Chapter 1: Clinical neuropsychology: A historical sketch

Question 1

A brief general historical timeline of neuropsychology

Answer 1

• The greeks and Romans believed the body was a composition of a number of elements (water, fire, blood and mucus). If these elements were not in balance, it led to disease.
• The classical views of medicine were passed on for centuries without much change.
• During the Renaissance, science and medicine flourished and people started to observe and think critically and independently again.
• The professionalization of neuropsychology was shaped mainly in the twentieth century from the US.

Question 2

Brief timeline of neuropsychology during Renaissance

Answer 2

• Rene Descartes (1596-1650) stated that the soul is an undivided, independent but immaterial entity.
• The result was a centuries long discussion about the interaction between the body and mind.

*Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828) introduced phrenology. Phrenology was unscientific practice, but at the same time the basis of contemporary views on how the brain works.

Question 3

Phrenology

Answer 3

• Is the detailed study of the shape and size of the cranium (or skull) as a supposed indication of character and mental abilities.
• (Or the doctrine of the mind)
• Phrenology was an unscientific practice, but at the same time the basis of contemporary views on how the brain works.
• Introduced by Gall.

Question 4

Difference between phrenology, physiognomy and craniology.

Answer 4

• Phrenology focuses on personality and character.
• Physiognomy focuses on facial features.
• Craniology focuses on the shape, weight and size of the skull.

Question 5

The cell theory

Answer 5

• The Greeks knew 3 souls:
  1. Survival - via food intake; present in plants.
  2. Activities of an organism in relation to the environment; present in animals.
  3. higher-order soul - which could distinguish between wat was right and what was wrong; only present in humans.
• Several philosophers thought we should locate the spirit in the brain and they found different cavities within the brain (the ventricles, then called cells).
• Within the cavities, the mind was divided into different functions:
  1. The first cell for receiving information from the different senses.
  2. The second cell for interpreting this information.
  3. The third cell was the ‘memoria’, or memory.
• The cell theory is to this day the basis of ideas about cognitive psychology.
• An essential characteristic of the cell theory is that this is a general system for information processing (which cognitive psychology emphasizes today).
• In addition, the theory doesn’t deal with individual differences, but with a general picture.

Question 6

Physiognomy

Answer 6

• Was used back in the day to describe individual differences.
• It’s about the interpretation of the face or total appearance to describe individual characteristics.
• It was introduced by Lavantar, but it was not popular amoung scientists. It did inspire Gall in the development of phrenology.

Question 7

Descartes theory of an undivided mind

Answer 7

• According to Descartes humans could be divided into 2 substances:
  1. Res extensa - the body.
  2. Res cognitas - the mind.
• Res cognitas is not material, but it’s located in the epiphysis (pineal gland). Descartes thought it was a kind of manager that got messages from the body through the nerves and based on memories messages were sent back to the body.
• Descartes introduced the idea of the reflex.

Question 8

Gall and the localization issue

Answer 8

• Gall found it illogical that the physiognomy read someone’s properties from the face or body, because he knew that behavior was a consequence of the brain.
• Gall wanted to focus on the structure and function of the brain. This was a revolutionary focus.
• Gall’s assistent, Spurzheim, introduced Gall’s idea in England and called it phrenology.
• At the end of the 18th century, Gall was mainly concerned with a new psychology - oranology or kraniology (doctrine of the skull). He assumed that all psychological functions were innate and that these functions were seperate organs. These functions were also not located in the middle of the brain but on the cortex.
• The most important claim of Gall was that there were independent functions and a complete break with the old idea of the soul and an undivided mind.
• Gall’s localization ideas were the basis of cognitive neuroscience.

Question 9

Research of Pierre Flourens

Answer 9

• He systematically damaged the brains of pigeons.
• He concluded that the location of the lesion was not important, but the extent of the damage determined which functions failed.