Neuroscience is a rapidly emerging inter-disciplinary field of study with both theoretical and practical applications. The primary objective of this field is to improve quality of life through a better understanding of the specific neural mechanisms that regulate mental processes and behavior in both humans and animals. This improvement in quality of life stems in part from progress toward eliminating disease and disability and in part from a steady increase in knowledge of the abilities and potentialities of human and animal life. Crucial for this objective is the development of a course of study that explores the anatomical, chemical, and electrophysiological properties of the nervous system and its inter-dependency on other bodily organs. Explored at the molecular, cellular, and system levels, neuroscience examines the role that both heredity and environment play in shaping the functioning of the nervous system including the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system. This research provides the basis for understanding and treating nervous system disorders as well as expanding our general knowledge of its development and function.

Undergraduate neuroscience programs vary greatly from college to college. Most often these programs are either housed within a single academic department, either psychology or biology, or have been created as an interdisciplinary program between these two departments. In a few cases the neuroscience program is a department within itself. Depending upon its department affiliations, the nature of these programs differ dramatically, some are more behaviorally oriented while others are more anatomical, physiological, or even more applied and directed toward bioengineering. The common link of all of these programs is their interdisciplinary approach to understanding the impact that the nervous system has on the organism.

Neuroscience itself is a relatively young discipline, and autonomous programs in this field are not often found at the undergraduate level. The first national society dedicated solely to neuroscience was organized in 1970 with less than 500 members. Today, over a quarter century later, this society has grown to more than 25,000 members, and the popularity and importance of this field has increased dramatically at both the graduate and professional levels. In recognition of the importance of the field, Congress designated the 1990’s as the Decade of the Brain. Two outcomes of this designation have been a series of public events and the establishment of federal support for program development and research directed toward a greater understanding of brain functioning. A scientist once commented "It’s too bad the secret of the brain was not cracked before the atom. Coping with the problems of sheer survival may ultimately depend upon our ability to understand ourselves." Given the highly explosive yet fragile nature of today's world, these words are even truer today than when they were first stated in the 1940's.

The ideal neuroscientist must combine both the molecular and cellular bases of today’s biology with the more systems-oriented approaches of psychology. Within neuroscience, neither approach can stand alone. For example, knowledge about active and passive transport mechanisms through ionic channels within a neuron’s membrane may help explain changes in the electrical potential across a cell’s membrane. Such explanations, however, provide little direct evidence to explain or change the overall reaction of an organism to environmental opportunities or constraints. Indeed, while these membrane changes can be used to explain a neuron’s excitability and level of neurotransmitters produced and released, knowing how but not when or where these cellular responses may occur provides little therapeutic value. Likewise, exploring the heritability of mood disorders like depression or thought disorders like schizophrenia may increase our understanding of their occurrence in the general population. But again this does little to resolve these disorders. These studies may provide more valid diagnostic and predictive models that can be used to influence public policies but only indirectly resolve underlying biological predisposition or dysfunction. Fuller understanding and more complete treatments of mental disorders will come only from combining the molecular, cellular, and system approaches. In other words, neuroscientists must determine which neurons, in what areas of the brain, release which transmitters, under what external and internal environmental conditions to ultimately unravel and resolve the mysteries and miseries of the mind.

  Neuroscience Home Page                                                                                         last updated  September, 2004