour, and another $2 for a tablet that will temporarily mess with your taste buds! Washington State University Vancouver Neurosci 150: Art and the Brain, Fall 2015 Page 2 GOAL OF THE COURSE: Conscious experience involves the routing, identification, and interpretation of energy and information in our environment, from both inside our bodies and the world around us. Typically it begins with detection by sensory neurons, and relay of this information to specific neural networks in the brain. In this class we will investigate the biological mechanisms that underlie sensory detection of specific stimuli (including visual, auditory, gustatory, somatosensory, olfactory, vestibular, etc…), and the CNS networks involved in discrimination, interpretation, and other complex cognitive and perceptual responses. We’ll look at how these critical, adaptive biological neural networks physically develop, and how they are influenced by drugs and, ultimately, by inevitable decay. Hallucinations (in multiple sensory/perceptual realms) are often a fascinating consequence… We’ll also explore how artists have approached, understood and integrated aspects of sensory detection and experience into often extraordinary works that compel, move, inspire, and affect our understanding of ourselves, and our world. During this course you’ll have the opportunity to create objects designed to help you reflect on and understand the biological systems we’ll discuss… GRADES: Grades are based on the following point scale: 90 points and above = A; 80 – 89 points = B; 70 – 79 points = C; 60 – 69 points = D; 59 points or below = F. You can earn points in this class in the following ways… NEUROSCIENCE QUIZZES (60 points) Quiz One: Psychophysics, neurons, and synapses (15 points) Quiz Two: Gustation, olfaction, and somatosensation (15 points) Quiz Three: Visual system (15 points) Quiz Four: Auditory and vestibular systems (15 points) Washington State University Vancouver Neurosci 150: Art and the Brain, Fall 2015 Page 3 ART PROJECTS (15 points) Art Project 1: Neuron metaphor drawing (2.5 points) Art Project 2: Blind touch sculpture (2.5 points) Art Project 3: Homunculus sculpture (2.5 points) Art Project 4: Inverted drawing (2.5 points) Art Project 5: Blurred drawing (2.5 points) Art Project 6: Ear exquisite corpse (2.5 points) Neuroscience Illustrations (10 points) Illustration 1: Neuron model (2.5 points) Illustration 2: Olfactory bulb (2.5 points) Illustration 3: Visual system (2.5 points) Illustration 4: Ear structure (2.5 points) Perception Experiments (5 points) Two in class experiments will train you to gather and analyze data… Experiment 1: Miracle berry, written hypothesis, data gathering/analysis and conclusion (2.5 points) Given knowledge of the underlying neural mechanism of miraculin action on receptors for glucose, sucrose and other chemicals perceived as “sweet” (including its action in differing pH environments), develop a written hypothesis concerning which foods might be altered in terms of both sweet and sour taste perception. Test foods (including lime and lemon slices, sour patch candy, vinegar, cherry tomatoes, dark chocolate, potato chips, peanuts; all to be provided in class), and record subjective ratings of your perceptual responses for sweetness and sourness on a 1 – 8 numerical scale, both before and after exposure to miraculin… Washington State University Vancouver Neurosci 150: Art and the Brain, Fall 2015 Rate sweetness: Not sweet 1 Rate sourness: Not sour 1 Page 4 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 SWEET! 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 SOUR! As a class we will collect and average individual student data and identify changes, graph the results, and discuss results in terms of your hypotheses. Experiment 2: Mirror drawing, written hypothesis, data gathering and analysis, and conclusion (2.5 points) Participate in drawing exercises involving visual reflections from a mirror, and lack of direct visual input from your drawing hand. Do you expect fewer errors with your dominant or non-­‐dominant hand? Does it matter which hand you practice with first? Does prior drawing or skill at art decrease or increase the error rate? Develop a hypothesis, and we’ll practice “mirror drawing” with our dominant and non-­‐dominant hands to test the questions and predictions you propose. One half of the class will begin drawing with their dominant hand, and the other half with their non-­‐dominant hand, and complete ten drawing trials with each. Record the number of errors made on each trial, and then switch to the other hand. As a class we will collect and average individual student data, graph the results, and discuss results in terms of your hypotheses. WRITING PROJECT (10 points) A two page essay on neuroesthetics. Using Semir Zeki and V.S. Ramachandran’s research, identify four distinct