Lecture 6: A History Of Psychology & Neuroscience

Question 1

Edwin smith papyrus

Answer 1

Papyrus from ancient Egypt that contains short descriptions of the symptoms and treatment of different forms of brain injury

Question 2

Animal spirits

Answer 2

Spirits that were thought by Galen to travel over the nerves between the ventricles in the brain and the body

Question 3

ventricles

Answer 3

Aperture in the middle of the brain, which for a long time were thought to contain perceptions, memories and thoughts

Question 4

What are 3 developments in the renaissance regarding the brain

Answer 4

1. The continuing primacy of the ventricles
2. Differentiation between the ventricles
3. Speech problems can be caused by brain injury

Question 5

What are 3 developments in the 17th and 18th century regarding the brain

Answer 5

1. The brain instead of the ventricles
2. Increased interest in reflexes
3. A proposed treatment fro brain injury

Question 6

Reflex arc

Answer 6

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

Question 7

brain equipotentiality theory

Answer 7

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

Question 8

Localization theory

Answer 8

Theory saying that brain processes are localized, meaning that only part of the brain underlies a particular mental function

Question 9

What are 5 breakthroughs of the 19th century that altered the model of brain functioning

Answer 9

1. The discovery of the cerebrospinal axis
2. Growing focus on reflexes
3. Localization of brain functions
4. The discovery of the nerve cell
5. Disentangling communication in the nervous system

Question 10

Neuron

Answer 10

Brain cell; basic unit of the nervous system; contains a cell body, dendrites and an axon

Question 11

Neurotransmitter

Answer 11

Chemical substance used to communicate between neurons; is released from the synapse when a signal arrives through the axon; can be affected by drugs

Question 12

EEG

Answer 12

Outcome of measurement of electrical brain activity by means of sensors placed on the scalp; routinely used in hospitals for the detection of epilepsy

Question 13

Event Related Potentials (ERP)

Answer 13

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

Question 14

MEG

Answer 14

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

Question 15

PET

Answer 15

Brain imaging technique based on measurement of a radioactive tracer injected into the bloodstream

Question 16

fMRI

Answer 16

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)

Question 17

TMS

Answer 17

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

Question 18

What was Galen’s most important contribution

Answer 18

The importance of the ventricles and the discovery of nerve pathways that come from the brain

Question 19

What was Vesalius’ most important contribution

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Where did Descartes say the soul and body meet

Answer 20

In the pineal gland

Question 21

What was Descartes’ theory of reflexes

Answer 21

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

Question 22

What was Thomas Willis’ most important contribution

Answer 22

Developed neural functional organization, higher brain structures for more advanced organisms and more complex functions; lower structures for more elementary functions

Question 23

What was Gall’s most important contribution

Answer 23

Differences in predisposition can be seen in cortical development —> large area = more developed

Question 24

What were Flourens’ 2 most important contribution

Answer 24

• Equipotentiality theory
• Located certain brain areas by removing/stimulating areas in animals

Question 25

What was Jackson’s most important contribution

Answer 25

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

Question 26

What was Golgi’s most important contribution

Answer 26

Discovered that it was possible to make parts of the brain visible with staining tissue

Question 27

What was Cajal’s most important contribution

Answer 27

Individual neurons instead of continuous network

Question 28

What was considered the centre of emotions first and what was it later

Answer 28

First hypothalamus, then amygdala

Question 29

What is the triune brain

Answer 29

A brain that consists of 3 systems that are responsible for different things

Question 30

What was Hebb’s most important contribution

Answer 30

As the connection between neuron A and neuron B is used more often is becomes stronger (cell that fire together, wire together)

Question 31

What are the 3 laws of Alexandr Luria

Answer 31

1. Law of hierarchical structure; cortical areas have a dominant role in relation to secondary, lower-lying areas
2. Law of diminishing specificity; the further info in processed in the brain, the less specific, global and abstract it will be
3. Law of progressive lateralization; in the (cortical) hemispheres more functional lateralization can be found than in lower lying areas

Question 32

Who was the first person to discover the EEG

Answer 32

Hans Berger - first time we could visualize brain activity (1929)

Question 33

Where did Plato and Aristotle think the soul was located

Answer 33

Plato - brain
Aristotle - heart

Question 34

What was an important contribution of Descartes with regards to the body and soul

Answer 34

He introduced some mechanical ideas about the body and behavior; everything was basically just a mechanical routine

Question 35

Who termed Gall’s method of looking at the skull and what did they name it

Answer 35

Spurzheim; Phrenology

Question 36

What happens to people with damage in Broca’s/Wernicke’s area

Answer 36

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.

Question 37

What did Fritz and Hitzig accomplish

Answer 37

They stimulated dog brains and experimentally showed cortical localization

Question 38

What is reticularism and did Golgi support it or not

Answer 38

The brain is a continuous network; Golgi supporter this

Question 39

What was the view on where emotions and logic/rationality resides according to cannon and bard

Answer 39

Hypothalamus; emotions, drives, unconsciousness, irrationality
Cortex; rationality, logic, consciousness, control

Question 40

Explain the visceral brain concept by MacLean and how this could be used in clinical practice

Answer 40

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.

Question 41

Explain the triune brain by MacLean and why it is a good/not good explanation

Answer 41

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)