Notes : Topic 1

Question 1

Why is the brain the most complex organ on earth

Answer 1

there’s is still a lot we dont understand, our brain influences our thoughts and behaviours and is involved with 80 billion neurons!!

Question 2

How would a Behaviourist define behaviour?

Answer 2

They would say that behaviour is caused only by Overt (external) actions and that we learn to act a specific away through experiences and environmental stimuli

Question 3

How would a cognitive psychologist define behaviour?

Answer 3

that behaviour is caused by both Overt and Covert actions

Question 4

What is the difference between Innate behaviours and learned behaviours

Answer 4

Innate behaviours: inherited behaviours that are fixed (can’t be changed) and have a genetic factor

Learned behaviours; not inherited but learned through experience

Question 5

An example of an innate behaviour are “fixed action patterns,” what are these

Answer 5

They are an instinctive behavioural sequence
eg. when a dog sees a cat, it has the instinct to chase it

Question 6

What did Aristotle believe about the brain and behaviour

Answer 6

That the brain was NOT involved in producing behaviour, the heart was. The heart was related to our conscious and filtered out blood

Question 7

According to Aristotle, the ______ is what makes people who they are, it is composed of the mind and consciousness.

Answer 7

the “Psych”

Question 8

What is “Mentalism?” (Aristotle)

Answer 8

the belief that behaviour is the product of an immaterial mind

Question 9

Who created Dualism?

Answer 9

Rene Descartes

Question 10

According to Dualism, how does brain and behaviour relate to one another?

Answer 10

The mind and the body are separate, but they connect to one another

Question 11

According to Dualism, how exactly (biologically) does the mind and body connect

Answer 11

The mind connects to the body by the Pineal Gland.
The pineal gland controls the flow of fluid through ventricles to fill muscles and cause movement

Question 12

Why did Rene Descartes believe that the Pineal Gland connects the body and mind

Answer 12

Because it was located in a place that made in non symmetrical with the other parts of the brain

Question 13

What is “Monism?”

Answer 13

The idea that the mind and the body consist of the same substance (directly tied to one another)

Question 14

What is “Materialistic Monism” and why is it different from just monism

Answer 14

Materialistic monism is the idea that both the mind and body are psychical .
Monism just says that they are the same but doesn’t exactly say “what” it is

Question 15

What is materialism?

Answer 15

The idea that behaviour can be explained by the body, specifically the nervous system, we dont need to consider consciousness

Question 16

Who created the idea of Materialism?

Answer 16

Darwin

Question 17

Who used electricity to stimulate nerves, specifically by electrocuting frog legs?

Answer 17

Luigi Galvani

Question 18

How did Fritsch and Hitzig produce movement? What animal did they work with?

Answer 18

they electrically stimulated certain parts of the brain of dogs, hoping it could cause the dog to move a certain way

Question 19

Because Fritsch and Hitzig electrically stimulated brains, what were their findings?

Answer 19

its not just 1 nerve that connects to one muscle. Stimulating the brain directly causes THROUGH MULTIPLE electrical signals

Question 20

Who demonstrated that nerves DO NOT behave like conducting wires, because they move much slower?

Answer 20

Hermann Heimholtz

Question 21

What did Walter Dixon figure out and how?

Answer 21

That chemicals are also involved in signals, not just neurons.

there is liquid around a stimulated heart that slows it down. He used the same liquid on an unstimulated heart, which made it slow down as well.

Question 22

What is Localization and what is Equipotentiality?

Answer 22

Localization is the idea that specific areas of the brain are in charge and in charge only of once specific function.
Equipotentiality is the idea that the brain functions as a whole (everything works tougher)

we are actually a little bit of both