aspects of neuroesthetics in a well known work of art. State clearly where these aspects are found in your work, and describe how they Washington State University Vancouver Neurosci 150: Art and the Brain, Fall 2015 Page 5 operate. We will make use of the WSUV library to research this paper. We will enhance students information literacy through a formal instruction session by a WSUV librarian. FINAL POSTER PROJECT (10 points) The final poster will consist of two parts. There will be four collages or drawings that are examples of gestalt grouping principles followed by a written explanation of how those principles are working. The second portion will be a formal analysis of a well known work of art, identifying the principles you chose for your collages or drawings within the image and clearly stating where and how those are operating within that work of art. The gestalt collages, famous artwork, and written descriptions for both will be fixed to an 18"x24" (minimum size) poster and presented to the class during the time slot for our final exam. ACADEMIC HONESTY: Academic integrity is the cornerstone of the university and will be strongly enforced in this course. Any student found in violation of the academic integrity policy will be given an “F” for the course and will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct. For additional information about WSU’s Academic Integrity policy/procedures, please contact (360) 546-­‐9573. Any evidence of cheating or plagiarism will lead to serious academic consequences, including possible failure of the course and/or dismissal from school. Plagiarism is also a violation of the WSU-­‐V Student Conduct Code. For more information see: http://studentaffairs.vancouver.wsu.edu/student-­‐affairs/student-­‐conduct STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES: If you are a student with a documented disability and registered with the WSU Disability Resource Center (DRC), please contact the instructor immediately to arrange academic accommodations. If you have a disability and have not yet registered with the DRC, please contact the DRC. For more information on reasonable accommodations, please check out this campus website… http://studentaffairs.vancouver.wsu.edu/student-­‐resource-­‐center/disability-­‐services Washington State University Vancouver Neurosci 150: Art and the Brain, Fall 2015 Page 6 INCOMPLETES: Incompletes are rarely given, and are based on strict criteria described in the university catalog. No incomplete will be assigned without a written formal agreement and timeline related to completion. PLEASE REVIEW THE CAMPUS SAFETY PLAN: Washington State University is committed to maintaining the safety of the students, faculty, staff, and visitors to the Vancouver campus. More information is available at the following links… http://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/safety-­‐plan http://admin.vancouver.wsu.edu/public-­‐safety/public-­‐safety EXCUSES: Life has ups and downs, and everyone struggles sometimes with family,
work, and other personal concerns and commitments. However, unless there is a serious,
unexpected, sudden, and significant emergency, please do not petition for special treatment
regarding deadlines for projects, quizzes, or exams. We strive to treat all students fairly,
and that means each of you must think ahead and plan for when assignments are due.
Everyone is subject to the same course expectations …
THE CLASSES WEEK ONE: August 24 – August 28 INTRODUCTIONS: Syllabus/course website, basic concepts, history, philosophical considerations, psychophysics, measuring the stimulus threshold, signal detection theory… What is real anyway? How do we know what’s actually out there (or in here : )? Introduction to art projects, expectations with artist instructor… READ: Text, Chapter 1 WEEK TWO: August 31 – September 4 SENSORY DETECTION: Neurons carry information-­‐rich electrical messages, and communicate with each other by releasing chemical messengers (neurotransmitters) Washington State University Vancouver Neurosci 150: Art and the Brain, Fall 2015 Page 7 What sort of sensory detection machinery do you have? How is detected information transferred to neural networks for further processing and response? READ: Text, Chapter 1 (Introduction) WEEK THREE: September 7 – September 11 NEURONS AND NETWORKS: Structure determines function; biology of the nervous system; resting and action potentials, stimulus detection is typically coupled to depolarization, and initiation of a sodium current; protein/chemical mechanisms (receptors, transporters, channels, enzymes, photo pigments) involved; chemical transmission at a synapse ART PROJECT 1: Neuron Metaphor drawing (DUE Thursday, Week Four) ILLUSTRATION 1: Neuron model drawing (DUE Thursday, Week Four) * QUIZ ONE ON THURSDAY …: Psychophysics, neurons and synapses WEEK FOUR: