Transcript the study of

Biological Psychology
303 Fall 10
Lecture 1
Neuroscience
Biopsychology: the study of the
biological basis of behavior
the study of :
Neuroanatomy: structure of NS
Neurochemistry: chemical bases of neural activity
Neuroendocrinology: interactions btw NS & endocrine system
Neuropathology: disorders of NS
Neuropharmacology: drugs effects on NS – neural activity
Neurophysiology: function & activity of the NS
Biopsychology
Biopsychology is the branch of psychology that studies the relationship
between behavior and the body, particularly the brain.
Biopsychologists try to go beyond the mechanisms of how the brain
works and focus on the brain’s role in behavior.
psychology
behavior
biology
mechanisms
Divisions
Biopsychology
 Physiological Psychology: neural mechanisms of behavior by direct
manipulation of the brain (Experimental)
 Psychopharmacology: neural activity and behavior with drugs
(Experimental & Applied)
 Neuropsychology: psychological effects of brain damage in humans
(Applied)
 Psychophysiology: relation bwt physiological activity & psychological
processes in humans – non invasive (Experimental..also Applied)
 Comparative Psychology: compare behavior btw species, evolutionary level
(experimental)
 Cognitive Psychology: non invasive study of brain, cognition, information
processing (Applied, Experimental)
Psychopharmacology+ Comparative Psychology + Neuroscience
Behavioral Neuroscientist…
The impact the Brain has on behavior…
that’s a no brainer
But what do you really know about it?
I get no respect…
Egyptians
Indian
Chinese
Greeks
Aristotle
- necessary for life
- emotion HB
Hippocrates (460-370 B.C)
Galen (130-200 A.D)
"The brain, the masterpiece of creation, is almost unknown to us." Nicolaus Steno, 1669
Will the human brain ever completely
understand its own workings?
3 major debates
• Nature of neural communication
• Localism vs Holism (Neurons)
• Mind vs Brain (monism/dualism)
3 major debates
• Mind vs Brain (monism/dualism)
Mind-Body Question
 Dualist: mind separate from body
Mechanist: Body is like a machine
Mind controls the machine
Body tells mind about the environment
Rene Descartes
(1596-1650)
hydraulic model
Pipes = nerves
Water = fluids in body
Hidden Value = Pineal
Sensations, memories and other mental functions produced as animal
spirits flowing through “pores” in the brain controlled by the pineal gland
Control Valve: Pineal Gland
“Seat of the Soul”
First technical
model for the NS
Innervation of
the Pineal
Dependent
on the
Light/Dark
Cycle
Debate: Mind vs Brain
Mind vs Brain???
Monism:
Dualism:
Mind is product of brain
Brain is physical
mind is not
Mind-Body Question..are you a monist or a dualist?
Biopsychologist: the mind is just an illusion, a sense of mind is nothing
more than the awareness of what the brain is doing
3 major debates
• Mind vs Brain (monism/dualism)
Still up for debate…
Next Debate: Nature of Neural Communication: Settled
Luigi Galvani
(1737-1798)
Italian Physician
Anatomist
 Electrical Stimulation of frog legs
 Contraction of the muscles
“Animal Electricity”
"While one of those who were assisting me touched lightly, and by chance,
the point of his scalpel to the internal crural nerves of the frog, suddenly all
the muscles of its limbs were seen to be so contracted that they seemed
to have fallen into tonic convulsions. “
 Doctrine of specific nerve energies
All nerves carry electrical signals
Different nerves = different outcomes
Johannes Muller
(1801-1858)
German Physiologist
Debate: Neural Communication
Camillo Golgi (1843-1956)
Italian Physician:
Santiago Ramon y Cajal (1852-1934)
Spanish Histologist
Silver Staining
Method – continuous mass of
tissues…one cytoplasm
(holism)
Labeled Cells
“neuron doctrine” – discrete entities
Nobel Prize 1906:
Research on structure of the nervous
Debate: Nature of Neural Communication
Debate: Nature of Neural Communication
1.
Neurons are discrete and autonomous cells that
can interact
2.
Synapses are gaps that separate neurons
3.
Information is transmitted in one direction from
dendrites (input) to the axon (output)
3 major debates
• Nature of Neural Communication
Settled…
Next Debate: Localism vs Holism
 brought Anatomy & Psychology together
 discrete regions of brain controls specific
functions = mental state  localization
Phrenology (personology)
Franz Joseph Gall
(1757-1828)
German Physician
Neuroanatomist
Forebrain
telencephalon
• Movement
• Orientation
• Recognition
• Perception of stimuli
• Reasoning
• Planning
• Speech Produce
• Movement
• Emotions
• Problem solving
• Personality
• Visual Processing
• Perception & recognition of auditory stimuli
• Memory
• Speech Comprehension
Wilder Penfield (1891-1976)
American-Born Canadian Neurosurgeon:
• Greatest neurosurgeon of all times
• mapped the brain
• direct stimulation of the brain
•“Grandmother Cell"
http://www.psych.ualberta.ca/~gcpws/Penfield/Penfield.html
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=wilder+penfield&pq=wilder+pen&docid=1068722028792&mid=A96D978895922811F964A96D978895922811F964&FORM=VIVR
• Localism vs holism?
Most Valuable Player
“The Organization of Behavior” (1949)
First comprehensive theory on how
psychological phenomena might be
produced by BRAIN ACTIVITY
Donald O. Hebb (1904-1985)
 perceptions
 emotions
 thoughts
 memories
Canadian Psychologist
A large brain, like large government, may not be able to do simple things in a simple way.
Donald O. Hebb
“Cell Assemblies”
Synaptic transmission
Material basis mental
associations
“Connectionism”
LTP
Hebb based his theories
•humans and animals
•clinical case studies
•logical arguments = eclectic approach became a hallmark of biopsych
http://www.psych.ualberta.ca/GCPWS/Hebb/Hebb.html
3 major debates
• Localism vs Holism
a little of both going on…
Watson & Crick ( 1953)
discovered chemical
structure of DNA
Nature 171, 737-738 (1953)
Molecular structure of Nucleic
Acids
WATSON, J. D. & CRICK, F. H. C.
Medical Research Council Unit for the
Study of Molecular Structure of
Biological Systems, Cavendish
Laboratory, Cambridge.
A Structure for Deoxyribose
Nucleic Acid
New debate
Nature vs Nurture
New debates
Nature vs Nurture
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/SCIENCE96/
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(0.11 seconds)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/genome/program.html
Francis Collins
Human Genome
Project (NIH)
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genome/seq/
“NCBI Genome Project”
Sequencing of the human
genome: “the book if life”
J. Craig Venter
Celera Genomic