“Neuroscience is by far the most exciting branch of science because the brain is the most fascinating object in the universe. Every human brain is different - the brain makes each human unique and defines who he or she is.” Stanley Prusiner (Nobel Prize Winner)

"Our kind of brain isn’t the biggest in the animal kingdom, and it’s not the best in any objective sense. But it’s ours. It’s the source of our strengths and our foibles. It gives us our capacity to build civilizations and our capacity to tear down each other. It makes us simply, imperfectly, gloriously human.” Lisa Feldman Barrett (2020)

Summary of Major Points in Syllabus

Course Format

Except for the first two weeks when we will be using Zoom, I expect that the course will be conducted in person in Grewen Hall 207. As I have already explained in an email, I do not use Canvas and, unless the college decides to go online completely, I will not be using it at all.

Office Hours

I will hold office hours in Reilly Hall 222 on Mon & Wed from 3:45 to 4:55 pm, either in person or via Zoom. Students can also request to meet with me via Zoom at other times and days.

Required Textbook

Kalat, James W. (2019). Biological psychology (13th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/CENGAGE. (This is not the 12th/2016 edition)

Course Webpage

Everything related to this course will be found on the PSY 340 webpage that can be accessed via my webpage at www.hevern.com

Schedule & Assignments are all listed at http://web.lemoyne.edu/~hevern/psy340_22S/psy340sked.html

• Chapter readings are listed in the right column and are due on the day of the assigned class

Lecture Notes

• All of my lecture notes are available at http://web.lemoyne.edu/~hevern/psy340_22S/psy340lectures.html. They will always be available by the day of the scheduled class.

Components of Course (% of final grade)

• Four 1-period tests (each worth 22.5% of final grade)
• Class Participation (10%) Attendance without active participation is equal to a participation grade of C+. Participation will involve making comments, asking questions, contributing examples via Discussion board on Canvas.
  

Class Attendance. 5 cut limit. However, see some of the exceptions I list below.

Extra Credit

• One book report can substitute for one weak/poor test (see below)

Now, read the rest of the syllabus below

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Faculty Webpage

Email Address

• ISBN-10: 9781337408202 [ISBN-13: 978-1337408202]
• Used copies of this book are widely available since it was actually first printed in 2018 and has been used for three years in schools.
  

• A student's Le Moyne e-mail account is considered to be an official mechanism of communication between the school and a student. I will usually communicate to the class or to individual students outside of class time by means of e-mail messages. Hence, you should check your e-mail regularly (at least once a day).
• I will try to respond to all student email messages within 24 hours. Occasionally, over weekends or during holidays, it may take me up to 48 hours to do so.
  
• As I note above, I will regularly post outlines of my class lectures and more detailed lecture notes online at this link. Students do not have to download copies of these, but many students find that access to these notes helps them study for class and for examinations.

This upper-level course is designed primarily for psychology majors as a general survey of psychology from the neuroscientific, physiological or biological perspective. It has been designed under the conviction that no psychologist can think of serving productively within the many specialties of the discipline over the next decades without a competent and broad understanding of the functioning of the central nervous system.

At the end of this course, students are expected to be able to demonstrate

• a general understanding of the basic physiological structures and processes involving the human central nervous system;
• a general understanding of several key topics and issues which currently serve to direct the research efforts of physiological psychologists including evolutionary psychology, brain plasticity, and the effect of damage to the nervous system in altering behavior; and
• a general knowledge of the ways in which biological psychology offers explanations for or causal models of a range of human behaviors including receptive and expressive language functions, everyday activities such as sleep and eating, sexual development and sexual orientation, and mental disorders such as depression and schizophrenia.

Your are expected to participate in class by joining in each of the three weekly class lectures.

What about absences, that is, your not participating in the class lecture?  Normally I require students to miss no more than 5 classes (5 "cuts") without a serious or compelling reason. Examples of a serious & compelling reason for additional absences would be a documented visit to a physician's office or participation at a funeral. If you are absent from school to attend a funeral, you must file a notice with either the Dean's Office or the Campus Ministry Office.

