Introduction

Question 1

What is the definition of Clinical Neuroscience?

Answer 1

the scientific study of disorders and disease of the nervous system

Question 2

What are the 3 overlapping disciplines that combine to make clinical neuroscience?

Answer 2

1. neurology
2. psychiatry
3. neuroscience

Question 3

What is neurology?

Answer 3

medical specialty that goes over diseases, conditions, and infections of the NERVOUS SYSTEM (cns and pns). associated with physical changes in the nervous system

Question 4

What is psychiatry?

Answer 4

medical specialty that goes over the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mental illnesses (like addition and substance abuse) –> physical changes in NS are not as obvious

Question 5

What is Neuroscience?

Answer 5

scientific study of the brain and nervous system like molecular neuroscience, cellular neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, psychophysics and computational modeling
(basically non-medical and more science studies)

Question 6

what century was the beginning of scientific studies on the brain?

Answer 6

17th century

Question 7

which centuries did neurology and psychiatry split?

Answer 7

19th - 20th centuries

Question 8

What century did neurology and psychiatry come back to form clinical neuroscience?

Answer 8

21st century

Question 9

in 300 BC what was the main idea about brain functioning?

Answer 9

• brain was recognized to be the main controlling centre in the body and that the heart was used for perception and feelings.
• Aristotle thought that brain cooled the passions of the heart (brain was like a cooler)

Question 10

in 100BC what was the main idea about brain functioning?

Answer 10

• based around ideas by Galen and his focus on ANIMALS
• he introduced the idea of spirits that circulated between the liver, the heart and the brain
• he also said that spirits were produced in the lining of the ventricles of the brain and flowed into nerves to make a movement [there was connection between the brain and the body via ventricles]
• ‘rational soul’ (decision making center) was thought to be in the brain via Galen

Question 11

Andreus Vesalius (1514-1564) and dissection

Answer 11

• founded modern anatomy through dissection of humans
• proved some areas of Galen’s anatomy to be wrong, through differences of artery placements on the brain in animals (examined by Galen) and humans

Question 12

Rene Descartes (1596-1650)

Answer 12

stated that everything in the brain was produced double except the pineal gland, therefore he hypothesized that the pineal gland put everything (spirits) together

• he proposed that spirits flowed to and from the pineal gland via nerves
• he recognized existence of reflexes but did not coin this term

Question 13

Three major concepts promoted by Descartes

Answer 13

1. only humans have a thinking mind (animals cant experience emotions therefore cannot be used for the benefit of human trials) called them “stimulus-response machines”
2. dualism: mind (immaterial) and body (material) are separate
3. Mind and body interact in the PINEAL gland. which directs flow of spirits through nervous system via nerves

Question 14

Thomas Willis (1621-1675)

Answer 14

• modernized the scientific study of the brain and nerves

- worked with scholars called Virtuosi and did dissections of the brain

Question 15

Key contributions of Thomas Willis

Answer 15

• circle of willis (series of blood vessels on the ventral surface of the brain)
• concluded that the cerebral cortex was the site of higher functions and actions and sensations were mediated by the nerves not by ventricles
• proposed the difference between immortal soul (only human soul) and material soul (soul shared by all animals and humans) and said that animals had perception, cognition and memory that could be studied for humans as well (unlike descartes)
• introduced the term ‘neurology’ to describe the peripheral nerves and coined the term reflexion for describing rapid automatic reactions (now called reflexes)
• observed mental disorders like hysteria, depression, epilepsy…etc..

Question 16

When did scientific thinking flourish and what was it driven by?

Answer 16

it flourished in the Renaissance, and it was driven by the idea that natural laws can explain the workings of the material world (started in 14th century)

Question 17

Luigi Galvani (1737-1798) contributions

Answer 17

obtained INDIRECT evidence that theres intrinsic electrical activity in the nervous system
- Measured directly in mid 1800s by Bois-Reymond using the sensitive galvanometers (made by galvani) and applied electrical stimulation to cause contractility in the limbs of the frog

Question 18

Franz Gall (1758-1828) contribution to functional localization of the brain

Answer 18

• created phrenology
• read the bumps and dips of head and made a map of what those areas meant
• it was completely wrong but still contributed to the movement of more scientists researching of the human brain

Question 19

Paul Broca (1824-1880) contribution to functional localization in the brain

Answer 19

• correlated pathology of the brain with behavior
• had patient “tan” with damage to left frontal lobe
• contributed to present that theres strong functional asymmetry in the brain

Question 20

Jean Martin Charcot (1825-1893) contribution to clinical neurology

Answer 20

• founder of modern clinical neurology
• formalized review of signs and symptoms and examined NS in postmortems
• described classification of many disorders like MS, parkingsons, and ALS)
• studied complex behaviors like hyesteria

Question 21

Wilder Penfield (1891- 1976) and localization of disease and normal function int he human brain

Answer 21

• described the homunculus in the brain

- showed that surgical removal of epileptic tissue could cure patients from seizures

Question 22

How has science changed to allow for linking complex functions like memory and emotion to brain network

Answer 22

technical advances in medicine like use of MRI, PET, EEG and genetics have allowed to study objectively the brain and also progressive introduction of animal models

Question 23

Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) contribution to emotions linked with brain network…etc..

Answer 23

• described and focused on cerebral palsy
• wanted to understand the basis of our complex actions
• focused on motivations and drives that can be unconscious

Question 24

Camillo Golgi (1843-1926) and visualizing the neurons and network contribution

Answer 24

• developed a staining method called golgi stain that allow visualization of tissue

Question 25

Santiago Ramon Y Cajal contribution to visualizing the neurons and network

Answer 25

used golgi staining for nerves and axon tracking and the concept of unidirectional flow of information along nerve cells

Question 26

Donald Hebb’s contribution to synapse and memory in the brain

Answer 26

developed theory of learning based on synchronous firing of neurons (neurons that activate at the same time might code for something together)

Question 27

Brenda Milner and contribution to memory in the brain

Answer 27

• studied patients with brain lesions
• discovered memory for facts (explicit memory) and how it uses a different set of neuronal network than memory for skills (implicit memory)
• emphasized role of hippocampus in memory
• working on difference between right and left hemisphere

Question 28

Jospeh LeDoux and contribution to linking emotion to neural circuit

Answer 28

• works on fear coniditoning using pavlovian conditioning of fear in rats
• studying synaptic changes in response to fear conditioning
• looks at anatomy and electrophysiology
• emphasizes role of beta blocker
  (looks at associations between stimulus eliciting negative response because it was previously associated with a negative concept in the past like PTSD

Question 29

Antonio Damasio contribution to linking emotion to neural circuit

Answer 29

• studied convergence of information and then divergence
• understganding autobiographical selves (memory of ourselves based on memory formed and recalled)
• looked at emotion via brain imaging and recording