PSYC 4540 — Quantitative Topics in Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience
4 semester hoursUndergraduateLectureusually offered: springtypical days: M/ThBostonTraditional
Surveys key quantitative topics in psychology and behavioral neuroscience. Emphasizes theory and modeling, not statistics. Specific topics vary, but all are drawn from domains in which mathematics and computation play a significant role. Topics may include Fourier analysis with applications to vision and hearing, neural circuit computation, signal detection theory applied to human and nonhuman animals' decisions, measurement of sensory magnitudes in vision and hearing, the linear algebraic theory of color matching in humans, and analysis and models of human response time. Students complete weekly readings and a final project, typically involving use of software for data analysis.
Prerequisites
- all of:
Offering history
| Term | Sections | Enrolled | Capacity | Full | Open seats/section |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring 2024 | 1 | 19 | 38 | 50% | 19.0 |
| Spring 2025 | 1 | 48 | 48 | 100% | 0.0 |
| Summer A 2025 | 1 | 12 | 15 | 80% | 3.0 |
| Fall 2025 | 1 | 20 | 45 | 44% | 25.0 |
| Spring 2026 | 1 | 20 | 48 | 42% | 28.0 |
Snapshots from scheduled scrapes — not live seat availability. "Full" can exceed 100% when sections over-enroll.
Meeting times
Share of recent sections by weekday: M 67% · T 0% · W 10% · Th 57% · F 33%
Common patterns: MR (57% of sections), F (33% of sections), MW (10% of sections) — in patterns, R means Thursday
Professors
Fall
- David Richters (100% of students) · reviews
Spring
- David Richters (78% of students) · reviews
- Rhea Eskew (22% of students) · reviews
Summer A
- David Richters (100% of students) · reviews
Percentages are each professor's average share of the season's enrolled students in recent terms.
Links
Official catalog (PSYC course descriptions) · Student reviews on RateMyHusky · All PSYC courses · Plan it at numap.app