One demonstration of this interdisciplinarity was a working group addressing memory distortion consisting of academics from such varied areas as neurobiology, economics and religion.

Professor of Psychology Daniel L. Schacter, who leads the group, writes in an e-mail message, "MBB has been one of the most stimulating and worthwhile experiences I've ever had in a university." Schacter's group, which is now studying memory and imagination, organized a conference on memory distortions last year. An edited compilation of material from the conference is due for release in November. "This will be the first in what everyone hopes will be a series of MBB-generated books on a variety of topics," says Schacter.

Other working groups have addressed issues such as addiction, inter-group violence, and pain and suffering. Professor of Psychology Stephen M. Kosslyn, co-chair of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Standing Committee on Neuroscience, says of the initiative, "It's a real case of trying to make the whole more than the sum of its parts."

Kosslyn, who studies visual imagery, says MBB gives the "lone stars" of Harvard's faculty the chance to explore areas outside their respective specialties.

Not only is MBB broadening faculty interests, it is also generating new undergraduate courses. This fall, Porter Professor of Philosophy Robert Nozick is teaching a new course called Philosophy 151z, "Philosophy and Neuroscience."

"I wanted to give a course that didn't just start with pre-existing philosophical questions, but read a lot of neuroscience to see what new philosophical questions would arise," Nozick says.

And this spring, Starch Professor of Psychology Jerome Kagan will team up with Professor of Education Kurt W. Fischer and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Medical School Francine M. Benes to teach Psychology 1202, "Behavioral and Brain Development."

Kagan says the professors have already written scripts for two films made especially for the course: one on psychopathology and the brain and another on magnetic resonance imaging.

The four new MBB undergraduate tracks, however, are the result of the combined efforts of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Standing Committee on Neuroscience (which initially existed independently of MBB) and the MBB Curriculum Committee. According to Kosslyn, the Standing Committee, which Kosslyn co-chairs with Cabot Professor of the Natural Sciences John E. Dowling, grew out of the faculty's desire to advance development of the neurosciences at Harvard, particularly in the psychology and biology departments.

Track Versus Concentration?

While committees initially considered forming an independent MBB concentration rather than tracks within departments, members worried that such a concentration would not equip students with sufficient depth in a particular area. "Neuroscience is such a broad area that a concentration would consist of a little bit of this and a little bit of that, and people taking it wouldn't have the background to go on to graduate schools or even medical school," Dowling says.

Hyman also points out that faculty felt that establishing a separate MBB concentration was "premature." According to Hyman, the faculty would first like to get a better gauge of student interest, raise funds for infrastructure, and further deal with difficulties that stem from interdisciplinary thinking and research.

Yet some students, while acknowledging that the MBB tracks are still in the formative stages, don't think the tracks go far enough. According to Josh H. McDermott '98, a computer science concentrator who has decided not to join the track, "I just think it would be good to have a separate concentration, where you wouldn't have to commit to any one of these concentrations." McDermott, who is now trying to establish a special concentration in cognitive science, explains that he wants to study cognitive neuroscience and computer science more equally than MBB allows. McDermott bemoans requirements such as hardware and graphics courses, which he feels are unrelated to his interests in cognitive science.

According to McDermott, "The main thing MBB accomplishes is that you get this cute little certificate that says you know neuroscience."

Some of these feelings are shared by Laurie R. Santos '97, a psychology concentrator who unlike McDermott, is joining an MBB track. "You do this whole program and all you get is a certificate--it's like, what is that?" says Santos. Santos says she would like to see a neuroscience concentration eventually develop, but for the time being, is looking forward to becoming part of the cognitive neuroscience track.