PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY (820 254) Spring 2016 Dr. F.J. Helmstetter (fjh@uwm.edu) ONLINE Garland Hall 207 Office Hours: Tuesday 11 12 Noon OBJECTIVE This course is intended to provide a general introduction to the structure and function of the nervous system. In particular, the student should develop a better understanding of how biological processes occurring within the nervous system give rise to psychological processes like behavior, emotions, and memory. The course takes a natural science approach to understanding behavior and is intended to prepare students for more advanced study in the life sciences. COURSE FORMAT Your section of 820 254 is one of the first at UWM to be offered online. Please be patient if we encounter any problems. The main forum for interaction for everyone in the course is the course D2L website (https://uwm.courses.wisconsin.edu/). In addition to your required textbook reading, various electronic materials (e.g., PowerPoint files, video clips, etc) will be made available to you on the D2L site. The course D2L site also includes a peer discussion forum where you can interact with other students and the instructor. Note that all assignments and exams are conducted through D2L. It is very important to understand that this is a 3 credit course that normally meets three hours per week in addition to your preparation time during the semester. Please plan to spend at least an equivalent amount of time on the online version. This is particularly critical to keep in mind if your are taking the course in summer or Winterim where the material is condensed into a very small time window. As with most things, you need to be self disciplined and organized to be successful. Aside from the exams, which are only offered at specific times as listed below, you are responsible for setting your schedule and managing your time. NOTES ON TECHNOLOGY This is an online course. You must have access to a computer with a fast and reliable connection to the internet to be able to participate and complete the course. Please note that since the exams are conducted online there will be certain specific times during the term (listed below) when you will need to be alone in a quiet place with your computer connected reliably to the internet. Computer crashes, spotty wireless access, or various distractions one might have outside of the traditional classroom are not valid reasons to miss or perform poorly on an exam. It is your responsibility to plan accordingly. EVALUATION AND COURSE REQUIREMENTS Your grade in the course is determined primarily by your performance on a series of multiple choice exams. In addition to the exams, there are other aspects of the course that
require your participation even though no formal grades are assigned based on this participation. A total of four multiple choice exams will be given. Questions on all exams will be taken from textbook readings, online content (power point files, videos, etc), and discussion material. The first three exams will consist of 33 questions with each question worth 1 point. These three exams will cover the three sections of the course according to the attached schedule. The final exam will consist of 50 multiple choice questions and will cover the entire course. Thus each student has the opportunity to earn a total of 149 points on exams. There will be NO "make up" exams. Failure to take an exam without the prior consent of the instructor will result in a grade of 0 points for that exam. If you are ill or otherwise unable to take an exam at the scheduled time you will receive a grade of incomplete (I) at the end of the term. If and only if written documentation supporting your reason for missing the exam (e.g., death in the immediate family, serious motor vehicle accident, etc.) is provided to and accepted by the instructor we will arrange a time for you to take an alternate form of the exam. Alternate form exams are normally fill in the blank rather than multiple choice and may only be available in person, on campus at UWM. Please plan ahead carefully and make arrangements (e.g. back up child care, alternate travel plans, etc) for exam days. Each textbook chapter to be covered is associated with a short practice exam or quiz on D2L. The questions on the quizzes are very similar to the questions you will see on the regular exams. Completing the quiz after each chapter will give you immediate feedback on your mastery of the material and prepare you to do well on the exam. You are REQUIRED to complete each of the practice exams prior to the real exam for each section. You can take each practice quiz as many times as you would like to. There is no time limit or access time restriction on practice tests during the section of the course that they cover. The answers you choose on practice exams do not affect your grade. They are to help you master the material prior to the real exam. However, failure to complete each of the practice exams at least once will result in a reduction (up to 5%) in your final grade. The course D2L site has a number of discussion boards set up to allow students to interact with each other and with the instructor and/or teaching assistant. Areas are set aside for content based discussion of each section of the course as well as for tracking administrative issues like grading and extra credit. While we encourage you to post your questions here and to respond to discussion items raised by others, posting material here is currently not a formal course requirement. However, you are REQUIRED to read all discussion posts on a regular (at least weekly) basis so you can stay informed and engaged. Failure to do so will result in a reduction (up to 5%) in your final grade. Completion of practice quizzes and participation in discussions are tracked and recorded automatically by D2L for each enrolled student. The discussion boards are a good place to ask and answer questions. While I normally do respond to direct emails from students, I find that it is much more efficient to interact through the D2L site for matters that are of general interest to those enrolled. If you email me with a question and don t get a response, please be sure to check the syllabus (this document) and the D2L site to see if the answer is already available to you.
