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Learner Reviews & Feedback for The Brain and Space by Duke University

4.7
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634 ratings

About the Course

This course is about how the brain creates our sense of spatial location from a variety of sensory and motor sources, and how this spatial sense in turn shapes our cognitive abilities. Knowing where things are is effortless. But “under the hood,” your brain must figure out even the simplest of details about the world around you and your position in it. Recognizing your mother, finding your phone, going to the grocery store, playing the banjo – these require careful sleuthing and coordination across different sensory and motor domains. This course traces the brain’s detective work to create this sense of space and argues that the brain’s spatial focus permeates our cognitive abilities, affecting the way we think and remember. The material in this course is based on a book I've written for a general audience. The book is called "Making Space: How the Brain Knows Where Things Are", and is available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or directly from Harvard University Press. The course material overlaps with classes on perception or systems neuroscience, and can be taken either before or after such classes. Dr. Jennifer M. Groh, Ph.D. Professor Psychology & Neuroscience; Neurobiology Duke University www.duke.edu/~jmgroh Jennifer M. Groh is interested in how the brain process spatial information in different sensory systems, and how the brain's spatial codes influence other aspects of cognition. She is the author of a recent book entitled "Making Space: How the Brain Knows Where Things Are" (Harvard University Press, fall 2014). Much of her research concerns differences in how the visual and auditory systems encode location, and how vision influences hearing. Her laboratory has demonstrated that neurons in auditory brain regions are sometimes responsive not just to what we hear but also to what direction we are looking and what visual stimuli we can see. These surprising findings challenge the prevailing assumption that the brain’s sensory pathways remain separate and distinct from each other at early stages, and suggest a mechanism for such multi-sensory interactions as lip-reading and ventriloquism (the capture of perceived sound location by a plausible nearby visual stimulus). Dr. Groh has been a professor at Duke University since 2006. She received her undergraduate degree in biology from Princeton University in 1988 before studying neuroscience at the University of Michigan (Master’s, 1990), the University of Pennsylvania (Ph.D., 1993), and Stanford University (postdoctoral, 1994-1997). Dr. Groh has been teaching undergraduate classes on the neural basis of perception and memory for over fifteen years. She is presently a faculty member at the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience and the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences at Duke University. She also holds appointments in the Departments of Neurobiology and Psychology & Neuroscience at Duke. Dr. Groh’s research has been supported by a variety of sources including the John S. Guggenheim Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Program, the McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience, the John Merck Scholars Program, the EJLB Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Whitehall Foundation, and the National Organization for Hearing Research....

Top reviews

TB

Sep 8, 2020

I like the details that this course provides about the functionality of the brain. Dr Groh definitely took her time to prepare this course, and she likes to go in depth detail about everything.

TZ

Aug 15, 2020

One of the best Neuroscience courses took in my life. The professor is very good at teaching and amazing personality and her research team is very great. Hope one day she would win Nobel Prize

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26 - 50 of 169 Reviews for The Brain and Space

By lucas b d a

Jan 28, 2021

This is exactly the type of learning I was looking for in order to better understand our brain and how it perceives location and language acquisition. The instructor has a passion for sharing her knowledge as well as comes up with many visual examples to facilitate the concepts. I highly recommend it!

By Nuwar H

Feb 7, 2021

The course is really interesting and enjoyable. I loved the examples from the daily life. Dr. Groth is really talented in explaining complex information. My favorite thing was the eye movement hat :) i recommend this course for everybody, even for people with no previous knowledge of neuroscience.

By Paul N J

Feb 14, 2021

A big thanks to this course, I acquired a vast knowledge on how the nervous system sense everything that there is to sense in the physical space, along with its processes and response. I found the course quite challenging but dedication is the key to both enjoy and finish all the given lessons.

By Enyu L

Jan 18, 2022

An informative and easy to follow course! After taking the course, I was able to understand how the sense of space is integrated in our sensory and motor systems. I also started to appreciate all the work my brain had to do so that I can exprience and navigate my way in the world.

By cuguilke

Apr 15, 2020

A very insightful class. Prof. Gruh has first hand experience (published papers) on the most topics.

A lot of experiments and their paper references are given to show how the neuroscience knowledge has accumulated.

Pretty good. Prettaaaay prettaaaay prettaaaay pretty good.

By Erik B

Jul 24, 2019

I enjoyed this class. It presents a nice simple high level overview of how the brain perceives space, which is what I was looking for. After taking this class you'll have a mental "framework" which you can fill in with more detail through additional self guided studying.

