Psychology 493 Issues in Psychology
Circadian Rhythms and Sleep
Fall 2011
M & W 8:30 am – 9:50 am
275 Giltner Hall
Instructor:
Tony Nunez, Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, and Associate Dean of the
Graduate School, 102 Giltner Hall (voice mail: 353-9066) or 118 Linton Hall (voice mail:
355-0301); e-mail: nunez@msu.edu). Office hours are by appointment.
Recommended References NO REQUIRED TEXT BOOK:
M. Alley (1997): The Craft of Scientific Writing (3rd Edition). Springer.
P. Gucker (1966): Essential English Grammar. Dover Publications.
D. Rosenwasser and J. Stephen (2003): Writing Analytically (3rd Edition). ThomsonHeinle.
J.R. Matthews and R.W. Matthews (2009) Successful Scientific Writing (3rd Edition).
Cambridge University Press.
Course Description: This is an advanced undergraduate class that covers theory and
research on the neurobiology of circadian rhythms and sleep. Students are expected to
have some background in Neurobiology (ZOL 402), Behavioral Neuroscience (PSY 209)
and Statistics/Experimental Design (PSY 295). The course will use lectures, discussions,
in-class problem solving exercises and student presentations to cover selected topics in
the field. This class also fulfills the Tier II writing component of the major.
Therefore, students are expected to develop writing skills that reflect the current
practice of the discipline; some background in expository writing is expected. The
early meetings of the course will consist of lectures and discussions covering the history
of the field, current research in the neurobiology of sleep and rhythms, hypothesis testing,
as well as scientific writing. As the course develops, the focus will be narrower and the
format will move from primarily lectures and class discussions to oral and poster
presentations by students.
Course Objectives:

To develop an appreciation for research and theory in chronobiology, particularly
in the area of circadian rhythms and sleep.

To develop skills in the synthesis and presentation of information obtained from
the primary literature on the neurobiology of circadian rhythms and sleep.

To develop skills to be a critical reader of original research articles.
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
To develop skills in hypothesis testing and design of experiments.
Course Requirements:

Exams I and II will consist of short essay questions and will cover the material
from each individual section of the course; Exam III will be the only cumulative
exam and will cover all material presented in Units I, II and III . Exam III will be
also short-essay question format, but the questions will be less specific than those
of the first two exams (See Exam days below). Note that Exam III is scheduled
for Monday December 12 from 7:45 am – 9:45 am, as prescribed by the MSU
schedule of final exams.

Poster presentations will be done individually and will involve an explanation of
all aspects of an original research paper published in a scientific journal and
related to the content of the course (see description of the Term Paper for
details about the selection of the target article). Each student, in consultation
with the instructor, will select the target article. The article must be an original
experiment or set of experiments; chapters in books, review articles or opinion
papers are not appropriate for this assignment. Copies, to be distributed in
class, of YOUR summary of the poster are due the day of the presentation.
There will be more detailed information about the poster presentations after
the completion of Unit I.

The Sentence Outline represents the first step in preparing the Term Paper. It will
reflect all the sections of the term paper and will consist of “bullets” in the form
of complete sentences with citations and references when appropriate. More
details for this assignment will be provided at the end of Unit I.

The Term Paper will consist of 3 sections. The first section will be a description
of two research articles published since 2009 and related to each other and to
your “Current Topic” theme (see below). One of these two articles will be used
for your Poster presentation. The second section will be a description of how the
data provided by these two papers address questions that flowed from the
discovery of the location of the circadian clock in the mammalian brain. The final
section will be a short research proposal (with hypotheses and experiments to test
those hypotheses) that represents the logical next step of a research program
defined by the two selected articles and the Current Topic discussion. More
details for this assignment will be provided at the end of Unit I.

The Current Topic presentation will be a group assignment. There will be 5 or
6 “Current Topic” presentations, depending of the size of the class. Each one will
be based on a current research theme in the field of circadian rhythms and sleep.
Each group will receive from the instructor a general review article or key data
paper related to the current topic. Class time will be devoted to individual group
discussions to prepare group presentations of these current topics to the class.
More details for this assignment will be provided at the end of Unit I.
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
Critical Thinking Active Learning Exercises: These will be class exercises
involving small group discussion and problem-oriented activities related to
specific topics or integration of different topics in the field of circadian rhythms
and sleep. These activities will be supplemented by guess appearances of
scientists working in the field of circadian rhythms and sleep.
Grades:
10% Exam I
20% Exam II
10% Exam III
15% Current Topic Group Oral Presentation
15% Poster presentation and Poster Summary
5% Sentence Outline
15% Term Paper (Research Proposal)
10% Class Participation (including class exercises)
Final grades will be based on the following point distribution:
% points received
90-100
85-89
80-84
75-79
70-74
65-69
60-64
Less than 60
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grade
4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.0
COURSE OUTLINE:
UNIT I (8/31 – 9/21) Exam I Covers All Lectures and Class Exercises/Discussions of
this Unit:
Organization and planning
Setting expectations for optimal group performance
Hypothesis development and testing
Circadian “vocabulary” visit the online tutorial:
http://template.bio.warwick.ac.uk/staff/amillar/andrewM/CBT%20tutorial/TUTOR
IALMAIN.html
Sleep phenomenology
History / Discovery of the brain’s clock
UNIT II (9/28 – 11/9; NO CLASS on 11/14): Exam II Covers All Lectures and Class
Exercises/Discussions of this Unit:
Current topics selection and group’s composition
Review of key topics not covered by the group presentations
Guest Lecture by Professor Lily Yan 10/5
UNIT III (11/21– 12/7) Exam III Covers All Course Content
Current Topics Presentations (11/21- 11/28)
Poster Presentations (11/30 -12/7)
DEADLINES AND OTHER IMPORTANT DATES
Exam I: September 26
Exam II: November 16
Sentence Outline due November 21
Target Article selection due November 23
Term Paper due December 7 (class time)
Exam III: Finals’ week Monday December 12 (7:45 am – 9:45 am)
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