# From a brain question to an experiment

Follow the Human Brain course from its central questions through methods, experimental design and competing interpretations. The route preserves the relevant lecture order and adds a continuing task: refine one question into two discriminating experiments.

1. [Lecture 1: Introduction](https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/9-13-the-human-brain-spring-2019/resources/lecture-1-introduction/)
   Begin with the course’s aims so that the methods are attached to questions rather than learned as a list of technologies.
   Task: Write one question about cognition that you would like evidence to answer; distinguish it from a general topic such as “vision”.

2. [Lecture 4: Cognitive Neuroscience Methods I](https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/9-13-the-human-brain-spring-2019/resources/lecture-4-cognitive-neuroscience-methods-i/)
   Now compare the range of methods the course introduces for investigating those questions.
   Task: Make a four-column table: question, measured quantity, comparison and remaining uncertainty. Add two methods from the lecture.

3. [Lecture 5: Cognitive Neuroscience Methods II](https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/9-13-the-human-brain-spring-2019/resources/lecture-5-cognitive-neuroscience-methods-ii/)
   Complete the methods pair before choosing an approach for your own question.
   Task: Add another approach and describe what complementary observation it could provide. Avoid claiming that one method settles every part of the question.

4. [Lecture 6: Experimental Design](https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/9-13-the-human-brain-spring-2019/resources/lecture-6-experimental-design/)
   Move from recognising methods to constructing an experimental comparison, using the course’s face-recognition context and design brief.
   Task: Read the linked experimental-design assignment. Sketch two linked experiments: the second should challenge an explanation still compatible with the first.

5. [Lecture 7: Category Selectivity, Controversies, and MVPA](https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/9-13-the-human-brain-spring-2019/resources/lecture-7-category-selectivity-controversies-and-mvpa/)
   Use a domain with explicit competing interpretations to test whether your proposed comparisons could distinguish accounts.
   Task: For two possible accounts, state a different prediction. Identify which observation would leave the accounts unresolved.

6. [Lecture 21: Brain Networks](https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/9-13-the-human-brain-spring-2019/resources/lecture-21-brain-networks/)
   Finish by extending the question from local organisation to relationships between regions.
   Task: Rewrite one network claim to specify the evidence it would need. Identify an anatomical, statistical or task-related ambiguity you would investigate next.

Original route: Evidence Press, CC BY 4.0. Linked teaching material retains its own rights. No videos or YouTube API payloads are included.