NARRATIVE NEUROPSYCHOLOGY
Professor Elizabeth Johnston
Sarah Lawrence College, Fall 2007
Office: Titsworth 6A, x2348
Email: ebj@slc.edu
Course Web Pages: http://pages.slc.edu/~ebj/narrative-neuro
Course Description:
Narrative neuropsychology
explores notions of mind, memory, sensory perception, language, consciousness
and mind-body interactions through study of cases of the breakdown, hyperdevelopment
or recovery of mental function. In this course we will draw upon a mixture
of neuropsychological case studies, scientific research papers, novels and
memoirs to investigate conditions such as agnosia, amnesia, synesthesia, aphasia,
autism, and other alterations in consciousness that arise from brain damage
or variations in brain development. Narrative refers to the narrative accounts
of neurologists, but also to the view of the human brain as primarily a story-teller.
A third sense of the term narrative will be invoked in our reading of current
fiction and memoirs that incorporate neuropsychological material. This course
is designed for students interested in the intersections of science and art.
Books ordered for the SLC book store:
Case Studies:
An Anthropologist on Mars, Oliver Sacks (Mars)
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Oliver Sacks (Hat)
The Man with a Shattered World, Alexander Luria
The Mind of a Mnemonist, Alexander Luria
Novels:
The Echo Maker, Richard Powers
Banishing Verona, Margot Livesey
The Missing World, Margot Livesey
Memoirs:
In The Shadow of Memory, Floyd Skloot (Memory)
A World of Light, Floyd Skloot (Light)
Academic Brain Texts:
The Synaptic Self, Joseph LeDoux
Brain Fiction, William Hirstein
Reading Assignments:
Week 1: September 10th:
Introductions and Orientations
1.
Sacks, Oliver (1987). The Man Who Mistook
His Wife for a Hat. Harper Perennial: New York. Preface, Introduction
& Title Chapter
2.
Munro, Alice (1999).
The Bear Came Over the Mountain. The New Yorker. Available
on the archive
3.
LeDoux, Joseph (2002). The Synaptic Self. Penguin: New York. Chapter
1.
Week 2: September 17th:
A Sampling of Sacks’ Hat & Cracking Open The Synaptic Self
1.
Sacks, Oliver (1987). The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. Harper
Perennial: New York.
2.
The Lost Mariner (Korsakoff’s
syndrome is described on pp 49-55 of Hirstein’s Brain Fiction)
9.
The President’s Speech
10.
Witty Ticcy Ray (Tourette’s syndrome quick guide)
12.
A Matter of Identity (More Korsakoff’s – The Confabulation chapter of Hirstein’s
Brain Fiction is helpful here)
17.
A Passage to India
24.
The Autist Artist (autism spectrum disorder primer)
2.
LeDoux, Joseph (2002). The Synaptic Self. Penguin: New York. Chap.
2.
3.
Hirstein, William (2005). Brain Fiction. MIT Press: Cambridge, MA.
Chapter 1.
Week 3: September 24th:
Luria’s “Romantic Science”
1.
Luria, The Man with the Shattered World
2.
Sacks, Anthropologist on Mars, To See and Not See, The Case of the
Colorblind Painter, The Landscape of His Dreams
3.
LeDoux, Joseph (2002). The Synaptic Self. Penguin: New York. Chapter
3.
4.
Hirstein, William (2005). Brain Fiction. MIT Press: Cambridge, MA.
Chapter 2.
Week 4: October 1st:
Synesthesia and Hypermnesia
1. Luria, The Mind of a Mnemonist
2.
Borges, Jorge Luis Funes, His Memory (photocopy)
3.
Nabakov, Speak Memory, (photocopied excerpt)
4.
Synaesthesia, Quick Guide, Current Biology
5.
LeDoux, Synaptic Self, Chapter 4
Week 5: October 8th: Amnesia I
1.
Skloot, Floyd (2003). In the Shadow of Memory.
2.
LeDoux, Synaptic Self, Chapter 5
3.
Livesey, Margot (2000). The Missing World, Chapters 1-7.
Week 6: October 15th: Amnesia II
1.
Skloot, Floyd (2005). A World of Light.
Preface; part one: 1-4; part two: 6 & 9; part three: 14 & 15.
2.
Livesey, Margot (2000). The Missing World, Chapters 8-22 (end).
3.
LeDoux, Synaptic Self, Chapter 7: The Mental Trilogy (read chapter
6 too if you want to know more about memory at the synaptic level)
Week 7: October 22nd: October Study Days
Week 8: October 29th: The Autistic Spectrum I
1.
Sacks, Oliver (1995). An Anthropologist on Mars, Title Chapter &
Prodigies (watch the Stephen Wiltshire video on YouTube in connection with
‘Prodigies’).
2. Livesey, Margot, (2005). Banishing Verona.
3.
Page, Tim (2007). Parallel Play. The New Yorker. Available
in the archive
Week 9: November 5th: The Autistic Spectrum II
1. TBA – I’m hoping to set up a visitor and assign some of her writings
2.
Losh, Molly & Capps, Lisa (2006). Understanding of emotional experience
in autism: Insights from the personal accounts of high-functioning children
with autism. Developmental Psychology, 32, 809-818. Available from PsycArticles
3.
LeDoux, The Synaptic Self, Chapter 8: The Emotional Brain Revisited
Week 10: November 12th: Confabulation & The Frontal Lobe
1. Hirstein, Brain Fiction, Chapters 4
& 5.
3.
Powers, Richard (2006).
The Echo Maker. Part One: I Am No One.
4.
Damasio, Antonio (1996).
Descartes’ Error, Chapters 1-3. (photocopy)
5.
LeDoux, The Synaptic
Self, Chapter 9: The Lost World
Week 11: November 19th
: Deeper into Confabulation, Memory & Identity
1.
Hirstein, Brain
Fiction, Chapters 6 & 7.
2.
Powers, The Echo
Maker. Part Two: But Tonight on North Line Road and Part 3: God Led Me
To You.
3.
Terri Gross Interview
with Richard Powers
Available on NPR site
Week 12: November 26
: The End of Confabulation