The Ever-Changing Brain

Leslie P. Tolbert
Fall 2018
THURSDAYS |  
9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
November 8 - December 13, 2018. No class on November 22.
Course Format: Hybrid
Location: Main Campus
Tuition: $130

Professor Tolbert brings back her popular spring 2016 course with some exciting updates!

Please Note: We will be offering two sessions of this course in the coming semester.
Session 1 will be held in the morning from 9 – 11 AM.
Session 2 will be held in the afternoon from 2 – 4 PM.
Both sessions will contain the same class content and will be held on the same dates this Fall.

The human brain, guiding our every thought and action, is as complex as anything we know. Its almost unimaginable complexity arises from minute interconnections between tens of billions of nerve cells. If we could map every connection among the cells, we still would have only a rough foundation for understanding brain function, because those connections are changing every moment of our lives. They are recording our experiences, our emotions, our plans for the future, and they are constantly repairing disruption and injury. Evidence is mounting that intellectual challenge, social engagement, and regular physical activity can have a profound positive impact on our lives as we age. Why? Because they influence the ongoing alterations, or “plasticity,” in our ever-changing brains. This course examines the recent revolution in our views of brain function that gives us a new way to grasp how our brains work.

Recommended Reading
  • Eagleman, David. The Brain: The Story of You. Vintage Books, 2017. ISBN-10: 0525433449. ISBN-13: 978-0525433446.
  • Ramachandran, V.S., M.D., Ph.D. and Sandra Blakeslee. Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind. William Morrow Paperbacks. 1999. ISBN-10: 0688172172. ISBN-13: 978-068817217.
  • Doidge, Norman, M.D. The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science. Penguin Books. 2007. ISBN-10: 0143113100. ISBN-13: 978-0143113102.

Meet Your Instructor

Regents Professor Emerita

LESLIE P. TOLBERT is Regents’ Professor Emerita of Neuroscience at the University of Arizona. She was on the faculty of the UA from 1987 to 2018, and served as UA’s Vice President for Research from 2005 to 2013.  Her research group used insect models to elucidate cellular interactions that are critical for brain development and function, and her teaching, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, focused on cellular- to systems-level neuroscience.      

Location

POETRY CENTER
Dorothy Rubel Room
1508 E Helen
Tucson, AZ 85721
United States

Located on the SE corner of Helen Street and Vine Avenue, one block north of Speedway and three blocks west of Campbell Ave.

Street map image of Poetry Center

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