The Psychology Department has developed an interdepartmental neuroscience major. Essential to this program is the recently renovated Laboratory of Quantitative Neuromorphology, for which this project funds new equipment. Educationally, the overall purpose of the laboratory is to transcend information in textbooks and lectures by involving students with closely supervised, hands-on research experience using state-of-the-art equipment to explore the human brain at the gross and microanatomic level. Furthermore, a fundamental belief behind the neuroscience program is that knowledge of the brain profoundly affects one's perception and appreciation of personal, linguistic, psychological, and sociopolitical phenomena. The long-term research goal is to develop a quantitative dendritic and spine map of the human cerebral cortex to supplement qualitative knowledge of the same. Four pieces of equipment are involved: (1) a Neurolucida system, a state-of-the-art, comprehensive, interactive image analysis program for three- dimensional morphometry of microscopic tissue sections; (2) a multihead Olympus microscope, which is an efficient and effective teaching tool that permits three individuals (i.e., the professor and two students) to examine stained tissue simultaneously; (3) a Campden Vibroslice vibratome for sectioning tissue; and (4) a PowerMac computer system for classroom demonstrations, tutorials, interactive educational programs, and data analysis/presentations by students doing individual research projects.
