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Classroom
This collection of resources is intended for use in the classroom, but is adaptable for use in a range of learning environments. Built on principles of adult learning, each session lasts between 30-90 minutes and includes interactive and engaging exercises for teaching clinical neuroscience. Available resources are organized by different approaches for teaching neuroscience. Each approach (or teaching module) includes a step-by-step facilitator’s guide and follows a similar format between sessions. As a general framework for teaching neuroscience, each module is easily adaptable to cover additional topics. Click the tabs on the left to explore.
Fundamentals of Neuroscience
Integrative Case Conference
Neuroscience in the Media
Neuroscience Lab
Progressive Case Conference
Talking Pathways to Patients
Translational Neuroscience
Fundamentals of Neuroscience
Videos and other learning activities to enhance foundational knowledge of neuroscience and psychiatry.
3-D Brain
In this session participants use the 3D-Brain app to identify the name and function of major brain structures. This module can be used alone or in combination with the “Play-Doh Brain” module to review the basic neuroanatomy of the brain. The session employs simple techniques tapping into readily available resources that any program could use to make learning as interactive as possible. Launch Session
Play-Doh Brain
This module shows participants how to construct a model brain out of Play-Doh. It can be used alone or in combination with the “3-D Brain” module to review the basic neuroanatomy of the brain. The session employs simple techniques tapping into readily available resources that any program could use to make learning as interactive as possible. Launch Session
Play-Doh Brain: Temporal Lobe
This module shows participants how to construct a model brain out of Play-Doh. It can be used alone or in combination with the “3-D Brain” module to review the basic neuroanatomy of the brain. The session employs simple techniques tapping into readily available resources that any program could use to make learning as interactive as possible. Launch Session
Celebrity/Pictionary Mashup… with Brains!
The disease presentations we see as psychiatrists are multifactorial in etiology. They usually involve a complex interplay of underlying anatomy, brain function, and social circumstances, resulting in a wide variety of behavioral, cognitive, and affective experiences that greatly affect patients’ lives. Addressing these types of questions in the clinic requires a thorough knowledge of brain anatomy and function. In this module, participants will practice naming, drawing, and describing structural and functional anatomy to patients so that they feel empowered when they encounter these questions in the clinical setting. The content of this exercise is delivered through an interactive game, akin to a mash-up of the games Celebrity and Pictionary. Launch Session
Cut and Paste Clinical Pathology: Neurodegenerative Disorders
This session is designed to train participants in the process of applying mnemonic devices and specifically utilize them to enhance memory of a broad and complex topic: neurodegenerative disorders. Launch Session
Cut and Paste Clinical Pathology: Neurodevelopmental Disorders
This session is designed to train participants in the process of applying mnemonic devices and specifically utilize them to enhance memory of a broad and complex topic: neurodevelopmental disorders. Launch Session
Find It, Draw It, Know It: Fear Circuitry
This session will help residents develop mastery of fear circuitry through exercises that capitalize on multimodal sensory learning. The session is flexible enough to be used in a variety of ways from an in-class exercise preceding more advanced instruction to a component of a “flipped classroom”. Launch Session
Find It, Draw It, Know It: Pain Circuitry
This session will help residents develop mastery of pain circuitry through exercises that capitalize on multimodal sensory learning. The session is flexible enough to be used in a variety of ways from an in-class exercise preceding more advanced instruction to a component of a “flipped classroom”. Launch Session
RDoC: The Card Game
The following learning activity aims to introduce the concept of RDoC through an interactive game that organizes the content onto a large visual display. In this session, learners will become familiar with the central principles and organization of RDoC and then practice conceptualizing a patient case using this neurobiologically informed approach. Launch Session
Integrative Case Conference
Incorporating a neuroscience perspective as a core component of case formulation
The goal of this module is to demonstrate how a neuroscience perspective can be incorporated into a comprehensive case formulation. Each session focuses on the presentation of a patient with a particular psychiatric illness. Residents are expected to read and formulate the case prior to the session. Time is reserved for peer supervision around case formulation. A panel of experts reflecting diverse clinical perspectives – typically including neuroscience, psychotherapy, and social psychiatry— is then asked to comment on how each clinician would approach the case material and how their formulation would affect treatment. Ample time is left for questions and for general discussion.
Facilitator's Guide
Neuroscience of Delusions 05/26/17
PTSD
Neuroscience in the Media
Exploring the interface between the media, neuroscience, and psychiatry.
Popular media is saturated with stories about psychiatry and psychiatric illness (which, unfortunately, are all too often infused with stigma towards our field and towards the patients we treat). As psychiatrists, we have all had the experience of being approached by a friend at a party — or by a patient or a family member in our clinic – who is eager to ask for our opinion on the latest media story. Being able to thoughtfully field these questions is a core professional skill.
To this end, we have developed the “Neuroscience in the Media” module. The overall goal of this course is that residents will be able to serve as ambassadors of psychiatry and neuroscience who can thoughtfully communicate findings from the field to a lay audience.
Facilitator's Guide
Are Probiotics the New Drug Choice for Mental Illness?
