CH1: An Introduction to Brain & Behavior Flashcards
Neuroscience
Study of nervous system; central nervous system (CNS) & peripheral nervous system (PNS)
Rene Descartes
Described spinal reflexes and their neural pathways; He gave the idea of dualism
Dualism
The notion, promoted by Rene Descartes that the mind is separate from the body and the mind
Phrenology and why is it important
The belief that bumps on the skull correspond with specific behavior, feelings and personality traits. It has been debunked (false), but brought out the idea of localization of function.
Localization of function
The concept that different brain regions specialize in specific behavior.
Some parts of the brains are more active when doing certain behavior or activities
What are the modern day theoretical perspectives?
- Systematic description of behavior
- The evolution of brain and behavior
- Life-span development of the brain
- The biological mechanisms of behavior
Systematic description of behavior
Biological psychologists are interested in behavior and describe the behavior as actual “acts, results” depending on the person
The evolution of brain and behavior
Biological psychologists evaluate similarities among species due to shared-ancestry and by looking for species-specific differences in behavior and biology that have evolved as adaptations to different environments.
Conserve traits; ex all species have dopamine.
Differences; humans use language vocally to communicate
Concerved
In context of evolution, referring to a trait that is passed on from a common ancestor to two or more descendants of species
Life-span development of the brain and behavior
Biological psychologists observe the way a particular behavior changes during ontogeny may give them clues to its functions and mechanism.
Ex. Language acquisition, pleasure seeking behavior
Ontogeny
The process by which an individual changes in the course of it lifetime-that is, grows up and grows old
The biological mechanisms of behavior
Biological psychologists study an individual’s behavior to see how his/her present body works, separate from evolutionary or developmental concerns. Look at an individual as a “machine” that is made up of lots of nerve cells or neurons
Look at electrical or chemical activity of cells.
Neuron
Or nerve cell. The basic unit of the nervous system
Neuroplasticity
The ability of the nervous system to change in response to experience or the environment.
Ex. We are able to learn skills and form memories because our brain physically changes in some way to encode and store that information.
Adult neurogenesis
The creation of new neurons in the brain of an adult
Social neuroscience
The field of study that uses the tools of neuroscience to discover both the biological bases of social behavior and the effects of social circumstances on brain activity
Evolutionary psychology
A field of study devoted to asking how natural selection has shaped behavior in humans and other animals
Epigenetics
The study of factors that affect gene expression without making any changes in the nucleotide sequence of the genes themselves
Gene expression
The turning on or off of specific genes
Neuroeconomics
The study of brain mechanism at work during economic decision making
Consciousness
The state of awareness of one’s own existence, thoughts, emotions, and experiences
What are the three kinds of studies examine brain-behavior relationships?
Somatic intervention, behavioral intervention, and correlation
Somatic intervention
An approach to finding relations between body variables and behavioral variables that involves manipulating body structure or function and looking for resultant changes in behavior.
Has IVs, DVs, a control group.
Can be a within-participants experiment or between-participants experiment.
Somatic Intervention —> behavior affected
Independent variable
The factor that is manipulated by an experimenter
Dependent variable
The factor that an experimenter measures to monitor a change in response to changes in an IV.
Examples of somatic intervention
1) giving hormones to some animals, but not others, and compare the later sexual behavior of both groups.
2) electrically stimulating a specific brain region and measure the alterations (changes) in movements.
Control group
In research, a group of individuals that are identical to those in an experiment (or test) group in very way except they do not receive the experimental treatment or manipulation. The experimental group is the compared with the control group to assess (analyze, or see) the effect of the treatment
Within-participant experiment
An experiment in which the same set of individuals is compared before and after an experimental manipulation. The experimental group thus serves as its own control group
Between-participants experimetn
An experiment in which an experimental group of individuals is compared with a control group of individuals that have been treated identically in every way except that they haven’t received the experimental manipulation.
Behavioral intervention
Scientist alters (changes) or controls the behavior of an organisms and looks for result changes in body structure or function.
Has IVs and DVs.
Can be within-participants or between-participants group designs
Somatic effect
Examples of behavioral interventions.
1) allowing adults of each sex to interact, and measuring subsequent changes in sex hormones.
2) having a person perform a cognitive task while in a brain scanner, and measuring changes in activity in specific regions of the brain.
Correlation
Measure how closely changes in one variable are associated with changes in another variables. This study doesn’t tell us which causes the other (causality). Helped establish which things are link.
Examples of correlational studies
1) observing the extent to which memory ability is associated with the size of a certain brain structure.
2) noting that increases in a certain hormone are accompanies by increases in aggressive behavior
Causality
The relation of cause and effect
Reductionism
The idea of understanding complex systems by breaking down into smaller parts in order to understand it. Aim to identify levels of analysis
Level of analysis
The scope of experimental approaches. A scientist may try to understand behavior by monitoring molecules, nerve cells, brain regions, or social environments or using some combination of these levels of analysis.
