Meeting
times:
Fridays 9am-11am. Room 909 North West Corner Building
Instructor: Rafael Yuste, Professor,
Dept. Biological Sciences, 906 NWC, rmy5@columbia.edu, Phone: 854-2354
Office Hours: By arrangement
Credits: 3
Text:
Required: Principles of
Neural Design (by Peter
Sterling & Simon
Laughlin
The MIT Press (May 22, 2015) ISBN-10: 0262028700, ISBN-13:
978-0262028707
Available in BookCulture, the Columbia Bookstore and
in the Science Library Reserve section. Also readable in http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt17kk982
and in http://cognet.mit.edu/book/principles-of-neural-design
Also: Articles chosen from the relevant literature.
Description:
This
course is an advanced seminar that will review current knowledge about the
computations carried out by neural circuits. This year the seminar will focus
on discussing the engineering login behind nervous systems, using Sterling and
Laughlin’s book as our text. We will review behavioral and computational
studies and connecting that information with relevant knowledge in neural
circuits.
The
class will run as a seminar discussion, where it is assumed that every student
will have studied the reading material ahead of time and will be knowledgeable
enough to explain it.
Targeted
audience:
W3004 and W3005, or similar courses, are ideal background for the course. To
maintain a small class size and ensure the participation of all students in all
the discussions, only 17
students will be admitted. Graduate students are welcome but
undergraduate students in their final year majoring in Neuroscience and Behavior
will have preference. Auditors will not be accepted.
Instructor permission is necessary for registration.
Grading: An short (maximum 5
page) essay on any of the topics discussed in the course is due on Friday
December 8th and will be used for the final grade, together with evaluation of
class participation.
Sessions:
September 8th:
Ch. 1 What Engineers Know about Design
(pp. 1-10) and 2 Why an Animal Needs a Brain (pp. 11-40)
September 15th: Ch. 3 Why a Bigger
Brain? (pp. 41-56) and Ch. 4 How Bigger Brains Are Organized (pp. 57-104)
September 22nd: Ch. 5 Information
Processing: From Molecules to Molecular Circuits (pp. 105-124)
September 29th: Ch. 6 Information
Processing in Protein Circuits (pp. 125-154)
October 6th: Ch. 7 Design of Neurons
(pp. 155-194)
October 13th: Ch. 8 How Photoreceptors
Optimize the Capture of Visual Information (pp. 195-234)
October 20th: Ch. 9 The Fly Lamina: An
Efficient Interface for High-Speed Vision (pp. 235-264)
October 27h: Ch. 10 Design of Neural
Circuits: Recoding Analogue Signals to Pulsatile (pp. 265-276)
November 3rd: Ch. 11 Principles of
Retinal Design (pp. 277-322)
November 10th: Ch. 12 Beyond the Retina:
Pathways to Perception and Action (pp. 323-362)
November 17th: Ch. 13 Principles of
Efficient Wiring (pp. 363-398)
December 1st: Ch. 14 Learning as
Design/Design of Learning (pp. 399-432).
December 8th: Ch. 15 Summary and Conclusions
(pp. 433-444)