Neuroscience: The Secret Life of the Brain

Instructor: Vidita Vaidya

November 25, 2009 | 9.30 am to 5.30 pm
M.C. Ghia Hall, Mumbai

This course will focus on the mysteries of the human brain and mind that have fascinated scientists, writers, philosophers and pretty much all of humankind for millennia. The perspective of looking at the brain, and what it does, will come from the window of modern neuroscience. We will look at how the brain is built, what it can do, how it can change and what happens when things go wrong. Using specific examples from how the brain works in learning, memory, sensation, perception, movement and emotion we will lead into the unanswered questions in neuroscience.

Lectures:
1. Building the Brain
2. The Brain in dialogue with the world – Sensation and Perception
3. The Running Head – It’s all about Motion
4. Learning and Memory
5. The Plastic Brain – use it or lose it!
6. Repairing the Brain – When things go wrong

Dr. Vidita Vaidya is a faculty member in the Department of Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. Her research interests are in the neurobiology of emotion, with a particular focus on understanding the changes that take place in the brain in psychiatric disorders. Vidita is a Senior Wellcome Trust Research fellow and serves on the editorial boards of both national and international journals. She is actively involved in public outreach activities for Neuroscience and finds that this dialogue enriches the research queries that her laboratory pursues.