Topics in Behavioral Neuroscience
Lecture 1. R. D'Hooge: Nervous System Development
This lecture is based on chapters 52-55 of Kandel et al. (2000). Note that this is a limited selection
from these chapters - it is therefore recommended to study the slides & your lecture notes, & use the
book to add details that are required to understand the slides/your notes.
Questions:
(1) Explain the early development of different parts of the CNS and the process of neural
induction
(2) Explain cellular differentiation in the developing CNS and the precise function of sonic
hedgehog and bone morphogenic protein
(3) Explain the differentiation between neural and glial cells - what is the role of notch & how
does it work?
(4) How are neural connections established during CNS development?
(5) Which processes occur during maturation of synaptic contacts?
Lecture 2. R. Vogels: Functional Organization of the Primate Visual System.
Questions:
(1) Describe the pathways from retina to V1.
(2) Describe the response properties of magno- and parvocellular LGN neurons.
(3) What are the behavioral effects of inactivations of the parvo- and magnocellular layers of the
LGN in the macaque?
(4) What is a retinotopic map?
(5) Discuss the functional organization of primate V1 and V2 as proposed by Livingstone and
Hubel.
(6) Describe the connections between V1 CO patches and V2 CO stripes and their functional
relevance.
(7) Discuss the response selectivities of single neurons along the different areas of the macaque
ventral visual stream.
(8) Discuss the representation of objects by inferior temporal cortical neurons.
Lecture 3. H. Op De Beeck: Visual Perception
Questions:
(1) Describe the anatomy of the pathway from the eye to the primary visual cortex. Describe
where center/surround cells are located in this pathway and explain their receptive field
properties. Why are these cells not orientation selective and how can these cells form the basis
of orientation selectivity in the next stage of processing?
(2) Describe the receptive field properties, selectivity, and invariance of simple cells and complex
cells in primary visual cortex. How might center/surround cells in the lateral geniculate
nucleus, simple cells, and complex cells be connected to one another?
(3) Describe the Hermann grid illusion, and explain how its characteristics (when does the illusion
appear and when not) provide information about its neurophysiological basis.
(4) Explain the neural basis of Gestalt phenomena. Illustrate with the example of subjective
contours.
1
, (5) Describe how hierarchical processing leads to color and motion perception.
(6) Describe the hierarchical processing of shape. How can this be seen as an extension of simple
and complex cells in area V1? Describe the configural superiority effect and why you think it
is or is not related to this hierarchical processing.
(7) Describe the neural basis of configural processing of faces and illustrate it with an fMRI
study. Can this configural processing be consistent with bottom-up hierarchical processing and
why (not)?
(8) Discuss the role of feedback signals in visual processing and describe empirical evidence in
favor of the presence of such signals.
Lecture 4. T. Meert: Pain Perception
Questions:
(1) Describe 3 modulatory circuits present within the body to regulate the perception of pain:
document their mechanism of action and give an example of its (clinical) application.
(2) Describe 3 methods to evaluate pain and nociceptive functioning in humans.
(3) Describe the nociceptive pain pathway in humans from to start of a pain signal to the
representative brain areas.
(4) Describe 4 different classes of analgesics and how they work within the pain system.
Lecture 5. R. Krampe: The Functional Organization of Perception and Movement
Background literature is Chapter 18 from the Kandel book and selected parts of Chapter 7 from
Gazzaniga, Ivry and Mangun (pdf files). The Kandel chapter covers mostly somatosensation, I cover
selected parts of action control as described in Chapter 7 of the Gazzaniga book (you do not need to
read the whole chapter for my class). More about this topic in prof Swinnen's lecture 2 weeks later.
Questions:
(1) Which anatomical and which computational principles of brain organization can guide our
understanding of the functional basis of perception and movement?
a. what are the advantages of the computational principles
b. explain one of the computational principles from a phylogenetic perspective
(2) What are the gross features of spinal chord anatomy?
a. which type of neural structures do they contain? (brief!!)
b. which functions do these serve (brief!!)
c. what are the four major segments of the spinal chord? Functions?
d. what determines white/gray matter ratios in the spinal chord?
(3) What does somatotopy mean? Explain and give examples from spinal or cortical anatomy!
(4) What are the main stations within the ascending somatosensory pathway (touch perception)?
a. what is the key feature, when we consider different submodalities?
b. what is the specific role of the thalamus in sensory perception?
(5) How can we characterize cortical representations in the somatosensory cortex? What
determines the extend of cortical representation in these areas?
(6) What are the three steps in cortical processing of somatosensory information and what is the
end-product? Where do they occur in the brain?
(7) What are the key differences between novice and expert musicians' movement timing control
at the brain level. How do these differences help older professional musicians to maintain their
skills?
