Spring 2018
Class meetings Fridays, 9:00-11:30 AM, PAIS 494 Hillary Rodman, Ph.D.

Content: Have you ever wondered whether it matters exactly when you test your subjects, or whether their patterns of sleep (and sleep deprivation!) might matter for how they perform in your tasks or respond to your treatments? Alternatively, have you wondered whether (and how) sleep and sleep timing might have implications for specific physiological processes related to wellness, cognition, and development? This is a seminar course which will approach the biological basis of sleep and sleep timing in a multidisciplinary fashion suitable for graduate students in psychology and related disciplines. Data from the primary literature will be considered in light of their potential for application to research, learning, and clinical domains. Material addressed will include ‘typical’ patterns and perturbations of sleep and circadian function, neural and hormonal mechanisms, animal models and evolutionary considerations, cross-cultural findings, connections with mental health and wellness, and sleep as it pertains to issues of awareness and brain mechanisms thereof. Emphases and readings within each of these topics will be determined in reference to the specific interests of students in the course.

Format will be primarily discussion and student presentation of research literature. Some lecture material for background will be provided by the instructor as needed. Students will also have opportunities to keep and reflect on a sleep log, assess their own chronotype, and explore practical approaches to measuring sleep with wearable or portable technology.

Prerequisites: The course does not have formal prerequisites. It does assume that students have:

• background in psychology and neuroscience at least at the level of an advanced

  undergraduate majoring in one of those areas

• a willingness to dive into some complex literature and see what can be gleaned from it (note,

  the course does not have assessments that stress memorization)

• a basic belief that biological mechanisms (including neural, evolutionary, genetic, etc.) can tell

  us something crucial about human behavior and the human condition

• enthusiasm for sharing ideas and learning from the perspectives of others

Assignments. Course grades will be based on the following four areas, each contributing equally:

1. Participation in class discussion of readings, ideas, themes, and connections between the

   topics of this course, course members’ research, and other areas of scholarly inquiry.

2. Several short class presentations (~15 mins) of empirical articles and leading related discussion.

3. In alternate weeks, short written response papers (1-2 pages single spaced, hardcopy due in class) on the assigned readings, or posting of discussion questions (for the remaining dates). The response papers can include evaluations, reactions, queries, comments on areas of confusion, suggestions for experiments, connections to other topics in which you have expertise, etc.

4. Several small projects:

   • Sleep log (2+ wks)

   • 1 pg summary of a personal ‘experiment’ with sleep variation or consumer sleep

     technology

   • Individualized short bibliography and/or timeline of key studies in the sleep and circadian

     fields that are important specifically to the student’s own research interests