CH1 - origins of behavioral neuroscience

Question 1

2 forms of scientific explanation

Answer 1

Generalization

Reduction

Question 2

Historical beliefs

Answer 2

Ancient Europe: heart = seat of soul & memory
Egyptians & Chinese: heart = organ of thinking & reasoning
Greeks: BRAIN is key for sensation & intelligence
Aristotle - heart = center of intellect, brain cools heart

Question 3

Claudius Galen

Answer 3

Embraced hippocratic view, based on roman gladiators & anmal dissections

hardness of cerebellum = muscle, softness = sensation, ventricles = psychic pneuma

Question 4

17th century

Answer 4

Rene descartes - environmentalist, reflexes

Luigi Galvani - Electrical stimulation - electrical stimulation leads to contraction in frogs leg detached from body

Question 5

19th century

Answer 5

Jahannes Muller - doctrine of specific nerve energies - same basic messages in diff channels

Pierre Flourens - ablation primarily in birds & rabbits, cerebellum = motor, cerebrum = sensation & perception

Paul Broca - found broca’s area (speech production) through stroke victims

Ramon Santiago y Cajal - nervous system consisted of billions of discrete, individual neurons

Fritsh & Hitzig - electrical stimulation

von Helmholtz - speed

Question 6

Contemporary research

Answer 6

Epigenetics - environmental-dependent gene expression

Question 7

Neoteny

Answer 7

Prolongation of maturation - slow brain development until late adolescence