There has been a lot of media coverage about the potential connection between microbes or bacteria in the gut and brain chemistry. In this session we discuss how altering gut bacteria (through probiotics) may impact mental illnesses ranging from depression and anxiety to autism. Launch Session
Alzheimer's Disease & Fungus
With the increase in lifespan in recent decades, the burden of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has increased. Despite research, the exact pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s remains elusive. Alzheimer’s research garners steady media coverage, and this session is meant to teach trainees to understand and critically evaluate one proposed cause of the disease—namely that a fungal infection contributes to the development of Alzheimer’s. Launch Session
Chain Reaction — Amyloid-beta, Cellular Prion Protein, and the Potential Transmissibility of Alzheimer’s Disease
the class begins by reviewing recent coverage of the possible transmissibility of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) within the popular media. We have identified two recent media sources on the topic: a publication in The Economist, “Chain Reaction” and a video from CBC News, “Alzheimer’s traces found seeded in autopsied brains, scientists report”. We then use a structured format to critique the media coverage and appraise relevant scientific literature. Trainees then role play what they might say to a patient inquiring about the possible iatrogenic transmission of AD. When combined with a recent review article, the topic of the overlap in the pathophysiology of AD and spongiform encephalopathy can also become a platform for reviewing basic neuroscience. Launch Session
Electroconvulsive Therapy, Autism, and Catatonia 3/24/17
In this module, learners will read and critique a 2016 article from The Atlantic on the use of ECT in children with autism.Launch Session
The Effects of Emotions on Memory Accuracy
This session explores this topic using a short New Yorker article describing research into the effect of stress on the formation of memories. Further reviews on the topic highlight the complexity of this phenomenon and provide an opportunity to review relevant neuroscience related to memory formation. Launch Session
Effects of Marijuana on the Developing Brain
As marijuana has been legalized (or decriminalized) in many states, media coverage of this topic has escalated. In this session we discuss the impact of marijuana on the developing brain. Launch Session
Foreign Accent Syndrome
The relationship between the mind and the brain is of great interest both within the field of psychiatry and in the public at large. In this session we use a fascinating story of a woman who developed a sudden onset of Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS) to discuss what FAS is, the underlying neuroscience of FAS, and the challenges patients face relating to stigma. Launch Session
Heroin Vaccine
Opioid addiction has garnered considerable attention as the latest public health “epidemic.” This module provides a rich opportunity for these discussions. Launch Session
How Social Media Changes Your Brain
With ubiquitous technology and expanding internet access the worldwide usage of the internet is exploding. But is this healthy? In this session we discuss our ever-increasing interface with technology, with emphasis on social media, to explore the effects of technology on the brain, potential brain changes, possibility of addiction, and potential positive and negative outcomes. Launch Session
Microbiome: The Excrement Experiment
There is widespread public interest in the relationship between diet and physical and mental wellbeing. (Consider, for example, recent trends in gluten-free diets.) In this session we explore the concept of the “microbiome” — i.e. the role that gut bacteria may play in health and illness — including potential effects on mental health and illness. Launch Session
NEW: Pregnancy Changes in the Brain. 01/24/17
Psychoanalysts have formulated that pregnancy itself prepares the mother to enter this caretaker role through, in the final weeks of pregnancy, ‘maternal reverie’ – a state of increased focus on the child in utero, which guides the mother to identify with the baby’s shifting affective states. But are there any physiologic changes in the brain that support this concept?Launch Session
NEW: Prenatal Stress. 11/29/16
The biological consequences of stress are myriad and our scientific understanding of them continues to evolve. This module lends itself to discussions about mental health during pregnancy, brain development, subjectivity in experience of stress, and social disparities in exposure to life stressors. Launch Session
Psilocybin: The Trip Treatment
Facing one’s own death may be a source of great distress, but what if there were a way to help make this process easier? In this session we use an emphasis on psilocybin (“magic-mushrooms”) to discuss potential uses of psychedelic therapy, basic theory behind this group of therapies, potential role of the default mode network, and limitations of this as a therapy. Launch Session
Optogenetics & Appetite Regulation
Optogenetics is a method that allows for the selective stimulation of brain circuits by applying specific frequencies of light to neurons in which a light-sensitive ion channel has been introduced. In this session we discuss this new, cutting edge technology and the neurobiology of feeding behavior. Launch Session
NEW: Shining the Light on Alzheimer’s 01/30/17
Tetris for PTSD
Trainees will evaluate one proposed intervention to prevent PTSD, namely the use of a visual, cognitively demanding task (in this case, the game Tetris) to reactivate and then modify reconsolidation of a traumatic memory in the early days following the traumatic event.Launch Session
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a novel, non-invasive, means of brain stimulation that has been the subject of extensive new research and widespread media coverage. In this session we discuss what tDCS is, how it works, potential applications, and current limitations. Launch Session
Why Reading and Writing on Paper can be Better for Your Brain
With today’s technology, printed books and writing by hand are on the decline, leaving children to grow up with primarily on-screen texts. But how does this affect the development of a child’s reading and writing abilities? In this session we discuss trends in on-screen media, its potential effects on language development, and potential effects of writing by hand on language development. Launch Session
Neuroscience Lab
The overall goal of this module is to teach core neuroscience concepts though experiential exercises that capitalize on multimodal sensory learning. In order to reinforce the importance of neuroscience to patient care and the future of psychiatry, each session is crafted around a clinical case or real-life scenario that psychiatrists might encounter in clinical practice. Although these sessions may be facilitated by someone at the front of the room “teaching”, these are not traditional lectures.