If you become sick and expect to be out of class for 3 or more days or if you are required to quarantine yourself, you are supposed to contact the Student Health Services office: (315) 445-4440  Email: healthservices@lemoyne.edu. Note, because of HIPPA rules, the college will notify your professors if you are absent BUT THEY ARE NOT ALLOWED TO TELL YOUR INSTRUCTORS WHY YOU ARE ABSENT. So, please send me (and your other teachers) an email to explain any extended absences, particularly if they relate to quarantine.

I will try to be understanding about absences. The pandemic has been a difficult experience for many of us. However, if you do consistently miss many of your classes, I reserve the right to lower your final grade. I will deduct up to 5 points for each excessive absence. If you are not in class, you are clearly not participating.

The Le Moyne College Student Handbook describes a broad range of behavioral expectations and guidelines for students. You should be aware of the importance of ethical behavior as you begin the study of psychology.

Psychologists are expected to follow the guidelines of the American Psychological Association in regard to their professional conduct. These norms can be found online at <http://www.apa.org/ethics/>.

This is an undergraduate course in biological psychology; you are not finishing a postdoctoral fellowship at Upstate Hospital's Neurology Service. Even though we will discuss many issues involving the relationship between the brain and behavior, you will not be in a position to "diagnose" the problems of another person (including yourself). Beware of the "Harvard Medical School Syndrome" which involves 1st year medical students who become convinced that they "have" any number of illnesses covered in their Introductory Pathology class.

If any material in this course evokes difficulties or unease in you, please feel free to consult me confidentially. It is conceivable that we may discuss medical or other materials which mirror what you may be experiencing in your own family. Perhaps, some family member faced an illness or problem in the past and you are still upset about this. Perhaps you yourself have faced the issue. I would like to be able to help you find ways of coping with such matters.

Cheating and lying are unacceptable at Le Moyne as stated clearly under "Academic Standards" in the Student Handbook. Plagiarism or cheating in any form is simply wrong. Please reread the section on "Academic Standards" in the Student Handbook to review what is meant by these terms.

Recall that plagiarism involves the submission of any thoughts or formulations of other people without their being cited or given credit for those thoughts/formulations. For this reason, in any written materials submitted to me:

• You must put quote marks (" ") around any direct quotation of another person's writings and you must cite the source and page number (in APA format).
• You must cite the source (in APA format) for any thoughts or, even, for ways of expression which you have changed "into your own words".

Your grade in this course will be determined as a weighted average calculated from your performance on the following five evaluative components which add up to a total of 500 points.

• Four hourly exams (each test's weight = 112.5 points, i.e., 22.5% of your grade)
• Class Participation (= 50 points, i.e., 10% of your grade; see further below for grading criteria)

A  = 450-500 points A- = 440-449 points B+ = 415-449 points B  = 400-414 points B- = 390-399 points

C+= 365-389 points C  = 350-364 points C- = 340-349 points D  = 315-339 points F  = below 315 points

What do I mean by participation? You demonstrate participation in ways such as the following:

• regular attending class as described above (which, by itself, is only equal to a participation grade of C+)
• making comments, raising objections, or giving observations about topics in the course, particularly those which tie in the classroom material to "real world" problems, link current with past topics, or otherwise try to integrate the content of the course
• providing examples to support or challenge the issues talked about in class
• dealing with other students and/or me in a respectful fashion

• Sometimes students feel uncomfortable making comments or asking questions in the classroom. So, I will also count as participation your submitting questions or comments to me via email. Note that all email sent to me should have a Subject: line which begins with the number of the class, namely, "SUBJECT: PSY 340 xxxxx" where "xxxxx" tells me the content of the message.

• I am serious when I also say to students that there are NO "stupid" questions. So, please do not hesitate to ask something for fear that you might appear in some negative way.
  