"EXTRA CREDIT" One point (equivalent to one exam question) will be awarded for verified participation as a subject in research sponsored by the Department of Psychology at UWM. Students will receive one point for each hour of time spent as a volunteer. The maximum number of extra credit points which may be counted for any student is 5. Extra credit points will be taken into consideration in determining final grades. Specifically, each extra credit point will be added onto your score total for the term up to the maximum of 5 points. This would be equivalent to the value of 5 missed exam questions and students can often move up by one letter grade by earning full extra credit. Information about participation in experiments may be obtained from the SONA webpage (see document SONA Instructions for Participants on the course D2L page) or from announcements forwarded via email or the discussion board on D2L. The instructor does not track and cannot provide information on opportunities for extra credit beyond what you see on SONA. The opportunity to earn extra credit is provided as a service to you (the student). The instructor is not responsible for providing research opportunities to students and reserves the right to eliminate or modify the extra credit policy at any time. FINAL GRADES There are no absolute criteria which determine your final grade (e.g., "If I get 80% of the exam questions correct I will get a B "). Letter grades will be determined based on your performance relative to the class. The procedure for calculating final grades is as follows: Each student is assigned a score equal to the sum of all correct answers on the exams (ranging from 0 to 149). Each score in the class is then expressed as a percentage of the highest total score in that particular class (e.g., the exam scores are curved ). So, for example, if the highest scoring student had 125 correct answers out of 149 possible, then a 125 would be considered 100% and everyone else s score would be divided by 125 to determine their corrected (curved) score. Letter grades for those at and just below 125 (100%) would be in the A range. The average (mean) of all scores indicates the C range, and the spread of scores around the mean determines the grading intervals. Although it changes a bit from semester to semester, and based on the size of the class, a typical grading scale looks like this in terms of percent correct responses: 90 100% A, 80 89% B, 64 79% C, 53 63% D, below 53% F Again, this will change depending on the overall performance on exams and I cannot tell you for sure what letter grade you re going to get until all the scores are in. Please remember this before you email me to ask what your grade is or what score do I need on the next exam to get a B? etc. EXAM DATES AND TIMES: Multiple choice exams are administered online through D2L. Click on the Quizzes link on the course homepage. To help ensure fairness and academic integrity, the exams are only available during the specific time periods listed. Please make sure you are very familiar with test taking in D2L before the date of the first exam (this is part of the reason that practice tests are required). Please prepare now to be sure you will not have problems taking the exams at these times.
