CONTEMP PSYCHOLGY WEEK 2 Flashcards
what are the key themes for biological approaches?
- focuses on brain,neurotransmitters, genes
- behaviour analysed in underlying structure and function (structuralist)
- relationship between enviro and organism ( functionalist)
THE BODY AS A MACHINE
what is Rene Descartes view on this?
- mind/body dualism
- body is machine
- soul/mind is separate from the body
- mind and body interact through pineal gland
- intro the concept of automatic stimulus-response actions i.e. reflex actions
what was the brainless reflex?
Robert whytt - studied reflex actions
- showed decapitated frogs show reflexes therefore brain is not required
distinguished between voluntary and involuntary actions
briefly state the bell-magendie law?
- basic arrangement of the nervous system
- nerve function is based on electrical activity
connections between nerves from the mechanisms of simple reflexes
briefly state of the law of specific energies?
- the sensation experienced following stimulation of a sensory nerve doe snot depend on the mode of stimulation but upon the nature of the sense- organ
who was Helmholtz?
- leading authority on sensory systems in the 19th century
- contributions leaded ; measuring the speed of neural impulses
- vision
hearing
where did reflexes lead to?
conditioning - behaviourism - learning theory
where did nerve conduction lead to?
reaction time - cognitive psychology
where did the senses lead to?
- physiological psychology - perception
THE BRAIN AS A MACHINE
WHO WAS Wadeyer Hartz?
- proposed that the nervous system is made of individual and discrete cells
- neurone ;describe individual c cells
= Neurone Doctrine
how do we know brain are made up of cells?
- A man names Golgi who developed a stain for brain tissue
- he produced the first cllear pictured of neurons supporting the Neurone Doctrine which proposed the ‘NERVE NETWORK THEORY’- the brain works that these nerves are designed in such a way to communication- function by structure
- Golgi had the idea that nerves were connected a big nerve network
why and who rejected Golgi’s nerve network theory?
- Cajal rejected Golgis nerve network theory
- he claimed that there is a gap between neurons as they don’t touch so they cannot be a network
- yet both shared the prize for medicine 1906 for contradictory thoughts
what was the discovery of the synapse?
- cajal was right
- as deomstrated by Sherrington - who worked on relex actions in ‘spinal Dogs’ thta found evidence that contradicted the ‘nerve network theory’
as: reaction time was too slow : so if stimulated the response was slow - temporal summation: if you stimulate spinal cord with small signal not enough to elicit a reflex action not sufficient, so need more
- spatial summation: so if stimulated in different location each would not be sufficient if enough area of location then enough reflex
- gap= synapse- chemical change for electrical messages
= lead to the existence of neurotransmitters.
where did neurones lead to?
- synapses- neurotransmitters- function of neurotransmitter systems - pharmacological treatment for psychological disorders
DAMAGED BRAIN DAMAGED MIND
What is the brain?
- organ of the mind
- by FRanz-Joseph Gall (1758-1828)
- he advocated that brain composed of faculties (cog and emotional)
- the larger the brain area the greater ability
- the surface of the scalp reflects the surface of the brain.
- BUT size does not relate to function
- scalp surface does not relate to brain surface
who was Jean PIERRE FLOURENS and what did he do?
- rejected phrenology
- used the method of ablation- if the brain region X has function Y ablating X will stop Y
- one fact of phreneology is that the cerrebellum controls sexual behaviour
HOWEVER - flourens found that removing the cerebellum affects motor coordination but not sexual behaviour - therefore cerebellum cannot be the faculty of amativeness
Explain one function the different parts of the brain and by who?
- ‘The speech centre’
- By Paul-Broca (1861) reported the first strong evidence of functional localisation of language in the brain
- as his patient TAn could not speak could understand expressive aphasia
- and when he died at post mortem Tan was found to have a large left-frontal lesion
= speech centre=Broca’s area.
Explain one function the different parts of the brain and by who?
- ‘The speech centre’
- By Paul-Broca (1861) reported the first strong evidence of functional localisation of language in the brain
- as his patient TAn could not speak could understand expressive aphasia
- and when he died at post mortem Tan was found to have a large left-frontal lesion
= speech centre=Broca’s area.
who discovered ‘The comprehension centre’ and what was it?
- Carl Wernicke (1874)
- multiple examples called vertigo studies
- did this on the area on this junction between the temporal and parietal cortex = wernicke’s area
- receptive aphasia = cannot understand caused by lesions of the left posterior section of the superior temporal gyrus
How does aphasia work?
auditory info come in Wernicke’s area understand it where concepts are elaborate formulate ideas cognition to words and produce speech output
what is the Wernicke-lichtheim model?
- functional model based on clinical observation and a priori reasoning
- explain 5 types of aphasia : Broca’s aphasia, Wernicke’s aphasia, Sensory transcortical aphasia, Motor Transcortical Aphasia and conduction Aphasia
= Conduction Aphasia was predicted on the basis of this model before any clinical cases had been reported.
Describe the study of Phineas gage? (1823-1860)
- tamping rod made of metal aparked set of gunpowder and forced the rod through the front of his face through the back ,frontal lobe =massive damage but survived.
= consequence he had a personality change and character
where did the Wernicke -Lichtheim model lead to?
- modern cognitive psychology
- Clinical neuropsychology
where are memories stored?
- stored in specific locations-engrams
what were the two laws and their definition?
- law of mass action: the efficiency of learning is a function of the intact mass of the cortex, more tissue,more learning
- equipotentiality: all parts of the cortex are essentially equal to another in terms of its contribution to learning.
what did Lorber (1980) do ?
- documented over 600 scans of people with hydrocephalus
- found pressure had been controlled and had ventricles
Describe wilder Penfield and cortical stimulation?
- involved in epilepsy
- Penfield electrically stimulated the cortex of patients undergoing surgery for focal epilepsy
- patients were awake and reported their experiences
- more than 1000 =all areas covered all cortex
- memories were reported only during stimulation of the temporal lobes
= memories stored in the temporal lobe
where did localisation of function ?
- lead to modern mapping( PET/FMRI/MEG)
what is PET?
- PET study of single word processing
- based on the idea amount of oxygen used = doing a task
- used subtraction method
What is EEG used for
- epilepsy
- sleep disorders
- brain death
- apply visual stimulus and auditory stimulus
what is EEG?
- A technique which measures local field potentials which are commonly referred to as brain waves
- these brain waves change depending on the mental state of the participant
- conditions such as epilepsy change brains waves and these can be localised using EEG.
what are EEG structural uses?
strucutral imaging= high resolution
- morphological research
Functional imaging - non-invasive - basic neuroscience research - some clinical applications primate replacements
MEG VS EEG
- MEG ; better spatial resolution
- magnetic fields not affected by a cap and the presence of the skull
- more sensitive to superficial cortical activity
HOWEVER - expensive
- not widely available
- does not get signal from cortical gyri
what is MRI ?
- non invasive
- uses radiofrequency waves in the presence of a large magnetic field
- MRI probes water molecules in different wats to produce images
what is an advantage of FMRI?
- can be used to pinpoint active regions of the brain under controlled conditions
