Neuroscience Boot Camp: For Anybody who Needs to Understand, Predict or Influence Human Behavior

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I am writ­ing to share some infor­ma­tion about our third annu­al “Neu­ro­science Boot Camp,” which I think the read­ers of the Sharp­Brains blog will find interesting.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Penn­syl­va­nia announces their 3rd annu­al Neu­ro­science Boot Camp, July 31-August 10, 2011!

Why Neu­ro­science Boot Camp?

Neu­ro­science is increas­ing­ly rel­e­vant to a num­ber of pro­fes­sions and aca­d­e­m­ic dis­ci­plines beyond its tra­di­tion­al med­ical appli­ca­tions. Lawyers, edu­ca­tors, econ­o­mists and busi­ness­peo­ple, as well as schol­ars of phi­los­o­phy, soci­ol­o­gy, applied ethics and pol­i­cy, are incor­po­rat­ing the con­cepts and meth­ods of neu­ro­science into their work. Indeed, for any field in which it is impor­tant to under­stand, pre­dict or influ­ence human behav­ior, neu­ro­science will play an increas­ing role.

The Penn Neu­ro­science Boot Camp gives par­tic­i­pants a basic foun­da­tion in cog­ni­tive and affec­tive neu­ro­science and equips them to be informed con­sumers of neu­ro­science research.

What hap­pens at Neu­ro­science Boot Camp?

Through a com­bi­na­tion of lec­tures, break-out groups, pan­el dis­cus­sions and lab­o­ra­to­ry vis­its, par­tic­i­pants will gain an under­stand­ing of the meth­ods of neu­ro­science and key find­ings on the cog­ni­tive and social-emo­tion­al func­tions of the brain, lifes­pan devel­op­ment and dis­or­ders of brain func­tion. Each lec­ture will be fol­lowed by exten­sive Q&A. Break-out groups allow par­tic­i­pants to delve more deeply into top­ics of rel­e­vance to their fields. Lab­o­ra­to­ry vis­its will include trips to an MRI scan­ner, an EEG/ERP lab, an ani­mal neu­ro­phys­i­ol­o­gy lab, and a tran­scra­nial mag­net­ic stim­u­la­tion lab.

Par­tic­i­pants will also have access to an exten­sive online library of copy­right­ed mate­ri­als select­ed for rel­e­vance to the Boot Camp, includ­ing clas­sic and review arti­cles and text­book chap­ters in cog­ni­tive and affec­tive neu­ro­science and the appli­ca­tions of neu­ro­science to diverse fields.

See here for a dai­ly blog post from our first Boot Camp.

Who should apply?

Col­lege and uni­ver­si­ty fac­ul­ty, work­ing pro­fes­sion­als and grad­u­ate stu­dents are encour­aged to apply. The only pre­req­ui­sites are a grasp of basic sta­tis­tics and at least a dim rec­ol­lec­tion of high school biol­o­gy and physics. (A short set of read­ings will be made avail­able pri­or to the Boot Camp to remind you about the essentials.)

Vis­it this site for more information!

— Dr. Farah is the Wal­ter H. Annen­berg Pro­fes­sor of Nat­ur­al Sci­ences and the Direc­tor of the Cen­ter for Neu­ro­science and Soci­ety at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Penn­syl­va­nia. She is inter­est­ed in a vari­ety of social, legal and eth­i­cal issues in neu­ro­science, includ­ing prac­ti­cal issues aris­ing from brain enhance­ment and brain imaging.