Neuroethology combines studies of naturalistic behavior with cutting-edge neuroscience techniques to understand the neural mechanisms that have evolved in different species in the course of their evolutionary adaptation to their particular environmental niches. This comparative approach emphasizes how information is processed and transformed by the brain, and is particularly powerful for gaining a comprehensive understanding of systems neuroscience. This course will present core concepts in ethology, the design of sensory and motor systems, neural plasticity and development by focusing on the behavior and brains of animals such as crickets, barn-owls, honey-bees, echolocating bats, electric fishes and songbirds. Findings from studying these non-traditional systems will be compared with those acquired using more traditional laboratory animals (rodents, primates) and humans. In addition to providing students with a deeper respect for the complexity of animal behaviors, it will provide them with specialized expertise in both systems neuroscience and in the computations performed by neural circuits.

Classroom lectures. Face-to-face classes: reduced (workshops, seminars, case studies). Student individual work. Final exam. Seminars and lectures supported by computer and audiovisual aids. Practical learning based on cases and problems, and exercise resolution. Individual and group or cooperative work with the option of oral or written presentation. Individual and group tutorials to resolve doubts and queries about the subject.