Follow-up course to Introduction to the Brain. The goal of the course is to understand the pharmacological and
psychological bases of drug actions, and to explore how they relate to the use and abuse of therapeutic and
recreational drugs. The course material will provide you with a sound background in basic neuropharmacology,
pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and drug classification schemes, along with an understanding of the
cultural history of drug use and abuse, and how drug actions depend on the make up of the individual. This
information will give you an edge in understanding and predicting drug actions, understanding why people
sometimes do not comply with drug therapies, and a knowledge of how drug effects can differ based on genetics,
expectation, experience, learning, and other individual factors. You will also be exposed to the political debates that
continue to rage worldwide about the use and abuse of recreational drugs. Accordingly, like my other courses, this
one will be reasonably time-consuming. Much will be required of you in terms of reading and integrating ideas,
concepts, and raw facts. But everyone finds information about drugs interesting and important, and most find some
aspects that are directly applicable to their personal and/or professional lives. Course materials, including the
syllabus, readings, and the Powerpoint slides that I use in class, are posted on the course Moodle website and can
be downloaded. You should take an active approach to studying in this course, and I urge you to form study groups
early with other students in the class. As is the case for any researcher reading the scientific literature, you must
work to extract the essential material, integrating text, illustrations, and class lectures. Try to read the articles in a
timely manner.
The lectures will provide you with an overview of the material and will be a forum for discussion. They are
prepared on the assumption that you have already read the assignments and have made a serious effort to
understand them. It is important that you do not fall behind in the readings. "Cramming" before the exams will only
drive you crazy and will not help you to understand the information. To do well on my exams you must understand
the information, not merely regurgitate it. I will do my best to help you understand what you have read and will be
available for office hours by appointment. There will be an in-class midterm and a final exam. The midterm is worth
1/3 and the final is worth 2/3. Exams will consist of multiple-choice, true-false, and short essays, along with a
bonus question that I will let you know about before the exams.
Poslední úprava: Horáčková Karolína, Bc. (08.01.2026)
Follow-up course to Introduction to the Brain. The goal of the course is to understand the pharmacological and
psychological bases of drug actions, and to explore how they relate to the use and abuse of therapeutic and
recreational drugs. The course material will provide you with a sound background in basic neuropharmacology,
pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and drug classification schemes, along with an understanding of the
cultural history of drug use and abuse, and how drug actions depend on the make up of the individual. This
information will give you an edge in understanding and predicting drug actions, understanding why people
sometimes do not comply with drug therapies, and a knowledge of how drug effects can differ based on genetics,
expectation, experience, learning, and other individual factors. You will also be exposed to the political debates that
continue to rage worldwide about the use and abuse of recreational drugs. Accordingly, like my other courses, this
one will be reasonably time-consuming. Much will be required of you in terms of reading and integrating ideas,
concepts, and raw facts. But everyone finds information about drugs interesting and important, and most find some
aspects that are directly applicable to their personal and/or professional lives. Course materials, including the
syllabus, readings, and the Powerpoint slides that I use in class, are posted on the course Moodle website and can
be downloaded. You should take an active approach to studying in this course, and I urge you to form study groups
early with other students in the class. As is the case for any researcher reading the scientific literature, you must
work to extract the essential material, integrating text, illustrations, and class lectures. Try to read the articles in a
timely manner.
The lectures will provide you with an overview of the material and will be a forum for discussion. They are
prepared on the assumption that you have already read the assignments and have made a serious effort to
understand them. It is important that you do not fall behind in the readings. "Cramming" before the exams will only
drive you crazy and will not help you to understand the information. To do well on my exams you must understand
the information, not merely regurgitate it. I will do my best to help you understand what you have read and will be
available for office hours by appointment. There will be an in-class midterm and a final exam. The midterm is worth
1/3 and the final is worth 2/3. Exams will consist of multiple-choice, true-false, and short essays, along with a
bonus question that I will let you know about before the exams.
Poslední úprava: Horáčková Karolína, Bc. (08.01.2026)
