Introduction to Social and Affective Neuroscience

This course offers an in-depth exploration of social and affective neuroscience, enriched by visits to Parisian neuroscience labs and historical sites, where students will delve into the brain's role in emotion, motivation, and social cognition, while experiencing Paris’s unique contributions to the field.

• Program Dates: June 3-23, 2025

• Program Location: Rice Global Paris Center | Paris, France

• Who Can Apply? Any Rice Undergraduate - no prerequisites required. This class is designed to appeal to anyone who is interested to learn more about social, cognitive, and/or affective neuroscience along with a desire to think about these topics embedded within the Paris context. Note for graduating seniors! You are welcome to apply to this course; however, Rice summer aid (i.e. Rice financial aid) is not available to seniors who have obtained enough credits to graduate by the end of the spring semester. Additionally, you will have to postpone your graduation date to the summer in order to participate. You are, however, still eligible to apply for both RICE GLOBAL tuition and travel awards included in the course application.

• Tuition Cost: $1,800 per credit hour (this course is 3 credit hours).

• What's Covered: The program will provide housing for all three weeks, metro card for all three weeks, course-set excursions/tickets, three group meals, and travel insurance.

• Financial Aid: If you already receive financial aid, you are eligible to receive financial aid for up to 9 credit hours a summer for two summer, at 50% of the tuition rate, i.e. if a Paris course is three credit hours and $5,400 total tuition, eligible students would pay $2,700. Rice summer aid (i.e. Rice financial aid) is not available to seniors who have obtained enough credits to graduate by the end of the spring semester.

  After submitting your application, our office is in direct contact with the financial aid office who will let us know if you are financial aid eligible for the summer. If you are accepted, you will immediately know how much financial aid you have available in your acceptance letter.

  To find out if you are eligible before acceptance to a course, contact: fina@rice.edu. To learn more about summer financial aid requirements, please visit: https://financialaid.rice.edu/summer-students.

• Additional Assistance from Rice Global: Students can also apply to receive additional assistance (for both tuition and travel) from Rice Global. Application for assistance is included in the course application.

• Credit Hours: 3 credit hours

• Course Instructor: Dr. Bryan Denny

• Course Description: Some of the most historically important psychology, psychiatry, and neuroscience research has been done in Paris, including by neuroscientists like Jean Talairach, who developed, with Pierre Tournoux, one of the leading stereotaxic atlases of the human brain. The goal of this course, which fulfills a Distribution Group II requirement, is to provide an overview of social and affective neuroscience research, including examination of the neurobiological mechanisms supporting social cognition; inter-personal processes; emotion and motivation; and emotion regulation. These topics will be examined in both healthy and affectively-disordered populations, with links made to the fields of health psychology and clinical neuroscience. The Paris setting will be integrated into the course in several ways. Students will have the opportunity to visit a cognitive neuroscience laboratory at the Sorbonne, one of Europe's oldest and most celebrated universities, located in the heart of Paris just across the Seine and a short walking distance away from the Rice Global Paris campus. Students will be able to meet lab members, ask questions, and see contemporary neuroscience research being done in Paris first-hand. Students will also tour the Museum of the History of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, located on the site of the Sainte-Anne Hospital Center, where Jean Talairach conducted research and treated patients for decades. In addition, in class we will talk about the neuroscience of music experience and the neuroscience of music-based interventions. To supplement these in class discussions, we will enjoy a jazz night in Paris, building on Paris’ rich jazz culture.

• Who is this class for? This class is designed to appeal to anyone who is interested to learn more about social, cognitive, and/or affective neuroscience along with a desire to think about these topics embedded within the Paris context. This course is open to any Rice undergraduate (no prerequisites required).

• Course Zoom Information Session: Take a look at the Information Session recording to learn more.

• Syllabus: Take a look at a previous syllabus for the course - subject to change with Paris specific content.

• Does this course fulfill a distribution and/or Analyzing diversity requirement? This course satisfies the Distribution Group II requirement for undergraduate students.

For questions, please visit our student program page or email pariscenter@rice.edu. The application deadline is January 31, 2025.