This course describes the studies of different animal models, ranging from insects and amphibians to birds and mammals, to learn about their specialized behaviors and the neural circuitries that govern them. The goal of this classic branch of behavioral neuroscience is to understand how the nervous system encodes relevant natural stimuli to trigger an appropriate evolutionarily-robust behavioral response in order to uncover fundamental principles of the nervous system.

Prerequisites: PSY 111 or MCDB 151; for MCDB 151 must be with a minimum grade of C or better; open to Psychological & Brain Sciences, Biopsychology, Pharmacology, Cell & Developmental Biology, BioChemistry, and Interdisciplinary Studies majors only.

4

Units

Optional

Grading

1, 2, 3

Passtime

None

Level Limit

Letters and science

College
These majors only bipsy
SMITH I
Ikuko Smith
3.8
5 reviews
Spring 2024 . Smith I
HFH 1104
W F
11:00 AM - 12:15 PM
See All
PSY 162 Smith I Spring 2024 Total: 64
PSY 162 Smith I Spring 2023 Total: 51
5
3.8
PSY163IS . Smith I 7 Months Ago

One of the best professors I had, super nice. Class is very simple and not hard.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
MCDB126B . Smith I 10 Months Ago

decent bit harder than Olga but a better lecturer. Exam questions are much less straightforward and smith expects you to know the material much more in depth; one off statements that are only on one slide are fair game for exams. Does occasionally bring snacks for the class though

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PSY163IS . Smith I 1 Year, 10 Months Ago

Professor Smith is definitely one of the best instructors I've had at UCSB or really just in general. Her class (Neurocircuitry) is super interesting and the way she orients each week around a different case study/disorder made the class very real life applicable while not being too overwhelming at all. Fun class taught by a nice person :)

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MCDB126B . Smith I 5 Years Ago

Writes pretty easy question for her portion of it. memorize the slides and you are Gucci.

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PSY163IS . Smith I 6 Years Ago

I was really excited to take this class and it was the complete opposite of what I was expecting. Maybe it would have been interesting if she had actually explained the material instead of just throwing out a ridiculous amount of complex terminology and expecting us to blindly memorize it. I would have appreciated being taught the actual logic.

1 helpful 0 unhelpful
PSY 150L
0 / 24 Enrolled
Laboratory in Social Psychology
David Sherman 3.6
M
10:00 AM - 11:50 AM
PSY 151
0 / 100 Enrolled
ADULT DEVELOPMENT AND AGING
Nicole Albada 4.8
M W
09:30 AM - 10:45 AM
PSY 155L
0 / 24 Enrolled
Laboratory in Evolutionary Psychology
James Roney 3.4
M
09:00 AM - 10:50 AM
PSY 160AW
0 / 30 Enrolled
Infancy
Annie Wertz 5.0
W
09:00 AM - 11:50 AM
PSY 163IF
0 / 77 Enrolled
Contemporary Issues in Biopsychology
Miguel Eckstein 4.1
W
14:00 PM - 16:50 PM
PSY 163AA
0 / 132 Enrolled
Neural basis of spatial cognition
Alexander Swan 2.5
M W
12:30 PM - 13:45 PM