6. The History of Biopsychology

Question 1

Egypt, 1700 BC

Answer 1

Egyptians did not think that the brain was an important organ; they believed the mind was located in the heart

Question 2

Edwin Smith surgical papyrus

Answer 2

First written account of the brain, its anatomy, the meninges, and CSF

Described how the site of the head injury was related to neurological symptoms

Question 3

Ionian philosophy

Answer 3

Greece, 600 BC

Set of laws by which the universe is governed, we can understand those laws by reason

Question 4

Alcmaeon of Croton

Answer 4

Greece, 500 BC

Early dissection experiments

First philosopher to champion the idea that the brain was the seat of the mind

Question 5

Hippocrates

Answer 5

Greece, 460-370 BC

First to believe that diseases were due to natural causes

Attempted to separate medicine from religion

Also believed the brain is the seat of the mind

Question 6

Plato

Answer 6

Greece, 427-347 BC

Believed brain was the seat of the mind

Argues against science in general– believed in use of reason over observation and experimentation

Advocated for ideal forms over actual objects
Statues > dissections
We should only focus on the ideal form

Question 7

Plato’s concept of the soul

Answer 7

Tripartite soul

Question 8

Tripartite soul

Answer 8

Immortal soul (rational): head

Superior mortal soul (spirited): heart

Inferior mortal soul (appetitive): liver/gut

Question 9

Aristotle

Answer 9

Greece, 384-322 BC

Believed the mind was located in the heart

Saw the brain as a “radiator” for the rest of the body
Capillaries carry blood to the brain to disperse heat

Question 10

Greeks and dissections

Answer 10

Greeks had respect for the human body– dissections illegal

Limited their progress in understanding physiology

Question 11

Musaeum at Alexandria

Answer 11

Compared to modern-day NIH
Scholars who worked together to create extensive library of science

Question 12

Herophilos

Answer 12

First to distinguish between cerebrum and cerebellum

Described the meninges, sinuses, and ventricles

Believed all nerves originated in the brain and traced pathways to sensory and muscle organs

First to distinguish between sensory and motor nerves

Question 13

Erasistratus

Answer 13

Believed that the number of convolutions in the brain was correlated with intelligence

Psychic “pneuma” (CSF) entered the brain through hollow sensory nerves

Question 14

Galen

Answer 14

Greece, 130-200 AD

Performed dissections

Promoted humoural theory

Believed mental diseases could be attributed to the obstruction of “pneuma” by one of the four humours (or due to the excess of a particular humor)

Question 15

Humoural theory

Answer 15

Idea was that disease was caused by imbalances of the four humours: black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood

Question 16

Medeival Europe, 200-1500 AD

Answer 16

Humoural theory remained prominent

Church was concerned with the non-material nature of the soul

They thought mental faculties were located within the ventricles

Question 17

“The Ventricles”

Answer 17

Anterior ventricle: sensation
Middle ventricle: cognition
Posterior ventricle: memory

Question 18

Europe, 16th century

Answer 18

Galen’s works translated to Arabic

Vesalius: founder of modern human anatomy

Question 19

Age of Enlightenment

Answer 19

“Age of Reason”
Resurgence of scientific study and interest in understanding the mind and brain

Question 20

Descartes

Answer 20

Netherlands, 17th century

Proposed a modified version of pneumatic theory

Nerves contain “animal spirits,” which are responsible for the flow of sensory and motor info in the body

External stimuli pull on threads to open gates in the ventricles, which allow for the flow of pneuma through the rest of the body

Question 21

Cartesian Dualism

Answer 21

Netherlands, 17th century

The mind and body are separate but able to interact (via the pineal gland)

Question 22

Darwin in The Galapagos

Answer 22

Noticed differences in beaks of finches based on environment
Inspired his theory of natural selection

Question 23

Four Principles of Natural Selection

Answer 23

More individuals are born in each generation than can survive

Phenotypic variation exists among individuals, and this variation is inherited

Those individuals with heritable traits that are better suited to their environment will survive

New species form due to reproductive isolation

Question 24

Robert Hooke

Answer 24

First microscope
First to coin the term cell

Question 25

Johann Purkinje

Answer 25

First used microtome (allowed him to make really thin slices of tissue for microscopic study)

1837: discovery of Purkinje cells

Question 26

Camillo Golgi (1873, Italy)

Answer 26

Golgi staining method

Reticular Theory: the nervous system is made up of one continuous web-like network

Question 27

Santiago Ramon y Cajal

Answer 27

Used the Golgi method to study neuron structure

Showed that neurons were not interconnected and had distinct structures

Created Neuron Doctrine

Question 28

Luigi Galvani (1780)

Answer 28

Frog leg muscles twitch when struck by an electric spark
The legs have to be creating electrical charge by chemical process

Question 29

Alessandro Volta (~1800)

Answer 29

Rejected “animal electricity”
Thought result was a phenomenon produced by the wires themselves

Question 30

Frederick von Humboldt

Answer 30

Galvani and Volta are both right

Question 31

Emil du Bois-Reymond

Answer 31

Differentiated nerve and muscle current

Question 32

Julius Bernstein

Answer 32

Student of du Bois-Reymond
Developed earliest modern membrane theory of an action potential

Question 33

JZ Young (1938)

Answer 33

Discovery of giant squid axon

Nerve fibers conduct action potentials

Enables study of excitable membranes

Question 34

Hodgkin & Huxley (1952)

Answer 34

Mathematical model to explain how action potentials propagate based on characteristics of a cell

Question 35

Why is there scientific controversy?

Answer 35

Data isn’t always perfect

Question 36

Localization of function

Answer 36

Definition: certain parts of the brain are allocated to certain functions

Question 37

Albrecht von Haller (1752)

Answer 37

Published work distinguishing between grey matter and white matter

Thought that white matter represented the seat of sensations

Reintroduced idea of localization of function

Question 38

Phrenology (knowledge of the mind)

Answer 38

Study of shape and size of head as indication of personality and mental abilities

Introduced by Gall

Brain separated into 35 distinct organs that have specific functions

“Reading someone’s head” by its shape

Question 39

Pierre Flourens (1825)

Answer 39

Asked to verify Gall’s claims

Developed techniques to selectively lesion parts of brain
Concluded there’s no localization of function, brain acts as one unit

Question 40

Jean Baptiste Bouillaud (1823)

Answer 40

Localized higher intellectual facilities to frontal lobe

Question 41

Pierre Paul Broca (1861)

Answer 41

The Case of Tan
Broca’s area

Question 42

Carl Wernicke (1874)

Answer 42

Not all language deficits are allocated to Broca’s area
Wernicke’s area

Question 43

Karl Lashley (1944)

Answer 43

Trained rats to run mazes, ablated different parts of the brain
Found that memory deficits based on size of leison rather than location

Question 44

Wilder Penfield (1950s)

Answer 44

Neurosurgeon with interest in treating epilepsy

Found that stimulation of temporal lobes could lead to vivid recall of memories