Discover Brain and Cognitive Sciences (DBCS)

Have you ever wondered…

• How memories are created and stored in the brain?
• What it really means to remember something, and why we forget?
• How experience shapes our perception of the world?
• Why some people are more susceptible to mental illness than others?
• What dreams are, and why we have them?
• How diseases of the brain result in strange and unusual abilities?

… Then the Brain and Cognitive Sciences FPOP is for you!

The Program

The Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences was created over forty years ago to study the brain, the mind, and the intersection of the two. We explore normal brain functions like vision, movement, and learning; as well as what happens when things go awry, creating diseases and disorders. To approach these complex ideas, the program employs a multidisciplinary approach using molecular, behavioral, electrophysiological, and imaging techniques. Participants in Discover Brain and Cognitive Sciences will have the unique opportunity to gain first hand knowledge about the field and meet other students and faculty, as well as getting an early introduction to MIT and Boston.

DBCS Specifics

• Dates: Tuesday, August 25 through Friday, August 28
  
• Place: Freshmen will be housed in their assigned dormitory.
  
• Available Spaces: 15
  
• Cost: No charge. The Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences will be covering all costs.

What Will We Do?

We will begin with a whirlwind tour that hopes to answer common questions people have about the brain, including learning, memory, psychiatric illness, optical illusions, personality, and neurological disease. Throughout the week, we’ll tie this information into popular culture, watching movies such as Memento and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and asking if the neuroscience-related topics explored in these films have a basis in real science. We’ll conclude with lab tours showcasing the current Brain and Cognitive Sciences research happening at MIT. Additionally, you’ll have the option of dissecting a sheep brain to look at the structures we’ve talked about all week.

• Registration and Check In
  
• Move into assigned residence hall
  
• Dinner and activities to welcome you to BCS
  
• BCS type movie: Stranger than Fiction + Discussion

• Breakfast
  
• Psychology Presentation and related Lab Tour
  
• Optional Sheep Brain Dissection
  
• BCS type movie: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind + Discussion

• Breakfast
  
• Neuroscience Presentation and related Lab Tour
  
• Museum of Science
  
• BCS type movie: Memento + Discussion

• About Course 9
  
• Neurology Presentation
  
• Explore Boston
  
• BCS type movie: Fight Club + Discussion
  

Be a Part of Something New!

This is only the second year that the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences will be offering a pre-orientation program. We had a great time last year, and we're looking to offer you guys even more exciting opportunities! We strongly welcome and encourage your comments, suggestions, and feedback. If there is a neuroscience question you would like to explore, let us know!