lecture 1- definitions and history

Question 1

what is behavioural neuroscience
define
behaviour
neuroscience

Answer 1

-behaviour - is anything that a living creature does in reaction to some kind of environmental stimulation

-neuroscience- the study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, the sensory/motor neurons) multiple approaches to take when studying the area

Question 2

behavioural neuroscience
areas
functional
developmental
anatomically
medical

Answer 2

functional - what do these areas do?
developmental- how does the nervous system develop over the lifetime?
anatomically - at the molecular level, the cellular level, the level of different brain regions and structures
medical- what happens when things go wrong , and how can they be treated

Question 3

what is localisation

Answer 3

i.e can certain behaviours or functions be attributed to particular areas of the brain

Question 4

egyptian medical records 2780 bce
-heart or head?
-what is the cardiocentric model

Answer 4

-links injuries to the head with deficits in the body
-against the key theory of the time
-against the key theory of the time
cardio centric model , suggests the heart is the key organ of the body

Question 5

The Hippocratic revolution 5th century-348bce
-alcmaeon (5th century BCE)
-hippocrates (460-370 BCE)
-plato (428-348 BCE)

Answer 5

-alcmaeon - the brain is the site of sensation and thought
-hippocrates : the brain is the controlling organ of the body
-plato - the triune soul-brain, heart and gut
brain-the intellect
the heart- anger,fear and pride
the gut- greed, desire and lower passions
the intellectual soul (that in the brain) is immortal

Question 6

aristotle 384-322 BCE
what was said about the brain

Answer 6

‘and of course the brain is not responsible for any of the sensations at all’ the correct view is that the seat and source of sensation is the region of the heart’

‘all sanguineous animals possess a heart, and both movement, and the dominant sense, perception, originate there’

Question 7

Aristotle problem

Answer 7

-observations limited to animals
-the majority of which were cold blooded , and small
-no clinical experience
-a pure biologist rather than an applied one

Question 8

galen 130-200 ad
-how did he carry our work
-what did he suggest

Answer 8

-most influential physician of the roman empire
-dissected a wide range of animals (including mammals)
-the first to number the cranial nerves, and suggest some might be for motor functions and some for sensory functions

-sensation and perception results from the conversion of vital spirits (in the heart) into animals spirits (in the brain)
-these spirits flow through the nerves and cause action/sensation

Question 9

Galen and localisation

Answer 9

-the basic components of intellect
-imagination/perception
-cognition
-memory

these components were independent of each other
-but for now no further attempt at localisation

Question 10

bishop nemesius and the ventricular doctrine (390 AD)

evidence?

Answer 10

-suggested the ventricles as the home of three components
:
perception- anterior ventricle
cognition- middle ventricles
memory-posterior ventricles

this was a widely accepted idea

-supported by early dissociation studies
eg damage to specific region= loss of that function

Question 11

the renaissance and hands on experience
-andreas Vesalius
-what did he say about ventricles

Answer 11

-studied in padua: access to human bodies.
-highlighted multiple instances where the human brain did not fit Galen’s descriptions
-urged study of anatomy via dissection
-rejected the ventricular doctrine

Question 12

localisation in the spinal cord
spinal cord has ___ nerves emerging from it.
what are these?

Answer 12

-dorsal (posterior) nerve: carries sensory information into the spinal cord
-ventral (anterior) nerve : carries motor signals to the muscles to produce movement

Question 13

what is the Bell-Magendie law

Answer 13

bell (1774-1842): motor functions of the ventral roots
Magendie (1783-1855): sensory functions of the dorsal roots

the law : the anterior nerves contain only motor fibres, the posterior roots only sensory fibres
- in bells 1811 pamphlet, he suggests that other parts of the brain could be assigned to sensory or motor roles- an early suggestion for localisation of function maybe?

Question 14

Franz Gall (1758-1828) and extreme localisation
-what did he say

Answer 14

-regions of the brain relate to specific functions and traits
-greater skill+ larger area / development
-greater development in the brain = matching development in the skull

Question 15

phrenology

Answer 15

-process that involves observing and/or feeling the skull to determine an individuals psychological attributes.
-eg measurements of bumps on the skull to predict traits

-the more spiritual the trait, the higher on the skull it is
-destructiveness: indicated by development above the ear etc

Question 16

what did people think of phrenology
-racism?

