Chapter 1 - What is Behavioral Neuroscience? Flashcards
How many muscles are in the body?
640 muscles
When was the decade of the brain?
1990s
What is behavioral neuroscience?
The branch of psychology that studies the relationships between behavior and the body, particularly the brain.
What is behavior?
Overt acts but also internal events such as learning, thinking, and emotion.
Who established the first psychology laboratory?
Wilhelm Wundt
When did Wilhelm Wundt establish the first psychology laboratory?
1879
Where did Wilhelm Wundt establish the first psychology laboratory?
Leipzig, Germany
How do neuroscientists believe we should think of the mind?
The collection of things the brain does such as thinking, sensing, planning, and feeling.
What does the Greek word monos mean?
Alone or single.
What is monism?
The ides that the mind and the body consist of the same substance.
What is materialistic monism?
The position that the body and mind and everything else are physical.
What is dualism?
The idea that the mind and brain are separate.
What do most dualists believe?
The mind influences behavior by interacting with the brain.
Was Plato a monist or dualist?
Dualist.
Was Aristotle a monist or dualist?
Monist
Who proposed that everything in the world is made up of atoms?
Democritus
What does atom mean?
Indivisible
What is a model?
A proposed mechanism for how something works.
How did Descartes explain the brain’s activity?
By using a hydraulic model.
How did Descartes model nerves?
As hollow tubes carrying animal spirits.
What gland did Descartes believe was the seat of the soul?
The pineal gland.
What is empiricism?
Gathering information through observation rather than logic, intuition, or other means.
Who showed that detached leg muscles from frogs could be made to twitch with electricity?
Luigi Galvani
When did Galvani make frog legs twitch with electricity?
1700s
Who produced movement in dogs by electrically stimulating their exposed brains?
Fritsch and Hitzig
When did Fritsch and Hitzig demonstrate with dogs that nerves operate based on electricity?
1870
What did Fritsch and Hitzig’s experiments on dogs show?
Nerves operate based on electricity.
Who demonstrated that nerves do not behave like wires conducting electricity?
Hermann von Helmholtz
Who first measured the speed of conduction in nerves?
Hermann von Helmholtz
What is the speed of conduction in nerves?
90 ft/second
What is localization?
The idea that specific areas of the brain carry out specific functions.
Who came up with the theory of phrenology?
Franz Gall
When did Franz Gall come up with the theory of phrenology?
Late 1700s.
What is phrenology?
That idea that each of the faculties of emotion and intellect are located in a precise area of the brain.
Who developed equipotentiality?
Karl Lashley
What is equipotentiality?
The idea that the brain functions as an undifferentiated whole.
What does equipotentiality mean for brain damage?
The extent of the damage, not the location, determines how much function is lost.
What do material neuroscientists see?
The brain changing the brain.
What does today’s research tell us about brain functions?
They are as much distributed as they are localized.
What is nature vs nurture?
How important heredity is relative to environmental influences in shaping behavior.
What are the 2 functions of a gene?
It directs cellular processes and transmits inherited characteristics.
Haw many chromosomes are in the human body?
46.
How many pairs of chromosomes are in the human body?
23.
Why is it important that each pair of chromosomes is distinct?
Genes for difference functions are found on specific chromosomes.
How many chromosomes does the ova have?
23.
How many chromosomes does the sperm have?
23.
What is a zygote?
A fertilized egg.
What is an embryo?
The first eight weeks of a new human organism.
What is a fetus?
A new human organism from 8 weeks until birth.
What does DNA stand for?
Deoxyribonucleic acid
Who discovered the structure of DNA?
James Watson and Francis Crick
When did Watson and Crick publish the structure of DNA?
1953
What is DNA?
A double-stranded chain of chemical molecules that looks like a ladder that has been twisted around itself.
What shape is DNA?
A double helix
How many nucleotides is on each DNA rung?
2
What are the 4 nucleotides of DNA?
Adenine, thymine, guanine, cytosine.
How do genes exert their influence?
They provide the directions for making proteins
What are the 2 main functions of proteins?
Construction of the body and as enzymes.
What do enzymes do?
Act as catalysts that modify chemical reactions in the body.
How much do humans differ among each other in sequences of DNA?
By 0.5%.
What are different versions of a gene called?
Alleles
What is a dominant allele?
An allele that will produce its effect regardless of which allele it is paired with on the other chromosome.
What is a recessive allele?
An allele that will only have an influence when paired with the same allele.
What does heterozygous mean?
Two difference alleles are paired together.
What does homozygous mean?
Two identical alleles are paired together.
What is a phenotype?
