I'm tossing in my 10p as some of the responses here seem a bit discouraging.


I come from a non-biology background (Electrical Engineering), now working with a neuroscience group (still as an EE PhD student). I work on designing sensory substitution devices. So as a disclaimer, most of my research is more on the behavioral/cognitive-science end of things and is not molecular. That said, neuroscience is a huge and somewhat poorly-defined field: molecular isn't everything.


I don't agree with what some folks are saying about needing a ton of cell and molecular background. I think it depends on the work you'd want to do. If you want to get into molecular neuro (working with knock-outs / optogenetics /...), then sure, you need a strong background in the stuff. Not all neuro is molecular. If you want to get into functional or behavioral stuff (e.g. stuff involving perception/psychophysics, fMRI studies, etc.) you can get by with a minimal background on the cellular-level stuff.


Some background is certainly important to be aware of: some degree of neuroanatomy and the basic circuits / types of neurotransmitters / etc - stuff you can pick up on in a fundamental neurosci text. I've read through and understood both Principles of Neuroscience (K&S) and Fundamental Neuroscience (Squire) JUST fine with nearly zero biology/chemistry background. The last chemistry course I had taken was Freshman year undergrad (~8 years before picking up those books). The last biology course I had taken was a summer course between the 8th and 9th grades.


If you're planning on a neurosci grad program, I think you can pick up on most everything in the course requirements (depending on the program), anyways.

Neuroscience requires a strong background in cell and molecular biology. A degree in psychology will not give you that. I suggest you switch to something more science-intensive if you want to be competitive.

I'm interested in this a bit too. I come from CS and wanted to know some basics to get into the AI and Neural Network area. Principles of Neural Science by Kandel and Schwarz gives you a good start. (Book is expensive, rumors say, there are pdf, ahem, somwhere...)

**"the brain that changes itself"** by norman doidge, for sure. great read.

I'm a Psychology major who wishes she had majored in Neuroscience. If you're interested in substance abuse (which I am as well) I would suggest reading research articles on the mesolimbic dopamine pathway (it's the pathway that's active during pleasurable activities, like when you use drugs or have sex). Reading books is great, but research articles allow you to specify what exactly you want to read about and will give you a lot more details about what parts of the brain are active during substance consumption, and which brain areas are affected by it long term. I like PsychInfo and PubMed best. Let me know if you have questions!

[deleted]

To prepare for Neuroscience you're going to want more than just a background in cell and molecular biology. Ideally you're going to want to take at least one semester of Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Statistics (though that's probably already a requirement for your psych degree anyways). I can give you the list of requirements for the neuro degree I'm working on now if you want.

You might also be more interested in cognitive neuroscience. A more systems approach at understanding higher cognitive processes through the lens of the physical processes at work and their interplay.

If you can manage through a semester of Neurobiology, which heavily focuses on the cell biology and chemistry of neurons, synaptic transmission, dendrite function, plasticity, etc... then Neuroscience is for you.

Here is the link to wiki for the Neurobio course I took. I think you can access it, if not feel free to message me for a way in.

If you wish to shift gears and get a masters in neuroscience, you will be limited to research careers. Because you are already in psychology you might be interested in clinical psycho-neurology. You could work in a hospital, diagnosing patients with brain injuries and developmental disabilities. I must warn you that this field is crazy competitive and takes a long time to complete. You will have to have top grades and GRE scores to get into a clinical program. After the (5 year including a year of clinical work in a hospital) clinical program you would have to do post doc in neuroscience to be called a "clinical psycho-neurologist." The book you are describing is more cognitive science than neuroscience. Cognitive science places a stronger emphasis on behavior and is very similar to psychology. A background in cognitive science alone will not prepare you for work in neuroscience. If you are seriously interested in neuroscience you should consider taking a neurobiology class. I would look at some neuroscience graduate programs that admit students without neuroscience undergraduate degrees. Most of them do but they require you to have taken some classes. I would take those "leveling" classes and see how you feel about it.

I really Brains: How They Seem To Work by Dale Purves. It gives a semi-autobiographical story of someone who worked at some of the first neuroscience labs in the world. You get a good picture of both the history and science behind the first ~50 years in the field.

http://www.amazon.com/Brains-They-Seem-Press-Science/dp/0137055099/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1337430981&sr=1-1