9.01

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9.01
Official Title Introduction to Neuroscience
Credits 12 (4--0--8)
Next Offering Fall 2008
Next Prof.  ???
Other Details Potentially Evening Recitations

9.01 is one of the introductory classes in Course 9 and is never offered in Spring (it switches terms with 9.00). Its grade distribution as of Fall 2007 is as follows:

  • 10% Problem Sets
  • 10% Neuroanatomy Quiz
  • 5% Recitation Participation
  • 20% Exam 1
  • 20% Exam 2
  • 35% Final Exam

The class consists of two 1.5-hour lectures per week on Monday and Wednesday in 46-3002 (the Building 46 auditorium) and one 1-hour recitation from 7PM to 8PM one day from Monday to Thursday in 26-1. 46-3002 is perhaps one of the most comfortable large lecture halls on campus and seats approximately 75-100; it has new, heavily padded chairs. Unfortunately, the swing-out desk pieces on the chairs are rather small, and there aren't many left-handed pieces. Chairs are organized in long rows and are not individual Recitations are mandatory.

9.01 also includes a one-night sheep brain dissection lab that is optional but recommended by the staff; it takes place in 46-1015, the new, high-tech lab on the first floor of Building 46. In the lab, students partner and follow a guided experiment designed to display as many parts of the sheep's brain as possible, many of which later will be identified in the diagrams on the neuroanatomy quiz soon after the lab.

Topics covered in 9.01 include the basic five senses and their workings; gross neuroanatomy; neurons and their anatomy/functions; neurotransmitters; emotions; sleep; attention; motor systems; learning and memory; and mental disorders. It is not a very mathematical class; through the first and second exams, the only math students need to know (aside from arithmetic) are the Nernst and Goldman Equations.

Exams and Problem Sets

Problem sets are, unfortunately, rare; unfortunately because they are easy and relatively short. They occur about once per exam, but they are must-know for the exams; some questions on the exams will force students to recall what graphs or charts from the problem sets look like in moderate detail (shape of function, whether end point is below or above starting point, etc.). Exams have multiple-choice, short answer, and essay questions, with "short answer" equaling one sentence or two and "essay" equaling a medium to long paragraph. Partial credit, of course, is given on the essays. Most of 9.01's practice exams are solely multiple choice, giving students an unfortunate lack of reference for the essays and short-answer, which is a problem because these questions are different from the multiple choice in depth and type of knowledge. (Fall 2007 was the first term to have essays on the exams, so any subsequent years should have reference exams, just not many). Exams are 1 hour 30 minutes long and are held in two separate rooms, the class divided approximately in half by letter of last name.


Lecturers and Lecture Styles

The lectures are not complete; they do not cover all the material required for the exams. 9.01 is a memorization-heavy class, and lectures are many times puntable, as the material you really need is in the textbook. The lectures are relevant, but all their information plus the extra needed for the exam are in the textbook. Reading the book is essential (as if you haven't noticed already by the repetition, but it bears repeating once more: read the book). However, Bear and Seung are dynamic and interesting speakers (especially Seung) and are worth your time if you enjoy neuroscience and are willing to put up with an extra 30 minutes in class for it. Recitations and lectures exist simply to present the information in a form other than the book.

Read the book, and don't do it all the night before the exam, either. It's very in-depth and contains a lot of material, from which are extracted very specific topics for the exams. You need to know a lot of information for a little bit of testing.