Insights into human cognition are increasingly influencing modern science, art and design. This course will introduce students to the basics of how the brain works and provide an appreciation of neuroscience, which is currently one of the most exciting and rapidly growing field of study in the world. New technologies are beginning to incorporate principles of how we perceive the world, learn and remember information, make decisions and interact with the environment.

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This course involves interactive teaching, discussions and cool experiments. Students will experience stunning illusions and mind-blowing experiments- for example, controlling another person’s movement through their own! Some insight will also be provided into how scientists are researching cognition and the working of human brain.

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The important areas that will be covered in this course are

• the structure and functions of the brain- how neurons and other brain cells work; the two hemispheres of the brain- what connects them and how they ‘talk’ to each other; the different lobes of the brain and their functions

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• the complex functions that the brain performs such as- learning, memory, emotions, language, attention, skilled movements and perceiving the world around us; what happens to these brain functions when there is some kind of damage; learn about these through interesting experiments and videos

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• the tools and techniques that are currently used to study the brain, such as EEG, fMRI and single-cell recordings; stimulation devices such as TMS and tDCS used in clinical conditions. 

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• various applications of neuroscience and cognitive science to diverse fields like design, learning, medicine, marketing, economics etc.

Apart from giving young students a peek into this fascinating area, this course will also help them appreciate the interdisciplinarity of neuroscience and how researchers from different fields need to work together to understand the complex phenomenon of behaviour. We also aim to make students realize that they too can be important stakeholders in this journey and make significant contributions in deciphering what and how the brain does what it does, just like some of our Nobel Laureates!