Lecture 6: A History Of Psychology & Neuroscience Flashcards
Edwin smith papyrus
Papyrus from ancient Egypt that contains short descriptions of the symptoms and treatment of different forms of brain injury
Animal spirits
Spirits that were thought by Galen to travel over the nerves between the ventricles in the brain and the body
ventricles
Aperture in the middle of the brain, which for a long time were thought to contain perceptions, memories and thoughts
What are 3 developments in the renaissance regarding the brain
- The continuing primacy of the ventricles
- Differentiation between the ventricles
- Speech problems can be caused by brain injury
What are 3 developments in the 17th and 18th century regarding the brain
- The brain instead of the ventricles
- Increased interest in reflexes
- A proposed treatment fro brain injury
Reflex arc
Notion introduced in the 19th century by Marshall Hall to describe the processes underlying a reflex; a signal is picked up by sensory receptors, transmitted to the spinal cord through an affront nerve, transferred to inter neurons, which activate motor neurons that send command over an efferent nerve to initiate the withdrawal movement
brain equipotentiality theory
Theory saying that all parts of the brain have equal significance and are involved in each task; first thought to apply to the complete brain; since the 19th century limited to the cerebral hemispheres
Localization theory
Theory saying that brain processes are localized, meaning that only part of the brain underlies a particular mental function
What are 5 breakthroughs of the 19th century that altered the model of brain functioning
- The discovery of the cerebrospinal axis
- Growing focus on reflexes
- Localization of brain functions
- The discovery of the nerve cell
- Disentangling communication in the nervous system
Neuron
Brain cell; basic unit of the nervous system; contains a cell body, dendrites and an axon
Neurotransmitter
Chemical substance used to communicate between neurons; is released from the synapse when a signal arrives through the axon; can be affected by drugs
EEG
Outcome of measurement of electrical brain activity by means of sensors placed on the scalp; routinely used in hospitals for the detection of epilepsy
Event Related Potentials (ERP)
Signal obtained by averaging the EEG stimuli that are repeated a number of times; allows researchers to look for differences in the signal as a function of characteristics of the stimulus
MEG
Measurement of the electrical brain activity by means of measurement of the magnetic field around the head; is one of the most promising brain imaging techniques, because it has the potential of both high temporal and spatial resolution
PET
Brain imaging technique based on measurement of a radioactive tracer injected into the bloodstream
fMRI
Brain imaging technique based on the measurement of blood with oxygen vs without; currently the most popular technique because of its high spatial resolution (allows good localization) but has low temporal resolution (slow)
TMS
Stimulation of a brain region by means of a coil placed on the head; allows temporary interference with the processing of a small part of the brain
What was Galen’s most important contribution
The importance of the ventricles and the discovery of nerve pathways that come from the brain
What was Vesalius’ most important contribution
Continued Galen’s work on ventricles and established three ventricles in the brain:
1. common sense, fantasy
2. thoughts
3. memory
—> this was the first functional division of the brain
Where did Descartes say the soul and body meet
In the pineal gland
What was Descartes’ theory of reflexes
A sensory sensation travels through the nerves, its bounced back through the same nerves as a mirror in the brain and that leads to (involuntary) behavior
What was Thomas Willis’ most important contribution
Developed neural functional organization, higher brain structures for more advanced organisms and more complex functions; lower structures for more elementary functions
What was Gall’s most important contribution
Differences in predisposition can be seen in cortical development —> large area = more developed
What were Flourens’ 2 most important contribution
- Equipotentiality theory
- Located certain brain areas by removing/stimulating areas in animals
What was Jackson’s most important contribution
Applied ‘survival of the fittest’ idea to brain; evolutionary oldest are at the bottom of the brain, newest areas at the top —> higher areas integrate input from lower areas
What was Golgi’s most important contribution
Discovered that it was possible to make parts of the brain visible with staining tissue
What was Cajal’s most important contribution
Individual neurons instead of continuous network
What was considered the centre of emotions first and what was it later
First hypothalamus, then amygdala
What is the triune brain
A brain that consists of 3 systems that are responsible for different things
What was Hebb’s most important contribution
As the connection between neuron A and neuron B is used more often is becomes stronger (cell that fire together, wire together)
What are the 3 laws of Alexandr Luria
- Law of hierarchical structure; cortical areas have a dominant role in relation to secondary, lower-lying areas
- Law of diminishing specificity; the further info in processed in the brain, the less specific, global and abstract it will be
- Law of progressive lateralization; in the (cortical) hemispheres more functional lateralization can be found than in lower lying areas
Who was the first person to discover the EEG
Hans Berger - first time we could visualize brain activity (1929)
Where did Plato and Aristotle think the soul was located
Plato - brain
Aristotle - heart
What was an important contribution of Descartes with regards to the body and soul
He introduced some mechanical ideas about the body and behavior; everything was basically just a mechanical routine
Who termed Gall’s method of looking at the skull and what did they name it
Spurzheim; Phrenology
What happens to people with damage in Broca’s/Wernicke’s area
Whereas individuals with damage to Broca’s area have difficulty producing language, those with damage to Wernicke’s area can produce sensible language, but they are unable to understand it.
What did Fritz and Hitzig accomplish
They stimulated dog brains and experimentally showed cortical localization
What is reticularism and did Golgi support it or not
The brain is a continuous network; Golgi supporter this
What was the view on where emotions and logic/rationality resides according to cannon and bard
Hypothalamus; emotions, drives, unconsciousness, irrationality
Cortex; rationality, logic, consciousness, control
Explain the visceral brain concept by MacLean and how this could be used in clinical practice
Visceral brain is important for oral and sexual behavior, it basically represented the id (Freud) and it was not a verbal brain but an associative brain. The cortex was the rational brain and could use language.
In clinical practice you could see that people showing neurotics were stuck in the genital phase but they could talk about the problems they were having which meant they could use the cortex, which meant that talking could be used as a way to blow off steam. For psychosomatic diseases people couldn’t put their emotions into words properly so they could only express themselves through what MacLean called organ language.
Explain the triune brain by MacLean and why it is a good/not good explanation
This was an evolutionary perspective on the brain. He said that the brain consists of 3 systems (from lowest to highest); the reptilian brain (brain stem; basic functions), the paleo-mammalian brain (limbic system; emotions) and the neo-mammalian brain (cortex: rationality). These different brains are evolutionary not very well aligned and therefore there can be conflicts between them sometimes.
It is an attractive system because of its simplicity but that is also why it isn’t correct because many functions can be located in multiple areas of the brain (many parts of the brain are involved in emotions)
