The Sleeping Brain

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This seminar will provide a broad introduction to the cognitive neuroscience of sleep. Topics covered will span human sleep disorders, sleep in various animals species (e.g. unihemispheric sleep in dolphins), learning and memory during sleep, sleep's role in creativity and insight, plasticity in the sleeping cortex, sleep and consciousness, and dreaming. We will also examine neuroimaging, neurophysiological, and behavioral approaches to the study of sleep, discussing critical questions such as "what is sleep?" and, "why do we sleep?"