Chapter 1, Intro to Biopsychology Flashcards
What is a Neuron?
The basic unit of the nervous system is also called a nerve cell
How do each Neuron contact other cells?
Through the Synapses
How many nerves cells are estimated in the brain?
86 billion
What is Biological Psychology?
A field that relates behaviour to bodily processes
What is Behavioural Neuroscience?
The study of the neural bases of behavior and mental processes
What are the five viewpoints that explore the biology and behavior
1) Describing behavior (Structural/Functional)
2) Observing the development of behavior and its biological characteristics over the life-span (Ontogeny/Development)
3) Studying the biological mechanisms of behavior (Mechanisms)
4) Studying the applications of behavioral neuroscience - for example, its application to dysfunctions of human behavior (Application)
5) Studying the evolution of behavior (Evolution)
What is Ontogeny?
The process by which an individual changes in the course of its lifetime, i.e. Grows up and grows old.
How is Ontogeny beneficial?
Observing the way in which particular behavior changes during ontogeny may give clues to its functions and mechanisms
What is a Proximate Question?
Questions about the physical interactions that control a particular behavior (i.e. How is it able to do that?)
What is the major aim of Behavioural Neuroscience?
To examine body mechanisms that make particular behavior possible, such as the case with learning and memory, as we would want to know the sequence of electrical and biochemical processes that occur when we learn something and retrieve it from memory.
How is Nature conservative?
Once a particular feature of an organism or its behavior evolves it may be maintained for millions of years and may be seen in animals that otherwise appear very different.
What is Conserved?
In the context of evolution, it refers to a trait that is passed on from a common ancestor to two or more descendent species
What are the two different emphases in Darwin’s Theory?
(1) the continuity of behavior and biological processes among species that reflects shared ancestry and
(2) the species-specific differences in behavior and biology that have evolved as adaptations to different environments.
What are the three main approaches to understanding the relationship between the brain and behavior?
- Somatic INtervention
- Behavioural Intervention
- Correlation
What is Somatic Intervention?
An approach to finding the relations between body variables and behavioral variables involves manipulating the body structure or function and looking for resultant changes in behavior.
What is Behavioural Intervention?
an approach to finding relations between body Variables and behavioral variables that involve intervening in the behavior of an organism and looking for resultant changes in body structure or function
What is Correlation?
Measurements of both kinds of variables allow researchers to arrive at correlations between somatic changes and behavioral changes. The covariation of two measures.
What is the Dependent Variable?
The factor that an experimenter measures to monitor a change in response to manipulation of an independent variable
What is the Independent Variable?
The factor that is manipulated by an experimenter
What are some examples of Somatic Intervention?
- A hormone is administered to some animals but not to others; various behaviors of the two groups are later compared.
- A part of the brain is stimulated electrically, or by use of light to stimulate only a particular class of neurons, and behavioral side effects are observed.
- A connection between two parts of the nervous system is cut, and changes in behavior are measured
What are some examples of Behavioural Intervention?
- Putting two adults of the opposite sex together may lead to increased secretion of certain hormones
- Exposing a person or animal to a visual stimulus provokes changes in electrical activity and blood flow in parts of the brain
- The training of animals in a maze is accompanied by electrical, biochemical, and anatomical changes in parts of their brains.
What are some examples of correlation?
- Are people with large brains more intelligent when compared to people with smaller brains?
- Are individual differences in sexual behavior correlated with levels of certain hormones in the individual?
- Is the severity of schizophrenia correlated with the magnitude of changes in brain structure?
What is Direction in the context of Correlation?
That is which variable is independent and which is dependent.
What is Neuroplasticity?
Also called neural plasticity. The ability of the nervous system to change in response to experience or the environment
How can variables connect?
- Directly
- Indirectly
What is Reductionism?
The scientific strategy of breaking a system down into increasingly smaller parts in order to understand it
What are the levels of analysis?
The scope of experimental approaches. A scientist may try to understand behavior by monitoring molecules, nerves cells, brain regions, or social environments, or some combination of these levels of analysis
What is Dualism?
the notion that the mind is subject to spiritual interactions while the body is subject to only to material interactions
Who is Thomas Willis (1621-1675)?
An English Physician who created a detailed description of the structure of the brain and his systematic study of brain disorders, convinced educated people in the west that the brain is the organ that coordinates and controls behaviour
William James’ ideas in relation to behavioral neuroscience are?
Consciousness and other aspects of human experience are seen as properties of the nervous system.
