Neuroscience '06 at RWJMS

Course Director, Richard S. Nowakowski, Ph.D. (e-mail: neuro@umdnj.edu)
Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology

Optional Non-reading Assignments

Neuroscience and human behavior have been the subject of numerous Hollywood productions. Go rent a few CD's, call some friends, make some popcorn, and study for your Neuroscience course at the same time! The following suggestions are actually Neuroscience related and, hence, guilt-free entertainment values. Any suggestions for additions are welcome. I'll also post reviews/comments from students if anybody submits them. One website that has a comprehensive list of psychology related films is: http://home.epix.net/~tcannon1/psychopathmovies/all.html. I've selected some from here and added some others. ENJOY!

Film Neuroscience-related topic Relevance to our Course
Awakenings L-DOPA and a parkinson-like syndrome caused by a pan-encephalitis epidemic in 1917; fact based film. (Robin Williams as an Oliver Sacks like neurologist.) Second Block Material
Alice's Restaurant This one's a reach, but there's a scene with Woody Guthrie who is dying of Huntington's Chorea. Think about Arlo and the genetics of HD.
Dominick and Eugene Brain Damage -- Two brothers, one is a medical student
My Left Foot Cerebral Palsy
Regarding Henry Brain Injury
Murderball A film about quadriplegics who play full-contact rugby in Mad Max-style wheelchairs - overcoming unimaginable obstacles to compete in the Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece. It is excellent, and highly recommended to anyone interested in the human impact of spinal cord injury (or any other debilitating injury for that matter). The film includes clear explanations of the injuries, symptoms, classification of deficits, and most impressively rehabilitation strategies.
A Beautiful Mind Schizophrenia Third Block Material
Autism is a World About a women with autsim/no language, and an IQ of 130 who was essentially unable to communicate until she was given a typewriter (computer) and learned the alphabet, and then goes to college Documentary, was nominated for Academy Award last year. This is a CNN documentary; you can buy it at amazon.com. If anyone finds a place to rent it, please let me know.
50 First Dates Memory and loss of the abilty to consolidate. One character, the man with the 7 second memory, is based on a real patient, Clive Waring -- see http://www.learner.org/resources/series150.html?pop=yes&vodid=268267&pid=161 for 2 videos about this patient
Hilary and Jackie Student Review: On Monday, Dr. Casaccia-Bonnefil mentioned the famous Jacqueline DuPres, the cellist, who had MS. There was a good movie out a few years ago "Hilary and Jackie" that told her story, and it was Oscar nominated for best actress, movie, etc. (It was a bit overshadowed by Gwyneth Paltrow and Shakespeare in Love out that same year, though.) Ms. DuPres was Yo Yo Ma's predecessor, really the premier cellist of her time, and once she got the disease it progressed pretty quickly. Dr. C-B mentioned her tragic scene (also in the movie), where she just stopped playing, dropped her bow to the ground, and the whole orchestra could do nothing but just sadly leave the stage.
Igby Goes Down It's about a boy whose father is schizophrenic. The boy "tries on" the disease, expecting to get it. Genetics comes into play. Student Review: The part that I think is relevant to Neuroscience concerns the father (played by Bill Pullman) who goes through a psychotic break in the bathroom while little Igby is brushing his teeth. Later, as a teenager, Igby tries his father's illness on for size to see if crazy is something that works out for him He figures that since his father had the disease, he will surely be afflicted with it sooner or later, so why not just embrace it early? Anyway, the movie is really good.
Memento Another file about memory; loosely based on the famous patient H.M.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Fictional treatment of memory and limbic system. One student reports: "it's about memory and you see PET scans and stuff in the movie"
Lorenzo's Oil This is the true story of Lorenzo Odone, a young born with adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), and his family’s relentless drive to help find a cure. The pursuit takes them through beginning to understand the disease and its progressive demyelination, and finally towards a therapy based on erucic acid (now known as Lorenzo’s Oil). There is actually a clinical trial currently underway studying the effects of this oil at Kennedy Krieger Institute at Johns Hopkins under Dr. Hugo Moser. The family started a foundation, The Myelin Project (http://www.myelin.org/themovie.htm). This website has information about the film and the disease.
Rain Man Autism with savant abilities. (Dustin Hoffman as an autistic adult.)
Mercury Rising Autism with savant abilities in a child
Pi Possible Aspberger's syndrome -- an autism spectrum disorder -- frequently associated with high math abilites
One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest I don't quite know how to summarize this one! Schizophrenia, perhaps?

Worksheets for helping you "appreciate" these films have been produced; one of these is a general worksheet for brain injury and will be useful for all of these films; its general thrust will be familiar to you from Dr. DiCicco-Bloom clinical presentations. The other is based on the DSM-IV criteria for Schizophrenia and will be most useful for "A Beautiful Mind".