Answer 16

-general public loved it
-early pop psychology
-quickly commercialised

-was a massive component of 19th century scientific racism (implicated in certain things eg a persons face indicates whether they are likely to commit a crime or not.)
-remnants of phrenology in modern phrases -highbrow/lowbrow

Question 17

what is cortical equivalence
-marie jean pierre flourens (1794-1867)
-what did marie suggest
evidence?

Answer 17

-says that the cortex functions as a whole.
-every single part is responsible for every single other thing
-all parts are responsible for intelligence, the will and perception

-marie suggested that you should be able to destroy part of the brain,and the organism should continue to function as normal since ethe rest of the cortex will step in and take over
-he showed this in animal studies, where he destroyed the part of the cortex in cats frogs etc and showed recovery

Question 18

cortical equivalence
why did marie jean pierre find the results in his animal studies ?

Answer 18

-the animal subjects such as frogs and hens, these species have lower cortical dependency, so damage wasnt as bad for them
-when he used mammals with higher cortical dependency, he would use younger subjects such as kittens , and so they may have had higher plasticity (greater scope to recover)
-possibility of bias in interpretations (he hated phrenology)

Question 19

The Shift towards localisation
-when? how?
-Paul Broca and patient tan 1861

Answer 19

-patient tan, could only say tan, he could still understand
-left inferior frontal cortex was damaged
:language understanding was functional
language production was impaired

-this was therefore seen as evidence for localisation of language

Question 20

Paul broca -how come people listened to him despite others talking of localisation

Answer 20

-was the right person at the right time
-he had no previous ties to phrenology
-proposed site (for where language was in the brain ) did not fit with phrenological theories
-an extremely detailed case study provided

Question 21

case study
Phineas Gage
-what was Phinehas’s job and personality before and after his accident

Answer 21

pre accident
-was a railroad construction foreman
-was seen as responsible, intelligent and social

in 1848 had a blasting accident: damage to frontal cortex

post accident
-was changes in personality
-unreliable, disrespectful, lost his sense of social conventions and responsibility

Question 22

how did Phineas gage study support localisation

Answer 22

-the index case for personality change due to frontal lobe damage
-specifically for personality being located in the frontal lobe and things like control of impulses being located in the frontal lobe

initial reports on his case -there was no mention of cognitive changes

Question 23

importance of primary sources
-how can phineas gage case provide evidence for therapy

Answer 23

-provided very early evidence for therapies that have been used to treat people with frontal lobe damage.
-towards the end of his life he took an a job as a coach driver and he was very successful at this, this job required a lot of motor skill, cognitive skill, repetitive action
-this type of well structured task list/ well structured schedule is something that is used in treating people with frontal lobe damage today

Question 24

what is cytoarchitecture
theodor meynert 1833-1892

Answer 24

-even
-the cellular architecture of the brain
-noted variations in historical structures , according to regions (1867)
-Theodor looked at the brain and had drawings of brain in which he identifies that there are distinct regions in terms of cellular structure

Question 25

visualising cells
Franz Nissl (1860-1919)
The Nissl method

Answer 25

-stained the cell body highlighting different structures
-allowed examination of internal cell details

Question 26

Visualising cells
Camillo Golgi (1843-1926)
Golgi method

Answer 26

-silver nitrate staining solution
-stains selected cells in their entirety
-visualisation of axon, dendrite, and the length of the neuron possible

Question 27

using the golgi stain, what did santiago ramon y cajal (1852-1934) show
neuron doctrine

Answer 27

-modification of the golgi stain
-using this method it was shown that nerve cells are individual structures
-nerve cells are individual structures
-no physical connection between them

Question 28

what does the neuron doctrine state (1906)

Answer 28

-the brain is made up of individual units (cells)
-units are specialised depending on function
-they are connected by sites of contact (the synapse) not shared cytoplasm
-each synapse releases only one type of transmitter

Question 29

localisation now

Answer 29

-brain regions can be related to specific functions / behaviours
-but no one part of the brain is an island
-vast interconnections between the regions and structures
-the connections are similarly important in understanding how behaviours may be affected / controlled
-neither extreme suits what we observe-and other factors will influence behaviour and development as well

Question 30

lateralisation of function
-where is the localisation of certain functions to either the left or right hemisphere

Answer 30

-broadly
-language localised to the left hemisphere
-face recognition localised to the right hemisphere
-emotions localised to the RH (varying theories)