September 14 – September 18 THE CHEMICAL SENSES: Gustation and Olfaction; taste and smell versus flavor; differences with other senses (ipsilateral projection and limbic/paralimbic targets); taste receptor cells, taste buds and papillae; basic tastes, and labeled line vs. pattern coding; ionotropic and metabotropic receptor mechanisms; gustatory pathways; flavor is so much more than taste; olfactory neurons, glomeruli, bulb, and CNS projection targets; vomeronasal organ and the Flehmen response READ: Text, Chapters 13 (Olfaction), 14 (Taste) EXPERIMENT 1: Miracle berry experiment (DUE Thursday, Week Five) ILLUSTRATION 2: Olfactory bulb drawing HOMEWORK (DUE Thursday, Week Five) * ART PROJECT 1 AND ILLUSTRATION 1 DUE Thursday … WEEK FIVE: September 21 – September 25 SOMATOSENSATION: Mechanical senses (touch, proprioception) vs. protective senses (temperature, pain, itch, deep sensual touch); mechanoreceptor physiology and mechanisms (Meissner’s, Pacinian, and Ruffini’s corpuscles, Merkel’s receptors, Washington State University Vancouver Neurosci 150: Art and the Brain, Fall 2015 Page 8 muscle spindle receptors, Golgi tendon organs); dorsal column system/trigeminal nerve for CNS delivery of mechanoreception READ: Text, Chapter 12 (Touch) *Formal instruction session by librarian *ILLLUSTRATION 2 DUE Thursday ... *EXPERIMENT 1 DUE Thursday ... WEEK SIX: September 28 – October 2 MORE ON SOMATOSENSATION: Anterolateral system for detection, delivery and mapping of emotionally salient stimuli; relevant receptors, and receptor mechanisms (nociceptors, thermoreceptors, itch-­‐sensitive neurons, deep touch receptors), pathways (spinothalamic, spinoreticular, spinomesencephalic,); involvement of hypothalamic stimulus detection/response, and CNS cortical networks for somatosensory integration (e.g., involving S1, S2, insula, anterior cingulate, etc…) ART AND TOUCH: Collaboration with artist instructor Jeff Leake ART PROJECT 2: Blind touch sculpture (DUE: Thursday of Week Seven) ART PROJECT 3: Homunculus sculpture (DUE: Thursday of Week Seven) WEEK SEVEN: October 5 – October 9 THE VISUAL SYSTEM: Nature of the stimulus (narrow range of electromagnetic energy, waves and particles), anatomy of the eye (e.g., cornea, pupil, iris, lens, retina); structure/function relations (presbyopia, myopia, etc.); retinal network physiology (photoreceptors, bipolar cells, ganglion cells, horizontal and amacrine cells); rods vs. cones (S, M, L), Isihara testing, intrinsically photosensitive ganglion cells and circadian cycles; sensitivity vs. acuity, center/surround receptive fields, parvocellular vs. magnocellular pathways; central visual targets (LGN to V1, superior colliculi, hypothalamus, pre-­‐tectal region); visual hemifields, nerves vs. tracts READ: Text, Chapter 2 (The First Steps in Vision: Seeing Stars); Chapters 3 (Spatial Vision); 4 (Perceiving and Recognizing Objects) ILLUSTRATION 3: Visual System Drawing HOMEWORK (DUE Thursday, Week Eight) * ART PROJECTS 2 and 3 DUE Thursday… * QUIZ TWO ON TUESDAY…: Gustation, olfaction, somatosensation Washington State University Vancouver Neurosci 150: Art and the Brain, Fall 2015 Page 9 WEEK EIGHT: October 12 – October 16 MORE ON THE VISUAL SYSTEM: Optimal stimuli and receptive fields; columnar organization of neocortex; functional organization of V1 (orientation specificity); P pathways and object recognition in ventral temporal lobe columns, visual agnosia, propopagnosia; M pathways and spatial mapping in parietal columns; neural network contributions to the figure/ground illusion ART AND VISION: Collaboration with artist instructor, Jeff Leake (date) Experiment 2: Mirror drawing (DUE Thursday, Week Nine) ART PROJECT 4: Inverted drawing (DUE Thursday, Week Nine) ART PROJECT 5: Blurred drawing (DUE Thursday, Week Nine) *ILLUSTRATION 3 DUE Thursday ... WEEK NINE: October 19 – October 23 MORE ON THE VISUAL SYSTEM ART AND VISION: Collaboration with artist instructor, Jeff Leake (date) * Experiment 2 DUE: Mirror drawing (DUE in class Thursday, …) * ART PROJECT 4 DUE: Inverted drawing (DUE Thursday, …) * ART PROJECT 5 DUE: Blurred drawing (DUE Thursday, …) * QUIZ THREE ON THURSDAY…: Visual system WEEK TEN: October 26 – October 30 THE AUDITORY SYSTEM: Physical features of the stimulus (frequency, amplitude, complexity) vs. perceptual experiences of the sound (pitch, loudness, timbre); ear anatomy (outer, middle, inner; pinna, tympanic membrane, ossicles, oval window, cochlea); structure/function relations (e.g., pinna size vs. frequency/amplitude detection); acoustic reflex; physiology of the cochlea; inner/outer hair cells; mechanism of stimulus transduction; frequency coding (tonotopy) READ: Text, Chapter 9 (Hearing: Physiology and Psychoacoustics) * WRITING PROJECT DUE! ILLUSTRATION 4: Ear Structure HOMEWORK (DUE on Thursday Week 11) Washington State University Vancouver Neurosci 150: