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

4.7
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633 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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1 - 25 of 169 Reviews for The Brain and Space

By kiruthicka s

Aug 12, 2016

Taught for beginners in a simple and concise way! I especially liked the real life examples given to help students understand the concepts being explained - made it a lot more engaging!

By Jeff B

Jun 8, 2016

This is an excellent MOOC. I am a PhD candidate studying human intelligence and spatial cognition specifically associated with problem solving. The content is very well structured and clearly communicated through the lectures. Having been briefly introduced to some of the concepts in my own studies prior to this course I am finding the difficulty level to be quite nice (challenging yet very manageable). The inclusion of various experiments throughout the course is a good idea as it makes it all very interesting.

By Grace M O

Feb 20, 2021

I found this course to be interesting and informative. Dr Groh does a great job in making the content relatable and easy to understand even without a background in the brain.

By Aedrian A

Jan 31, 2021

This is an interesting and excellent course on how our nervous system (not just our brain) makes sense of, processes and responds to the external physical space. There is a great and gradual mix of easy, moderate and challenging topics which can cement key concepts (especially those that you can observe or replicate on your own) quite well. For people in or aiming to be in the (allied) medical professions, a lot of the material here can serve as a review in basic neuroanatomy, neurophysiology and/or neuropathology.

A double-edged sword in this offering is the inclusion and description of landmark studies behind the discussed concepts. There is no doubt that by mentioning these studies, the collaborative and building-up nature of (neuro)science is emphasized adequately - that everything in academic textbooks and in this course did not appear in scientists' minds out of thin air. The downside, on the other hand, is that it sometimes left me wondering the proportion of these findings that are definitive or tentative. Considering the issue of replication that hounds all of empirical science research, it would be nice, I think, that future revisions of this course will incorporate statements or discussions on these matters (i.e, whether the findings are robust, or can be explained by other factors/forces beyond chance).

While I would argue that a baseline grasp of neurobiology is needed to maximize understanding of the content (especially when it comes to nuanced details which are often tackled in the quizzes), I will still highly recommend this course to everyone deeply beguiled by the topic (and can commit their attention beyond casual learning). Perhaps, those who have access the Dr. Groh's book serving as the main reference for this course might find their learning experience enhanced.

By Thet T Z

Aug 16, 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

By Brian M

May 23, 2022

Excellent overview.

its a pity I would have had to upgrade to submit the assigments, as I don't want to purchase the certificate.

it' encouraged me, however, to enrol on another course.

By Rodrigo F G

Jun 17, 2017

Great course !!! The information provided within the course was complete and easy to understand without oversimplifying the topics along with applicable to daily use concepts and work.

By Lavanith T

Aug 23, 2020

One of the excellent course I've taken ob coursera. Dr. Jennifer's explanation helped me to get a whole new level of view in understanding brain and its activities in space.

By Naokichi D

Jan 3, 2018

Brilliant! I'm taking this while reading Steven Pinker's 'How The Mind Works' and all the overlap makes the learning experience even more fun.

By Robert T

Mar 15, 2017

Loved it. I took another class from Duke related to visual perception and was equally satisfied with the detail, and pace, of the course.

By Deleted A

Mar 30, 2021

Terrible too much information before a quiz and lack of clarity to make assumptions. TERRRIBLE course. HOW do I unenroll!

By Devanshu R

Jun 15, 2023

Fantastic instructor. Her ability to clearly communicate dense technical jargon is beyond commendable. She succeeded in making me feel her enthusiasm and fascination with the subject. While I do think the course could use a couple more lectures, or at least some of the lectures dealing with more complex topics could be longer, I still think as is, the course is well worth taking. Kudos to Dr. Groh and "The Brain and Space" team, your love and effort truly shine through.

By Ernesto

Oct 15, 2022

He disfrutado enormemente el reto de completar el curso. Por dos motivos prinipales. Mi dominio del idioma inglés es aún, digamos deficiente, así que el absorber conocimientos en otro idioma con el reto y la satisfacción de haber conluido es muy gratificante. En segundo lugar comparto la curiosidad con la Profesora Groh respecto a conocer el cerebro y la mente, ella ha hecho un estupendo trabajo llevándonos en este proceso, gracias por el sombrero, jeje.

