How does the mind work? How can we explain animal and human behavior? What is different when someone is not neurotypical? Neuroscience is the modern attempt to answer these and other questions through the study of the brain.
The neuroscience major is highly interdisciplinary, with students taking courses in biology, chemistry, psychology, mathematics, physics and more.
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In the Neuroscience Seminars & Comprehensives, students and faculty discuss current research and guest neuroscientists lecture on their work.
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Our majors perform lab research at Amherst and around the country. Seniors have the option to complete an honors research project.
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Amherst was the first institution to offer an undergraduate major in neuroscience.
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Our majors take great advantage of neuroscience research opportunities around the country and internationally.
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Amherst neuroscience majors conduct research at the National Institutes of Health, teach high school in Boston, practice medicine around the country and work in business.
Learn MoreWhy can some people be casual gamblers while others are hooked into a spiral of addiction after just one betting experience? This course will explore the brain mechanisms underlying motivated behaviors and the dysfunctions that can lead to addictive and compulsive behaviors.
This course will examine how brain function regulates a broad range of mental processes and behaviors, including how neurons work and how the brain obtains information about the environment.
This laboratory and lecture course will focus on advanced quantitative fluorescence microscopy techniques used for imaging a range of biological model systems and functions ranging from single molecules to cells to tissues.
Prof. Josef Trapani receives close to $440k from the National Institutes of Health to continue his good work—and that of the undergraduate students he mentors—in understanding auditory systems.
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