Facilitator's Guide
Affect Regulation
This session highlights a specific task that is used in the scanner to probe the neural circuitry involved in emotion regulation. Objectives are to highlight the neural circuitry underlying emotion regulation; and describe how this circuitry may function differently in bipolar and unipolar depression. Launch Session
Cognition in Schizophrenia
The “dopamine hypothesis” has dominated our understanding of schizophrenia for decades, but only accounts for a fraction of the symptomatology seen in patients with schizophrenia. This session highlights our most recent understanding of the neurobiology underlying cognitive deficits in schizophrenia through an interactive, online training module that highlights some of the modern “teaching with technology” features now available to educators. Launch Session
Functional Neuroanatomy through a Clinical Case
Human Social Interactions & Adult Attachment Style
This learning module draws from a 2012 review by Vrtička and colleagues, who provided an overview of recent studies looking at attachment through a cognitive and neurobiological lens. This module will focus specifically on discussing attachment styles and reviewing a game designed by Vrtička and colleagues in 2008 that utilized functional MRI to elucidate neural responses when confronted with visual feedback.Launch Session
Reward Pathways
This session is designed to teach residents about the basic neural circuitry of the reward pathway with a central emphasis on the following two concepts: 1. Dopamine (DA) is a signal for teaching/learning about the environment; and 2. Learning about the environment is proportional to Reward Prediction Error (RPE). The session is built on experiential learning exercises that are designed to embody these core principles. Launch Session
Progressive Case Conference
Autism Spectrum Disorder
Several psychiatric disorders such as autism and schizophrenia have a large genetic component contributing towards their etiology, which can be uncovered clinically and lead to actionable interventions that would alter management and treatment. Many of these genetic variants are individually rare, but collectively they can account for up to 40% of cases of autism. In this session, we will focus on learning about the different types of rare variants of large effect, how to detect them, the phenotype associated with specific rare variants, and the implications for diagnosis and treatment of having this genetic information available in the clinic. Launch Session
Psychopharmacogenomics 3/30/17
Current standard of care in psychiatry involves prescribing psychotropic medications based on presence and severity of clinical symptoms and considerations of factors such as medical comorbidities and drug-drug interactions. Among these factors, the genetic contribution to medication response, broadly known as pharmacogenomics, is emerging as a relatively new and promising resource to guide the choice of medication type and dose. This field involves identifying individual differences in drug metabolism and response based on unique genetic variants, with the overarching goal of optimizing medication outcomes and reducing adverse side effects. Launch Session
Talking Pathways to Patients
Facilitator’s Guide
This module is designed to highlight how clinicians can integrate a neuroscience perspective directly into patient care.Launch Facilitator’s Guide
Addiction
This module involves a demonstration and teaching session about the reward circuit: its key regions, their normal function, the impact of heroin, and how it can inform treatment options. Participants then role-play the explanation of the reward circuit to a patient based on a vignette. Launch Session
Borderline Personality Disorder
Translational Neuroscience
The overarching goal of the translational neuroscience course is to enhance residents’ attitudes towards neuroscience and its applications towards clinical psychiatry.
The supplementary articles chosen for this course demonstrate how current neuroscience work could change the way we think about treating our patients in the future. Through this learning module we are able to think about what’s interesting & exciting about neuroscience and what could have the potential to change the field. As with many of the articles/ideas we will review during the course, the majority will probably not pan out — that’s okay. The goal is to think about the ways in which current neuroscience has the potential to reshape our field.
Facilitator's Guide
Alzheimer's Disease: Now is the Time
The present session is designed to introduce residents to innovative neurobiological models for conceptualizing Alzheimer’s Disease. Launch Session
Bipolar Disorder
This session asks participants to describe the difficulties and consequences associated with misdiagnosis of bipolar disorder and begin to appreciate the importance of translational approaches in psychiatry and the potential use of biological markers. The session also introduces new systems (circadian, purinergic) involved in the etiology of bipolar disorder, and potential treatments associated with these systems. Launch Session
Borderline Personality Disorder
The present session learning objectives is to a) be able to articulate current standard of care treatments and expected prognosis for patients, b) describe the negative attribution bias in borderline personality disorder, the relationship to amygdala hyperactivity, and novel approaches using neurofeedback that may offer next-generation treatment. Launch Session
Psychopharmocology & Major Depression
For the past sixty years, virtually all pharmacological treatments of depression have been predicated on a monoaminergic model, which, though effective in some regards, is inadequate. This session is introduces residents to alternative neurobiological models for thinking about depression, each article connecting a different neurotransmitter system and a different biological model. Launch Session