Hacking Your Brain 101

Discovery Core Experience: NW Courses

B CORE 115 (NW)

60-Second Syllabus: Hacking Your Brain 101

About This Course:

This class introduces students to neuro-engineering, focusing on techniques that can improve brain function.

What Will We Be Doing?

I interweave material on neuroanatomy and associated function with material on non-engineering ways of altering brain function, such as psychotherapy, medicine, education, sleep, art, meditation, etcetera–all readily accessible methods of altering one’s own brain function. I then discuss pharamcological means of altering brain function. I then move into basic engineering principles and associated devices also capable of altering brain function. After sufficient exposure to the brain and means of changing how it works, we will discuss the ethics of doing so and the individual and societal advantages and disadvantages of doing so

How Will We Be Assessed?

The final group project brings all this material together: identify a desired brain-hacking result, justify that choice ethically, then define the neuroanatomical targets and the best means of hacking that part of brain in order to achieve the desired brain hacking result.

Professor Pierre Mourad, PhD (He/Him/His)

About Professor Mourad:

  • Division of Engineering and Mathematics
  • Department of Neurological Surgery
  • Department of Bioengineering (Adjunct)
  • Applied Physics Laboratory (Affiliate)
  • University of Washington

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