PSYC 380 Physiological Psychology Sample Papers, Week by Week

Liberty University · BS in Psychology · Psychology, counseling and social work · Updated

PSYC 380 reads Carlson's Foundations of Behavioral Neuroscience. These samples recount the brain's cells and retire the ten-to-one glia ratio, ask what a bright patch on a functional MRI scan can prove when most studies are underpowered, follow prairie and meadow voles into the neurobiology of pair bonds and close with a research paper on what the sleeping brain does with the day's learning, from hippocampal replay to dendritic spines and waste clearance.

CoursePSYC 380 Physiological Psychology (PSYC380)
Credit hours3
ProgramBS in Psychology
Length8 Module/Weeks, online
Weeks with written work4 of 8
Samples on this site4 week sample papers
SourcesLiberty's 2026-2027 catalog and the published PSYC 380 course guide
UpdatedOctober 2026

What PSYC 380 covers

Forums fall in Modules/Weeks 1, 3, 5 and 7; each opens with a thread past 250 words resting on at least two APA citations and continues with answers of 100 words or more on two classmates' threads.

The Research Paper is split across the term: first its title page, abstract and reference list in Module/Week 3, then the finished 8 to 10 page paper through SafeAssign in Module/Week 7, built on five or more recent journal articles from the Liberty University Online Library. Exams fall in the even-numbered weeks, so the written work and the tests rarely collide, and the four forums give a place to try out sources before the paper relies on them.

Liberty's 2026-2027 catalog describes PSYC 380 Physiological Psychology this way:
Students will learn the molecular components of cellular communication within and between neurons. Topics of study will include the neural mechanisms responsible for development, plasticity, cognition, learning and memory, sleep, emotion, and psychoactive drugs.

PSYC 380 week by week, with the sample for each

WeekWritten work in the course guidePointsSample
Week 1DB Forum 1 (Course Requirements Checklist and Class Introductions also due)50Read the Week 1 sample
Week 2Exam 1 onlyNo written paper this week
Week 3DB Forum 2 (Research Paper: Title Page, Abstract, and References also due)50Read the Week 3 sample
Week 4Exam 2 onlyNo written paper this week
Week 5DB Forum 350Read the Week 5 sample
Week 6Exam 3 onlyNo written paper this week
Week 7Research Paper (DB Forum 4 also due)250Read the Week 7 sample
Week 8Exam 4 onlyNo written paper this week

Where PSYC 380 papers lose points

PSYC 380 work loses points when a forum thread rests on one source, when popular brain numbers are repeated without their method, when a scan is treated as proof of a mental state, when findings in rodents are written as facts about people, and when the research paper lists outcomes without explaining the physiology behind them.

Using a PSYC 380 sample well

The samples cite Carlson, Herculano-Houzel, Allen and Barres, Logothetis, Button and colleagues, Young and Wang, Lim and colleagues, Walum and colleagues, Diekelmann and Born, Rasch and Born, Tononi and Cirelli, Yang and colleagues, Yoo and colleagues, Krause and colleagues and Xie and colleagues.

PSYC 380 questions, answered

What textbook does PSYC 380 use?

Neil Carlson's Foundations of Behavioral Neuroscience, read from the cells of the nervous system through sleep, learning, communication and neurological and mental disorders.

How are PSYC 380 exams set up?

Four open-book, open-note exams of 40 multiple-choice questions with 90 minutes each, which may be taken up to three times with the highest score kept.

Do PSYC 380 forums need Bible citations?

No; the PSYC 380 forum standard asks for two APA citations in each thread, normally Carlson and a journal article, with no Scripture requirement.

Ask for a custom PSYC 380 sample

Send the Module/Week, the instructions and the rubric from your Canvas course, and a writer in your field drafts a sample to them in 24 to 48 hours. The first custom sample is free.

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