Art and the Brain, Fall 2015 Page 10 WEEK ELEVEN: November 2 – November 6 MORE ON THE AUDITORY SYSTEM, AND THE VESTIBULAR SYSTEM: Physical coding of frequency, amplitude and complexity in the cochlea; central pathways for auditory information; sound localization; physiology of vestibular organs (semicircular canals, otolith organs); vestibulo-­‐ocular reflex; detection mechanisms for three vestibular “modalities” (angular motion/acceleration and semicircular canals, gravity/tilt and linear acceleration and the otolith organs); anatomy of vestibular organs (canals and vestibules, ampullae, cristae, hair cells; utricle/saccule and macula, otolithic membrane, otoconia); CNS pathways for vestibular perception READ: Text, Chapter 10 (Hearing in the environment) ART PROJECT 6: Ear Exquisite Corpse Drawings (DUE on Thursday Week 12) *ILLUSTRATION 4 DUE on Thursday ... WEEK TWELVE: November 9 – November 13 HALLUCINATIONS Drug effects, and other sources of experiential distortion Charles Bonnet; Musical Ear Syndrome; Sensory deprivation experiments… READ: Oliver Sack’s “Hallucinations” * QUIZ FOUR ON TUESDAY, …: Auditory and vestibular systems * ART PROJECT 6 DUE on Thursday ... WEEK THIRTEEN: November 16 – November 20 NO CLASS ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18th *VISIT TO PORTLAND ART MUSEUM, NOVEMBER 20th (bring $2.50) WEEK FOURTEEN: November 23 – November 27 HAPPY THANKSGIVING! NO SCHEDULED CLASSES THIS WEEK Washington State University Vancouver Neurosci 150: Art and the Brain, Fall 2015 WEEK FIFTEEN: November 30 – December 4 WORK ON FINAL PROJECTS Final posters that illustrate and reveal aspects of conscious experience * FINAL ART PROJECTS DUE (DATE) WEEK SIXTEEN: December 7 – December 11 FINAL PROJECT PRESENTATIONS WEEK SEVENTEEN: December 14 – December 18 FINALS WEEK Page 11 Washington State University Vancouver Neurosci 150: Art and the Brain, Fall 2015 Page 12 COURSE GOAL “GRID”: Learning outcomes (LO 1-4) and the topics aimed at advancing
your achievement of these specific goals are detailed below. For more information on what
the following grid represents, please contact the Office of Academic Affairs…
At the end of the course, students should be able to…
LO1: Learning Outcome 1
Understand basic structure/function relationships in the nervous system; Contextualize, discuss, and compare the relationship between art, sensory detection, and perception; Contextualize, discuss, and compare various sensory systems (Goals: Scientific Literacy, Communication)
Course topics that advance these learning goals are...
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Lecture topics
Illustration 1
Illustration 2
Illustration 3
Illustration 4
Experiment 1
Experiment 2
Neuroesthetics
Essay
Final Poster
This outcome will be evaluated primarily by…
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Graded Quiz 1
Graded Quiz 2
Graded Quiz 3
Graded Quiz 4
Graded Experiment 1
Graded Experiment 2
Graded Neuroesthetics
Essay
Graded Final Poster
Washington State University Vancouver Neurosci 150: Art and the Brain, Fall 2015 LO2: Learning Outcome 2
Locate, categorize, critique, and evaluate sources of scientific information (Goal: Information Literacy)
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At the end of the course, students should be able to… LO3: View and discuss artwork as a means to understand the biological processes behind our perceptual experience. Create artworks to aid in understanding the structures, processes, and concepts discussed in class through visualization and the open ended exploration of ideas. (Goal: Critical and Creative Thinking)
Learning Outcome 3
LO4: Learning Outcome 4 Collect and analyze/evaluate data from classroom experiments (Goal: Quantitative Reasoning) Page 13 Experiment 1
Experiment 2
Neuroesthetics
Essay
Formal instruction
session by librarian
Final Poster
Course topics that advance these learning goals are...
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Art Project 1
Art Project 2
Art Project 3
Art Project 4
Art Project 5
Art Project 6
Art Project 7
Art Project 8
Illustration 1
Illustration 2
Illustration 3
Illustration 4
Museum trip
Final Poster
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Miracle berry
experiment
Mirror drawing
experiment
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Graded Experiment 1
Graded Experiment 2
Graded Writing Project
Graded Final Poster
This outcome will be evaluated primarily by…
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Graded Art Project 1
Graded Art Project 2
Graded Art Project 3
Graded Art Project 4
Graded Art Project 5
Graded Art Project 6
Graded Art Project 7
Graded Art Project 8
Graded Illustration 1
Graded Illustration 2
Graded Illustration 3
Graded Illustration 4
Graded Neuroesthetics
Essay
Graded Final poster
Graded miracle berry
experiment
Graded mirror drawing
experiment