By Parul M

Jan 25, 2020

This is pretty fun and interesting course! The video lectures are full of very interesting information and if you are interested in learning how the brain works, I am sure you'll be hooked on to it. The exercises sometimes need you to remember concepts, particularly names and I am not a big fan of that. I feel the exercises can be made more interesting and engaging. Dr. Groh regularly links to books and papers to explore more if you want to!

By Lee S

Jan 28, 2021

Jennifer's teaching style is refreshingly direct and well illustrated. I learned a lot and confirmed my understanding of many things.

The course also resonates with a cognitive system development platform I have developed, called NeurOS. See www.cognitivity.technology for an overview. As a result of this course, I plan to build some "neural circuits" using this platform that reflect the many neural processes illustrated in this course.

By Lynn S

Jan 16, 2021

Dr Groh was so inspiring, passionate, clear and precise. She exhibited complete mastery of teaching the course, it was like watching an artist unraveling their craft, no wonder so many artistic pieces were used as examples in the lectures! I enjoyed this very rich and interesting course as a psychomotor therapist and a neurosciences lover, it will definitely help me in my career. The course was so enjoyable that I was sad it ended.

By D.

Apr 7, 2017

Really a well thought out course and expertly delivered! I've never had such well explained lectures, using simple terms to explain complex subjects. Our professor is a master at education as well as her subject expertise. This is a great course, a little kooky at times, but just the right amount of kooky to make it more interesting and fun. Thanks for the obvious hard work in producing the course and time expended making it!

By Dimitrios S

Sep 27, 2017

I would put this course on the list of my top 5 courses taken in Coursera. Great teacher and great videos with the learning material. I would recommend this course to anyone interested in getting a first insight of the inner workings of the brain in terms of vision and the space perception. Thank you Dr. Jennifer M. Groh and thanks to the Duke University staff for the amazing neuroscience courses they are providing!

By Ken W

Nov 24, 2019

Very well presented. Dr Groh is passionate in this space and easy to listen to and lean from. I work a lot with patients who have movement disorders and with other brain lesions, so this course has been very helpful for us in justifying our novel approaches to improving functionality. I have also been concerned of the effects of chronic use of IPods/Headphones on sensory integration of non auditory informations

By Alan M

Mar 26, 2017

Fascinating insights on how one's brain orients itself in space via the senses. The lectures are loaded with useful examples, relevant research, and helpful visual aids. The class stirred in me more of an appreciation for the interrelatedness of each of the senses with each other and with memory. Dr. Groh sheds light on several of the brain's strategies for efficiently intrpreting of a complex environment.

By Katie B

Jul 19, 2022

Dr. Groh is one of the most brillant and most passionate instructors I have come across. I found her to be an excellent educator for this course. If you want to understand more about vision, sight, touch, and how the brain uses these senses to help us navigate the world, I highly recommend this class. Dr. Groh goes above and beyond to make each lesson comprehensible, and at times, even entertaining.

By evren y

Feb 20, 2021

This course was a good start for beginners in neuroscience and spatial cognition at a finer scale.I expanded my knowledge on how we see, hear, and think spatially from high school level to one step further. I appreciate Dr. Groh's effort to make the classes enjoyable. She provided many interesting papers to review on our own and the lectures were usually interesting and fun to watch.

By Daviid K

Jul 19, 2016

Awesome course. Dr Jennifer Groh uses a wonderful methodology along the modules overlaying clear language, really funny moments, examples in drawings, laboratory and exterior experiments all of them helping to reveal for us the fascinating theme of Brain and Space. Thank you very much for this opportunity.

By Daumal A

Nov 26, 2021

Very interesting, I loved it ! Some concepts might be challenging but it is very well explained with lots of examples and concrete experiments for students to understand well. I will never hear popcorn the same way though ^^ By the way, I'm not a native english speaker but this course is still accessible !

By Noemie P

Aug 13, 2020

Great course. I loved Dr Groh and how simple she made it all feel (believe me, I followed an introduction to neuroscience class at university, and I understood things during this course that I had had difficulties with). I recommend this course to anyone who wishes to know more about how we perceive space!