Biology and Behavior 1.1 A Brief History of Neuropsychology

Question 1

Franz Gall’s Contributions to Neuropsychology

• Name of Psychological Practice
• What was it

Answer 1

• Phrenology
• If a person was intelligent in one area the corresponding part of the brain would grow and push the skull out, thus you could measure the psychological attributes of a person by measuring their skull

Question 2

Pierre Flourens’s Contributions to Neuropsychology

• Why is he important?
• What is his technique?
• What did his work lead to?

Answer 2

• First person to study the functions of the majors sections of the brain, through EXTIRPATION and ABLATION on animals.
• Extirpation is the removal of certain parts of the brain so that one can observe the resulting behavioral consequences
• Brain had specific parts for specific functions

Question 3

William James’s contributions to Neuropsychology

• Why important?
• What is his technique?

Answer 3

• Father of American Psychology, believed important to study how the mind functioned in adapting to the environment.
• Functionalism: A system of thought in psychology that studied how mental processes help individuals adapt to their environment

Question 4

John Dewey’s Contributions to Neuropsychology

• Why important?
• What is his technique?

Answer 4

• Important name in Functionalism, 1896 article criticize the use of the reflex arc, which breaks the process of reacting to a stimulus into discrete parts.
• Believe that psychology should focus on the study of the organism as a whole as it functioned to adapt to its environment.

Question 5

Paul Broca’s Contributions to Neuropsychology

• Why important?
• What is his technique?
• What did he find?

Answer 5

• First to demonstrate that specific functional impairments could be liked with specific brain lesions.
• Examined behavioral deficits of people with brain damage
• People who could not talk had a brain lesion on a specific part of the brain, that area is now referred to as Broca’s area

Question 6

Herman von Helmholtz’s Contributions to Neuropsychology

• Why important?
• What is his technique?

Answer 6

• First to measure the speed of a nerve impulse. He is often credited with the transition of psychology into a field of natural sciences.
• Measured the speed of nerve impulses in terms of reaction time.

Question 7

Sir Charles Sherrington’s Contributions to Neuropsychology

• Why important?
• What did he believe?

Answer 7

• First inferred the existence of synapses.
• Many of his conclusions have held over time, except one, he thought the synaptic transmission was an electrical process, we know now it is primarily a chemical process.