Lecture 1 - historical Flashcards
What are the 2 levels of anaylsis of Bio Psych?
Generalisation - Observations become general laws - e.g. cc
Reductionism - Simple terms explain complex phenomena - e.g. molecular processes
what were the egyptians ideas about the mind?
Preserved all the organs, but not the brain, didnt think it was important
What were india + chinas ideas about the mind
Heart was seat of thought and emotions
- It changes with emotions
What were the Bible + New Testaments ideas about the mind?
No mention of brain, but argued:
Heart = passion
Stomach = Courage
Bowels = Pity
What are the 5 important figures in ancient greece
Hippocrates Plato Aristolte Herophilius Galen
What were Hippocrates ideaas about the mind
Brain is responsible for remtoion, thinking, perceiving, ethics and judgement.
Didnt think the gods created illness, thought it was the imbalance of the 4 humours
What were Plato’s ideas about the mind?
Rejected humours. Argued soul has 3 parts 1) Reason and perception in the head 2) Noble passions (courage/pride) in heart 3) Base passions (greed/lust) in liver
What were Herophilius ideas about the mind?
Father of anatomy
Dissected bodies and animals
Found that each body region is connected to seperate nerves - linking to spine
What were Galens ideas about the mind?
Father of medicine
Treated injured gladiators
Saw how certain brain injuries lead to loss of certain abilities
Dissections - conluced that the brain is the organ of sensation and voluntary movement
What were Hippocrates 4 humours?
Blood, Black Bile, Yellow bile, Phlegm
What were Aristotles 4 sources of happiness?
Hedone (sensourous pleasure)
Dialogike (logical investigation)
Propraitari (Acquiring assets)
Ethikos (moral virtue)
What were Galens 4 temperaments
Sanguine
melancholic
Choleric
Phlegmatic
What were the point of Galens temperaments?
Bodily dispositions that determined a persons behaviour and susceptibility to disease.
Affected by food, seasons, blood letting
Who were the 2 important people in the Renaissance
Da Vinci and Descartes
What was Da Vinci’s contribution to this?
Studied anatomy - drew nerves in arm and ventrices in brain
What was Descartes contribution?
Cartesian Dualism - Argued the body and soul met in the pineal gland.
And that the pineal glad causes fluid to flow into nerves, causing muscles to move.
He argued we move via nervous activity flowing to the brain and back to muscles - automatic reflex, without the brain
Who was the key figure in end of 17thC - mid 18thC?
Dr Thomas Willis
what were the key ideas in end of 17thC - mid 18thC?
Electricity
Brain seen as a electric generator, nerves were wires and electrical fluid flowed
What did Thomas Willis do?
Descriptions on structure, blood circulation in brain, and brain disorders - “Brain is the organ that controls and co-ordinates behaviour”
Who did experiments in 18th C?
Johannes Müller and Luigi Galvanis
What did Johannes Müller do?
‘Doctrine of Specific Nerve energies’
- although nerves carry same signals, they convey different messages as they end in different parts of brain
What did Luigi Galvanis do ?
Electrically stimulated amputated frogs leges, made them move independently of brain
Who pioneered Phrenology/
Franz Gall
What did Franz Gall do?
Phreonology - by feeling areas of the skull - you can feel which areas are for specific behaviours. 1st instance of Localisation of function
Whats a limitation of Pheronology?
X - not Very valid, tend to see what you want to see
How does PET currently investigate Localisation of function?
Localisation now refers to areas of peak activity, not specific locations.
Other places are just less active and not necessarily involved with the current behaviour
Who pioneered the movement against Phrenology?
Marie Jean Pierre Flourens
What did Marie Jean Pierre Flourens do?
Experimental lesions (Ablation) and electricutions in rats, concluded correctly:
- intellect is in cerebral cortex
- Lower brain is for bodily functions
- Coordination and movements in Cerebellum
Who found 19th C localised Findings?
John Hughlings Jackson and Broca & Wernicke
What did John Hughlings Jackson do?
Found lesions to right side of brain affected visual spatial processes more than left side
What did Broca and Wernicke do?
Lesions to specific parts of left side affected different language functions
Who did observations in 19th C?
Darwin
What did Darwin find?
natural selection and selective advantage.
Functionalism - characteristics of living organisims which have useful functions
What centru was evolution around?
20thC
What did evolution talk about?
Mutations and genetic variability
Who did experiments in 19thC?
Hermann von Helm-Holtz
Fritsch + Hitzig (1890)
What did Hermann von Helm-Holtz do?
Measured speed of nerve conduction, 90 ft/sec
Argued all human physiology is subject to laws of nature
What did Fritsch + Hitzig (1890) do?
Electircally Stimulated primary motor cortex of a dog - makes muscles contract.
Who investigated how the brain is made of cells?
anton van leeuwenhoek (1674)
Camillo Golgi
Santiago Ramon Y Cajal
What did anton van leeuwenhoek (1674) do?
Used a primitive microscope to view a bundle of nerves
What did Camillo Golgi do?
Used a stain to reveal the complexity of neurons
What did Santiago Ramon Y Cajal do?
used a stain to show that nerve cells are individual components connected to each other
What are the types of neurons (motor etc)?
Sensory (receive info from outside world)
Motor Neurons (Controls muscle movement)
Interneurons (local and relay) - Lie within CNS, no sheaths so they can travel faster
What are the 4 typical regions of neurons?
1) Cell body/ Soma - intergrates info, protein synthesis
2) Dendrites - receive info
3) Axons - transmit info
4) Terminal buttons - communication with other neurons
What are the structural types of neurons?
1) Pseudo-unipolar neurons - e.g. sensory neuron of spinal reflex arc
2) Bipolar neuron - e.g. 2nd relay cell of retina
3) Multipolar neuron - e.g. motor neuron in spinal reflex arc
What are the 3 types of support cells?
1) Astrocytes
2) Oligodendrocytes
3) Microglia
What do Astrocytes do?
- Physical support
- Clean debris into blood (phagocytes)
- Produce chemicals for neurons
- Provide noursihment (lactate)
- Isolate synapses
What do Oligodendroctyes do?
- Support axons and produce myeling sheath
- Schwann cells in periphery
What do microglia do?
- Phagocytosis
- immune system of the brain
- inflammatory response to damage
Why should you insulate axons?
- speed up transmission and prevent signals from jumping out of cell
What does the arrival of an Action potential do to another neuron/
Changes the membrane potential! Decides whetehr or not to fire also.
If change in balance/ charge of ions is above threshold (-55mv) - determined by balanc of positiveley/negativel charged ions