B1-Origins of Behavioral Neuroscience

Question 0

Split-Brain operation

Answer 0

Brain surgery that is occasionally performed to treat a form of epilepsy; the surgeon cuts the corpus callosum, which connects the two hemispheres of the brain

Question 1

Corpus Callosum

Answer 1

A large bundle of nerve fibers that connect corresponding parts of one side of the brain with those of the other

Question 2

Cerebral hemispheres

Answer 2

The two symmetrical halves of the brain; they constitute the major part of the brain

Question 3

Generalization

Answer 3

Type of scientific explanation; a general conclusion based on many observations of similar phenomena

Question 4

Reduction

Answer 4

Type of scientific explanation; a phenomenon is described in termed of the more elementary processes that underlie it

Question 5

Reflex

Answer 5

An autonomic stereotypes movement produced as the direct result of a stimulus

Question 6

Model

Answer 6

A mathematical or physical analogy for a physiological process; for example, computers have been used as models for various functions of the brain

Question 7

Doctrine of specific nerve energies

Answer 7

Müller’s conclusion that because all nerve fibers carry the same type of message, sensory information must be specifies by the particular nerve fibers that are active

Question 8

Experimental ablation

Answer 8

The research method in which the function of a part o the brain is inferred by observing the behaviors an animal can no longer perform after that part is damaged

Question 9

Functionalism

Answer 9

The principle that the best way to understand a biological phenomenon (a behavior or a physiological structure) is to try to understand its useful functions for the organism

Question 10

Natural selection

Answer 10

The process by which inherited traits that confer a selective advantage (increase an animal’s likelihood to live and reproduce) become more prevent in the population

Question 11

Evolution

Answer 11

A gradual change in the structure an physiology of plant and animal species-generally producing more complex organisms-as a result of natural selection

Question 12

Mutation

Answer 12

A change in the genetic information contained in the chromosomes of sperm or eggs, which can be passed on to an organism’s offspring; provides genetic variability

Question 13

Selective advantage

Answer 13

A characteristic of an organism that permits it to produce more than the average number of offspring of its species

Question 14

Neoteny

Answer 14

A slowing of the process of maturation, allowing more time for growth, an important factor in the development of large brains

Question 15

Behavioral neuroscientist

Answer 15

(Also called physiological psychologist) a scientist who studies the physiology of behavior, primarily by performing physiological and behavioral experiments with laboratory animals