By Rahul M

Mar 4, 2018

I love courses where the instructor treats you like a smart learner instead of talking down to you, and takes you to the extent of work in the field instead of "making it easy". This course achieved its intended objective very well. Loved the course and the instructor.

By Simonov O

May 28, 2017

An excellent course that helps to better understand the complex functions of the brain. It covers some areas which were not discussed in the Medical Neuroscience Course by Duke University. Unfortunately, this course ended very quickly. I would like to learn more.

By Manvi J

Apr 5, 2020

This course was really fun with so many exciting elements like the Eyeballs Head Cap, interesting videos like that of VS Ramachandran, many studies were introduced, all that stuff made it really easy and pleasant. Such a teacher is a bliss. Cheers to Ms Groh!

By Karthik S K

Jul 25, 2016

No words to describe Dr.Groh's amazing lectures. A Must do session for those people, who are not only interested in neuroscience, but had the curiosity to wonder about our brains contemplating our world and also contemplating itself contemplating the world!

By Dr. V V I

Sep 3, 2020

Dear Dr. Jennifer M. Groh, Ph.D ,Its wonderful session .mid of the session i was feeling to leave afterwords I thought I should learn.Quiz questions were twisting .I made my mind to complete it.

Thank you for giving beautiful knowledge.Regards Dr.Vijay

By Zeel B G

Aug 5, 2019

This course helped me understand my brain better. And being a psychology student and learning cognitive psychology it gave me answers to many of my unsolved questions. Now whenever i look at something my brain automatically traces back to these videos.

By Lynn D B

Mar 1, 2021

I really enjoyed this learning experience. The instructor had a great way of presenting information, and went at a good pace that was comfortable for learning something completely new to me. Great use of visual aids and videos. Excellent course!

By Ryabikhina K

Jan 16, 2020

Course is well structured. The information is clear and lectures from next week logically add more completeness to the understanding of the topic. I liked that the course was short, it was easier for me to find the time. Thank you all!

By ADITI M S

Jul 5, 2020

A stunning introduction for anyone even remotely interested in neuroscience. The course is very enjoyable and keeps you engaged at all times. I often found myself looking forward to Dr. Groh's lectures in the middle of the week.

By Anand R U

May 4, 2020

This course was very special to me, as a kid I always wondered how we think (thoughts). I can definetly say that I got to know the toolkit that actually happens in the Brain. Loved and enjoyed every seeison by Professor J. Groh

By Ben R

Jun 16, 2022

This course was very informational and fun at the same time! I'm glad I took this course, I learned alot and I would like to thank Ms. Groh for taking the time out of her busy day or days to create this course! Happy studying!

By foo3

Sep 5, 2022

Inspirational teacher with a clear passion for the topic! Would definitely recommend this course to anyone interested in Neuroscience. My only wish was for the course to delve even deeper into many of the fascinating topics.

By saikat c

Aug 4, 2021

Had excellent experience in learning such a complex subject. The way Dr. Groh described various concepts are not only easy to understand but also, stimulating and thought provoking to form a base for further learning.

By Fisico R B

Jun 5, 2017

Magnifico curso, como Físico y estudiante de Psicología me ha servido mucho y espero que resuelva mis dudas, sobre como el cerebro representa al Espacio, Gracias a la Dra. Jennifer Goth y a la Universidad de Duke.

By Iliana P M V

Sep 21, 2020

me fascino todo lo que aprendi, muchisimas gracias a la profesora, a la universidad de Duke y a Coursera por permitirme aprender tanto. Definitivamente me descargare el libro para aprender mucho mas sobre el tema

By marc k

Jun 1, 2020

course was very well taught, numerous references for further study, engaging by someone who conveys the passion she has for the subject. also challenged you to think (separating your brain and thoughts)

By Tihi M B

Sep 8, 2020

I like the details that this course provides about the functionality of the brain. Dr Groh definitely took her time to prepare this course, and she likes to go in depth detail about everything.

By Rogerio d L e S

Aug 12, 2016

Great course! I recommend to all who yearn for differentiated superior knowledge, which will surely make a difference in your curriculum. Part of Pure Neurociencia. I recommend !!!

By Pradip M

Mar 19, 2021

A very detailed well presented course on a very difficult subject.

I struggled through many parts but persisted with the challenges.

Whew what a relief.