History of Neuropsychology

Question 1

Who was the first to attempt to tie together biological and psychological concepts?

Answer 1

Joseph Gall in phrenology, where different parts of the brain are responsible for different psychological functions

Question 2

Who were the two supporters of the aggregate field hypothesis?

Answer 2

Fluorens - systematically removed Gall areas and concluded that any part of the cerebral hemisphere could perform higher functions
Lashley - “mass action” hypothesis where size of the lesion corresponds to deficit (in memory)

Question 3

How do the discoveries of Broca and Wernicke support the idea of distributed processing?

Answer 3

Broca - patients with damage to area could not produce speech
Wernicke - patients with damage to are could not understand speech
Therefore - Individual areas of the brain perform specific functions, however, complex cognitive functions ivolve interactions between areas

Question 4

Which two researchers established the neurone doctrine?

Answer 4

Golgi & Ramon y Cajal, where neurones are the functional units of the brain that are organised into different groups interconnected by different neural pathways

Question 5

What are the 3 types of glial cells?

Answer 5

Oligodendrocytes - provide support for neurones and the myelin sheath
Astrocytes - support, insulation and ‘housekeeping’
Microglia - inflammatory response to infection and removal of dead tissue

Question 6

Describe the functions of astrocytes

Answer 6

Can provide energy in the form of lactate and can store energy in glycogen. Remove dead tissue via phagocytosis.