Undergrad seeking advice

Richard S. Norman rnorman at umich.edu
Tue Sep 10 08:04:53 EST 2002


>Hi, I am an undergrad biological chemistry major (will soon transfer
>to Grinnell College) and plan to go into neuroscience after I get my
>example, being able to examine a brain and know what it is thinking by
>decoding the brainss signals. This would be benificial because we
>the brain encodes visual images, then changing the electric signal of
>What I'm wondering is which branch of neuroscience should I study to
>learn these things?

First, you should get some background in biology.  A good intro course
plus some background in cell biology and physiology and an intro neuro
ideas that seem so appropriate and logical to you now are hopelessly
naive given the true complexity of neurons and nervous systems.  Also,
once you get a good introduction in how to understand the primary

I would strongly suggest you stay with the biochemical/molecular
biology/cellular side of neuro, not the cognitive/physiological psych

Plasticity of synaptic transmission is the key to unravelling memory
and learning.  Gene regulation and control is another area heavily
involved in learning and memory but also in development and
regeneration.  There are a lot of untapped fields at the
molecular/cellular level to explore!

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