Neural Basis of Communication

Explores the neural basis of communicative behaviors, covering anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology of the nervous system in relation to normal and disordered communication.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Michelle Ciucci3.6/5

Summary

1 / 3

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.49 GPA, 77.6% A/AB (n=183 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.46 GPA, 74.6% A/AB (n=173 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.56 GPA, 78.5% A/AB (n=191 letter grades).

What you’ll be able to do

  • Identify and describe neuroanatomical structures and neurophysiological processes, including neuron structure, neural signaling, and cerebrovascular systems.

  • Describe major brain structures and functions, and explain how damage or dysfunction can lead to different communication impairments.

  • Explain and differentiate neural systems and their impairments, including the sensorimotor, auditory, visual, and limbic systems.

  • Explain and differentiate neural systems and their impairments, including the speech, voice, swallowing, language, and higher-order function systems.

  • Apply principles of neuroplasticity to explain brain adaptation and rehabilitation processes.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Sophomore standing

  • Sophomore standing
CS&D 210 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Sophomore standing

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.48/5 from 31 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2015: 3.55 GPA, 74.2% A/AB (n=93 letter grades); Spring 2016: 3.59 GPA, 78.0% A/AB (n=123 letter grades); Spring 2020: 3.83 GPA, 93.7% A/AB (n=205 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

MICHELLE CIUCCI is recorded teaching in Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2020. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 2000

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records

Student experience

the class

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.49 GPA, 77.6% A/AB (n=183 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.46 GPA, 74.6% A/AB (n=173 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.56 GPA, 78.5% A/AB (n=191 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

No workload feedback recorded.

Topics

  • Anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology of the central and peripheral nervous systems
  • Sensorimotor, auditory, visual, and limbic systems
  • Speech, voice, swallowing, language, and higher-order function systems

Skills

  • Identify and describe neuroanatomical structures and neurophysiological processes
  • Explain how damage or dysfunction leads to communication impairments
  • Apply principles of neuroplasticity to explain brain adaptation and rehabilitation

Grades

Historical instructor

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.14 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Selected offering source records
CS&D 210 · Spring 2027

Neural Basis of Communication

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:252:003977",
    "course_id": "CS&D 210",
    "course_uid": "course_cbeace0604bbb89e8bed9204",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "003977",
    "source_subject_id": "252",
    "title": "Neural Basis of Communication",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Spring"
  }
]
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Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Model & dataset provenance
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "f5fb9b06f9b76f1e649395717a7be331a30386c6af620f5be4f1abea15159daa",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}