In general, a participation grade of A- or A is given to students who make contributions (asking questions, making observations, etc.) in at least half the classes. A participation grade of B or B+ is given to students who make contributions at least once in every 5 to 6 classes. 

Students can receive "extra credit" according to the following option

Option A: Substituting for One Low Exam Grade

Students may read one non-fiction book directly related to the issue of brain and behavior. Preference is given for the books of Dr. Oliver Sacks, Dr. Temple Grandin, or Dr. Alexander Luria. Until his death in 2015 Dr. Sacks was a famous neurologist who has worked with people with brain injury. He has written a number of books which are excellent adjunct readings to the materials of this course. In order to gain extra credit, you would be expected to read the book and write a 5 to 10 page book review (typed with according to APA standards as described here). See me if you elect to take this option. The grade on this option can then substitute for the lowest grade on any of the exams. The titles of suggested books are:

• The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (Sacks)
• Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain (Sacks)
  
• An Anthropologist on Mars (Sacks)
• The Island of the Colorblind (Sacks)
• Seeing Voices: A Journey into the World of the Deaf (Sacks)
• Awakenings (Sacks)
• Migraine (Sacks)
• The Mind's Eye (Sacks)
• Hallucinations (Sacks)
  
• Thinking in Pictures and Other Reports from My Life with Autism (Grandin)
• Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior (Grandin)
• The Mind of a Mnemonist (Luria)
• The Man with a Shattered World (Luria)
• The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog [focuses on childhood trauma & abuse, loss, love, and brain development] (Bruce Perry & Maia Szalavitz)
  

Note, though, that I am open to your reading books by other authors which are primarily focused upon issues of biological psychology/psychiatry and its application to understanding human behavior.

For a more detailed description of what I want you to do for Option A, please go to this webpage/link

The following information describes the health and safety guidelines for classrooms, which are subject to change. The College may adjust health and safety protocols pending prevalence of the COVID-19 virus and its transmissibility on campus and within our local community.

Summary of Key Classroom Health and Safety Protocols:

1.    Appropriate face coverings (defined below) are required to be properly worn (i.e., covering both mouth and nose) in the academic buildings until further notice.

2.    No eating or drinking is permitted in classrooms.

3.    All eligible undergraduate and graduate students are required to receive a COVID-19 booster vaccination by the start of classes for the spring semester (see details below).

4.     Students who received an exemption from vaccination MUST adhere to the health and safety protocols detailed below.

Viral Transmission Levels. The NYS Department of Health has adopted and implemented guidelines provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC monitors levels of community viral transmission of the coronavirus by county and state. Viral transmission levels are classified as low, moderate, substantial, or high. The CDC provides guidance for the implementation of Covid-9 prevention strategies for each transmission level and within the context of each community’s vaccination coverage. For example, when viral transmission is low, fully vaccinated members of the Le Moyne Community who certify their vaccination status may not be required to wear a face covering or physically distance. However, when viral transmission is substantial or high, the CDC recommends that fully vaccinated individuals wear a face covering in public indoor settings. Additionally, the CDC recommends that fully vaccinated individuals may choose to wear a face covering regardless of the level of transmission, particularly if they are immunocompromised or at increased risk for severe disease from COVID-19, or if they have someone in their household who is immunocompromised, at increased risk of severe disease or not fully vaccinated. Individuals are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving their final dose schedule of an FDA-approved vaccine, i.e., two weeks after receiving the second dose in a two-dose series (e.g., Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna) or two weeks after receiving a single-dose vaccine (e.g., Johnson & Johnson). Regardless of transmission level, and in accordance with NYS Department of Health requirements, unvaccinated individuals must continue to properly wear face coverings and be socially distanced.

