History of the brain Flashcards
The Ancient Egyptians + The Brain
First reference to the brain was recorded
Papyrus documented cases of brain injury influencing beh
when mummifying the dead they removed threw away the brain
Ancient Greeks - Plato + The soul
First account of mind/soul
- Believe it had 3 parts: Logos (reason) , Thymos (emotion), Eros (desire)
Ancient Greeks -Aristotle + The soul + Mind
Believed 3 main divisions of the mind
- imagination
-Reasoning-
-Memory
Believed brain was only to cool blood
Believed mind + soul is separate to the body
Hippocrates Materialism
- Brain alone underlies beh (brain does everything = materialism)
- Injuries in one side of head lead to convulsions in the opposite side of the body
- mind results from activity of the brain
Gallen+Materialism + Humours
- Believed water filled ventricles in the brain sent fluids/ humours along nerves
Black Bile = Wisdom
Yellow= anger
Blood= optimism
Phlegm = relaxation
difference in balance of humours explains disturbances in mood
trepidation changes humours
Descartes + Dualism
- Belief that there is a mind and a brain
-Brain controlled the body like a machine
-simple beh controlled by nerves carrying info to + from ventricles
-Higher mental facullies require a mind - Pineal gland controls flow of info to body/ mind
- mental illness is a lost connection connection between mind + brain
Charcot+ Dualism
discovered that it was damage to the brain ( rather than disconnection from mind ) that explained neurological conditions
Thomas Willis - Father of Neuroscience
- came up with the terms : cerebral cortex, corpus callosum
-located specific mental functions (he was wrong but was the first attempt to give function to the brain rather than ventricles)
Gall + phrenology - localisation of function + skull
-Differences in beh would be reflected by growth of parts of the brain ( measure bumps on the skull)
- Believed could tell someone personality by feeling their scull
-flawed: brain too soft to influence bone
fluorenes - Equipotentiality
- Direct challenge to phrenology + localisation
- Believe the brain functions as a whole
Broca - Brain lesions support localisation
-patient with damage in left frontal region could only say the word Tan
- The lesion affected his ability to speak but could understand language
cajal +neuron doctrine
- Noticed bumps at end of axons suggesting that the neuron were distinct entities ( neuron doctrine)
suggested axons send info + dendrites receive info - neuron doctrine concept is that the brain is composed of discrete neurons
Techniques in cognitive neuroscience _ face Recognition
- Damage to regions in temporal lobe can lead to prosopagnosia (face blindness)
Single Neuron Recordings
-Record electrical activity of brain cells (action potential)
-Number of AP is averaged over many trials, giving indication of response to one Stimulus
-Invasive:used on animals
Electroencephalography (EEG) + Magnetoencephalography (MEG)
-Non-invasive to record electrical activity from the brain
- Electrodes placed on scalp
-Response to task is measured, generates peaks + troughs which relate to cog functions
-contour maps infer which regions of the brain are active at What time
-MEG measures magnetic signals which aren’t affected by the skull/ scalp