2
Lecture 1. R. D'Hooge: Nervous System Development
This lecture is based on chapters 52-55 of Kandel et al. (2000). Note that this is a limited selection
from these chapters - it is therefore recommended to study the slides & your lecture notes, & use the
book to add details that are required to understand the slides/your notes.
Questions:
(1) Explain the early development of different parts of the CNS and the process of neural
induction
(2) Explain cellular differentiation in the developing CNS and the precise function of sonic
hedgehog and bone morphogenic protein
(3) Explain the differentiation between neural and glial cells - what is the role of notch & how
does it work?
(4) How are neural connections established during CNS development?
(5) Which processes occur during maturation of synaptic contacts?
Lecture 2. R. Vogels: Functional Organization of the Primate Visual System.
Questions:
(1) Describe the pathways from retina to V1.
(2) Describe the response properties of magno- and parvocellular LGN neurons.
(3) What are the behavioral effects of inactivations of the parvo- and magnocellular layers of the
LGN in the macaque?
(4) What is a retinotopic map?
(5) Discuss the functional organization of primate V1 and V2 as proposed by Livingstone and
Hubel.
(6) Describe the connections between V1 CO patches and V2 CO stripes and their functional
relevance.
(7) Discuss the response selectivities of single neurons along the different areas of the macaque
ventral visual stream.
(8) Discuss the representation of objects by inferior temporal cortical neurons.
Lecture 3. H. Op De Beeck: Visual Perception
Questions:
(1) Describe the anatomy of the pathway from the eye to the primary visual cortex. Describe
where center/surround cells are located in this pathway and explain their receptive field
properties. Why are these cells not orientation selective and how can these cells form the basis
of orientation selectivity in the next stage of processing?
(2) Describe the receptive field properties, selectivity, and invariance of simple cells and complex
cells in primary visual cortex. How might center/surround cells in the lateral geniculate
nucleus, simple cells, and complex cells be connected to one another?
(3) Describe the Hermann grid illusion, and explain how its characteristics (when does the illusion
appear and when not) provide information about its neurophysiological basis.
(4) Explain the neural basis of Gestalt phenomena. Illustrate with the example of subjective
contours.
1
, (5) Describe how hierarchical processing leads to color and motion perception.
(6) Describe the hierarchical processing of shape. How can this be seen as an extension of simple
and complex cells in area V1? Describe the configural superiority effect and why you think it
is or is not related to this hierarchical processing.
(7) Describe the neural basis of configural processing of faces and illustrate it with an fMRI
study. Can this configural processing be consistent with bottom-up hierarchical processing and
why (not)?
(8) Discuss the role of feedback signals in visual processing and describe empirical evidence in
favor of the presence of such signals.
Lecture 4. T. Meert: Pain Perception
Questions:
(1) Describe 3 modulatory circuits present within the body to regulate the perception of pain:
document their mechanism of action and give an example of its (clinical) application.
(2) Describe 3 methods to evaluate pain and nociceptive functioning in humans.
(3) Describe the nociceptive pain pathway in humans from to start of a pain signal to the
representative brain areas.
(4) Describe 4 different classes of analgesics and how they work within the pain system.
Lecture 5. R. Krampe: The Functional Organization of Perception and Movement
Background literature is Chapter 18 from the Kandel book and selected parts of Chapter 7 from
Gazzaniga, Ivry and Mangun (pdf files). The Kandel chapter covers mostly somatosensation, I cover
selected parts of action control as described in Chapter 7 of the Gazzaniga book (you do not need to
read the whole chapter for my class). More about this topic in prof Swinnen's lecture 2 weeks later.
Questions:
(1) Which anatomical and which computational principles of brain organization can guide our
understanding of the functional basis of perception and movement?
a. what are the advantages of the computational principles
b. explain one of the computational principles from a phylogenetic perspective
(2) What are the gross features of spinal chord anatomy?
a. which type of neural structures do they contain? (brief!!)
b. which functions do these serve (brief!!)
c. what are the four major segments of the spinal chord? Functions?
d. what determines white/gray matter ratios in the spinal chord?
(3) What does somatotopy mean? Explain and give examples from spinal or cortical anatomy!
(4) What are the main stations within the ascending somatosensory pathway (touch perception)?
a. what is the key feature, when we consider different submodalities?
b. what is the specific role of the thalamus in sensory perception?
(5) How can we characterize cortical representations in the somatosensory cortex? What
determines the extend of cortical representation in these areas?
(6) What are the three steps in cortical processing of somatosensory information and what is the
end-product? Where do they occur in the brain?
(7) What are the key differences between novice and expert musicians' movement timing control
at the brain level. How do these differences help older professional musicians to maintain their
skills?
2