College Face Covering Requirement. Within the context presented above, and given the prevalence and high transmission of the Delta and now emerging Omicron variants in Onondaga County, and in compliance with a recent determination by NYS’s Department of Health, appropriate face coverings are required to be properly worn (i.e., covering both mouth and nose) in the academic buildings, which include all classrooms and public spaces (i.e., lounges, hallways, stairwells, and elevators), until further notice. Appropriate and recommended face coverings include KN95 or KF94 respirators, surgical masks, and face coverings made of at least two layers of cloth. Above all else, a snug fit (no gaps, wired nose bridge, adjustable ear loops), offers the best protection to the user and the community. Most importantly, face coverings with an exhalation/release valve, single-layer gaiter-style neck fleeces, and bandanas should NOT be worn on campus.

In-Class Eating and Drinking Policy. Eating and/or drinking is not permitted in classrooms. Students however may seek a medical accommodation. Certain medical conditions may require a student to have something to eat or drink at specific times, including during a class period. For medical accommodations, students should contact the Office of Disability Support Services [Roger Purdy, dss@lemoyne.edu, (315) 445-4118]. Students granted a medical accommodation may lower their mask to drink/eat and then the mask must be immediately raised.

Covid-19 Vaccine and Booster Requirement. All undergraduate and graduate students (together with faculty, staff, and administrators) were required to have the COVID-19 vaccine by the opening of the fall 2021 semester. As part of the College’s strategy to reduce the risk of transmission and serious illness, Le Moyne is now requiring all eligible undergraduate and graduate students to receive a COVID-19 booster vaccination by the start of classes for the spring semester. Individuals are eligible to receive a booster vaccination five-months after the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, six-months after the second dose of the Moderna vaccine, and two-months after the first dose of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. Students not eligible to receive a booster by the start of classes due to the date of their second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines or first dose of Johnson and Johnson must receive their booster vaccination as soon as they are eligible. Students who received an exemption to the COVID-19 vaccination in the fall semester are encouraged to get vaccinated to protect themselves and the community from the spread of the virus.

Responsibilities of Those Granted an Exemption. Though an overwhelming majority of the College Community was vaccinated by the fall, some exemptions based on medical and religious reasons were approved. In accordance with NYS Department of Health regulations, students and other members of the college community who received an exemption and who are not fully vaccinated MUST adhere to the following health and safety protocols, which are subject to change based on campus, county, and state disease prevalence.

• Properly wear (i.e., covering both mouth and nose) an appropriate face covering in all campus buildings and classrooms.
• Complete COVID-19 testing with the College testing program, at a minimum, two times a week on either Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday or submit proof of negative PCR test results from an external official testing location once a week to the COVID Office at coronavirus@lemoyne.edu.
• Follow all New York State and CDC regulations pertaining to unvaccinated individuals.

For students, these requirements protect the student’s own health and safety as well as the health and safety of their classmates, their instructor, and the entire Le Moyne community. Students granted an exemption and who are not fully vaccinated and who refuse to wear appropriate face coverings properly or to adhere to other stated requirements will be subject to disciplinary action for Community Standards violations.

If a student granted an exemption is unable to wear a face covering due to a disabling condition, they should contact the Office of Disability Support Services [Roger Purdy, dss@lemoyne.edu, (315) 445-4118] to discuss accommodations.

COVID-19 Symptoms. Regardless of vaccination status, students who are experiencing COVID-19-related symptoms must not attend class and are encouraged to contact the Student Health Center [healthservices@lemoyne.edu, (315) 445-4440] or their primary medical provider. COVID-19-related symptoms may include one or some combination of the following:

• Fever or chills
• Cough
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
•  Fatigue
•  Muscle or body aches
• Headache
• New loss of taste or smell
• Sore throat
• Congestion or runny nose
• Nausea or vomiting
• Diarrhea

Finally, in keeping with our values as a Jesuit college, each member of the community is expected to act honestly and ethically regarding both their vaccination status and any experienced COVID-19-related symptoms. A well-vaccinated and attentive community better protects the vulnerable amongst us and loved ones at home who cannot be vaccinated.