Exam I: Monday February 22nd 5:00 7:00PM Covers section I Exam II: Monday March 28 th 5:00 7:00PM Covers section II Exam III: Monday May 9 th 5:00 7:00PM Covers section III Final exam: Monday May 16 th 5:00 7:00PM Cumulative I III Since all grades are determined by relative performance, uniform testing conditions are very important. Changes in exam times are not permitted. You will have 40 minutes to complete Exams 1 through 3. You must begin and end the exam during the time window specified in D2L (i.e., if you start at 6:59PM you will have one minute rather than the full 40). Exams are the only aspect of the course that have specific assigned times. I realize that this can be difficult, but it is very important to standardize the exam parameters as much as possible. This is to discourage academic misconduct and ensure that everyone is graded fairly. Also, please be absolutely clear about the expectation that you will be taking the exam alone and providing answers based on your own knowledge, i.e., not consulting notes, books, websites, etc. This may seem obvious to some but understand that violation of the academic conduct policy will result in a grade of F for the course and possibly additional sanctions through the university. I strongly suggest that you go to the UWM web page linked below and read this policy carefully. Accommodations for Students with Disabilities: If you need special accommodations to meet the requirements of this course, please contact the instructor on the first day of classes. If you wait until the first the exam I may not be able to help you. Academic Conduct Policy: The University has a responsibility to promote academic honesty and integrity and to develop procedures to deal effectively with instances of academic dishonesty. Students are responsible for the honest completion and representation of their work, for the appropriate citation of sources, and for respect of others academic endeavors. This course follows the guidelines and procedures detailed in the description of Student Academic Disciplinary Procedures found in Regents Policy Statements, UWS Chapter 14 and UWM Faculty Document #1686 and can be found online at: http://www.uwm.edu/dept/acad_aff/policy/academicmisconduct.html Special note for WINTERIM students: Many students find that Winterim is a great way to complete program requirements in a short but intense period of time. Please keep in mind that we are packing an entire semester of work into less than three weeks. Each day of the term represents about one week of the semester. In the face to face Winterim version of this class we would have several consecutive hours of lecture every day. In the online version the challenge is to keep up on the assigned readings and quizzes and leave yourself enough time to study and prepare for the exams. Time management is critical and your ability to stay on track on your own will make a big difference in your performance and enjoyment of the course. Time Commitment: The suggested minimum time commitment recommended for successful completion of this course is outlined below. Please keep in mind that additional time may be required for mastery of complex concepts that are discussed in class and described in the text
book. During a regular semester, you should expect to dedicate an average of 13 hours per week to this course (185 hours across the entire semester). Keep in mind that this is an estimate and more time might be required to prepare effectively for exams or to do well on written assignments. During the much more condensed Winterim and Summer terms, the same total time commitment is required over a much shorter period. Students should keep this in mind when choosing to complete the course during these condensed terms and manage their other time commitments accordingly. Activity Time required Total time (based on 14 weeks) Interact with online content 3.0 hr / wk 42 Complete assigned readings 4.0 hr / wk 56 Discussion forums 2.0 hr / wk 28 Study for exams 5.0 hr x 3 exams 15 Work with online quizzes 2.0 hr / wk 28 Optional extra credit activities 1.0 hr /wk (averaged over 14 (SONA) semester) Total time estimate: 183 hours over 14 weeks
SCHEDULE OF ASSIGNMENTS The required text for this course is Foundations of Behavioral Neuroscience 9th Ed. by Neil Carlson (Allyn & Bacon). Reading assignments should be completed prior to the date listed on the schedule below. SCHEDULE OF TOPICS, READINGS, AND EXAMS Date Lecture Topics Carlson chapter(s) Mon 1/25 SECTION I Background and fundamentals Introduction and course overview Thur 1/28 Perspectives and approaches 1,5 Wed 2/3 Structure of the nervous system 3 Mon 2/8 Neurons 2 Mon 2/15 Neural communication / psychopharmacology Mon 2/22 5:00 7:00PM EXAM I 1 5 SECTION II Sensory systems, sleep & emotion Tue 2/23 Sensory systems overview, vision 6 Mon 3/7 Body senses and audition 7 Mon 3/14 Reproductive behavior 9 Mon 3/21 Sleep and Emotion 8,10 Mon 3/28 5:00 7:00PM EXAM II 6 10 SECTION III Feeding, memory, and mental disorders Wed 3/30 Ingestive behaviors 11 Thur 4/7 Learning and memory 12 Fri 4/15 Neurological disorders 14 Thur 4/21 Mental disorders 15 Thur 4/28 Stress and substance abuse 16 Mon 5/9 5:00 7:00PM Mon 5/16 5:00 7:00PM EXAM III 11,12,14 16 FINAL EXAM 4