An observable characteristic.
What is a genotype?
The genetic combination of alleles.
What is an X-linked gene?
A characteristic produced by an unpaired gene on the X chromosome.
Why do males more often show characteristics that are caused by recessive genes?
They only have one X chromosome.
What are polygenic traits?
Characteristics that are determined by several genes.
What is the human genome project?
A project to map the location of all the genes on the human chromosomes and to determine the genes’ codes.
When did the human genome project start?
1990
How many of our genes are protein encoding?
21,000
What percent of our genes are protein encoding?
3%
What is junk DNA?
Non-protein-coding DNA
What does 80% of junk DNA do?
It controls the expression of other genes - the translation of their encoded information into the production of proteins, thus controlling their functioning.
Why is it important to identify genes and their functions?
To improve our understanding of human behavior and psychological as well as medical disorders.
How many combinations of chromosomes can one parent produce?
8 million.
What are the number of genetic combinations that can be passed on to offspring from both parents?
60-70 trillion.
What is natural selection?
Those whose genes endow them with more adaptive capabilities are more likely to survive and transmit their genes to more offspring.
What is heritability?
The percentage of the variations in a characteristic that can be attributed to genetic factors.
What is the heritability estimates for intelligence?
50%
What is the heritability estimates for schizophrenia?
60-90%
What is the heritability estimates for personality characteristics and occupational interests?
40-50%
Is genetic influence stronger on behavioral characteristics or common medical disorders?
Behavioral characteristics.
Why do adoption studies tend to overestimate the heritability of intelligence?
The children’s adoptive environments are unusually similar.
Does heritability appear lower or higher if we look only at closely related individuals?
Lower.
What does vulnerability mean?
Genes contribute a predisposition for a disorder which may or may not exceed the threshold required to produce the disorder.
What is the idea that mind and brain are both physical?
Materialistic monism.
What is a model?
An organism or a system used to understand a more complex one.
What was Descartes most important contribution?
Suggesting the physical control of behavior.
What did von Helmholtz show?
Nerves are not like electrical wires because they conduct too slowly.
What did studies of brain-damaged patients in the mid-1800s convince researches?
Behaviors originated in specific parts of the brain.
What does localization mean?
Specific functions are found in specific parts of the brain.
Why do X-linked characteristics affect males more than females?
The responsible gene is not paired with another gene on the Y chromosome.
If two parents are heterozygous for the a dominant characteristic, when can the produce a child with the recessive characteristic?
If the child receives two recessive genes.
What has the Human Genome Project done?
Made a map of the human genes.
What is heritability greatest for that we have discussed?
Schizophrenia
If we all had identical genes, what would be the estimated heritability for a characteristic?
0%
What 3 things occurred during the Decade of the Brain?
Genes contributing to the development of schizophrenia were discovered. Drugs that block addiction were discovered. New treatments for depression were developed.
Who is credited with establishing the first psychology laboratory in Germany in 1879?
Wilhelm Wundt.
Dr. Locke is a philosopher who believes there is no distinction between the physical brain and the mind. This position is known as?
Materialistic monism.
_ was a dualist.
Plato
Descartes believed that the “seat of the soul” was located where?
In the Pineal gland.
What did Fritsch and Hitzig show through their experiments?
Muscle movement is the result of brain stimulation.
Who discovered that nerves conduct electricity at a rate significantly slower than the speed of light?
Hermann von Helmholtz
Where did Broca’s mute patient have damage?
In the left hemisphere.
What did Phineas Gage’s personality change following frontal lobe damage produce?
The idea that different functions are localized in different portions of the brain.
If you underwent a procedure to test for a particular disease that is triggered by a defective protein inherited from your parents, what specific genetic component will they be looking for?
A particular allele of a gene.
At six weeks after conception, a developing human is know as what?
An embryo.
What are enzymes?
Proteins produced by genetic mechanisms that modify rates of chemical reactions.
How many different bases make up human DNA?
4
Why are males more likely to have red-green color blindness?
It’s an X-linked recessive trait.
When is a trait polygenic?
When it is influenced by more than one gene.
What are 3 traits believed to have a genetic basis?
Personality, drug addiction, sexual orientation.
What is the differential survival of organisms with more adaptive traits?
Natural selection.
What are 3 things true of gene activity?
They may fluctuate in the amount of protein they code for at different times. A gene may become active at only a certain time in the life cycle. The activity of a gene may be influenced by experience.
What trait is the most researched in terms of heritability?
Height
What is the best way to think about a relationship among genes, environment, and intelligence?
Genes set the potential range and environment determines the actual capacity.
