Test 1: Intro and History Flashcards
Historically, what has been considered as “behavior?”
anything publicly observable
What was the predominant approach to studying the mind from 1910 to the 50s and 60s?
Behaviorism
What did behaviorists measure and what was their main focus?
Stimuli and responses; interested in the unknowable black box in between the two
Historically, what was the “mind” considered?
More like our idea of “soul;” something abstract
What is/was the neuroscience approach to the mind?
The mind is what the brain does; it is the result of overall brain activity
“The mind is an enormous unreachable space”
Heraclitus 6th c. BC
Believed the heart was the source of nervous control; “the seat of the soul”
Aristotle 4th c. BC
What two things did early brain dissections reveal?
the brain controlled the nervous system (sensing and moving) and it had nothing to do with thinking and the “soul”
Compared the brain to aqueducts and sewers; fluid mechanics; emphasized the cerebroventricular system (the fluid filled chambers in the brain)
Galen 2nd c. BC
Identified the 4 “humors”
Galen
The 4 “humors”
- blood: vital living spirit
- phlegm: sluggishness
- black bile: melancholy/depression
- yellow bile: temper
Identified the eye as an optical instrument
Johannes Kepler
Identified that the ear transforms sound
Thomas Willis
Believed that man = machine
La Mettrie
What idea did the mechanistic thinking of the 18th century lead to?
Dualism
What did Descartes believe seperated animals from humans?
What was his famous quote?
Bodies (the machine) are common among animals
The mind is exclusively human and therefore should be studied seperately
“I think therefore I am”
What did medical investigations of injured soldiers reveal about the mind?
It connected behavioral problems with brain damage
Lesion approach
Cause damage to the brain and study the behavioral consequences (animal studies)
Phrenology
Studied bumps on skull to assess personality
Different characteristics were localized in different places in the brain
Who was the father of phrenology?
Franz Joseph Gall
early 19th century
What did early neuroscientists believe about the layers of the brain they studied?
The deeper layers were more primitive
Upper layers were for more complex thought and were more recent in evolution
What did advances in staining and microscopic methods lead to?
The discovery of neurons and neuroglia
Camillo Golgi
the brain is composed of a complex net of large multinucleated cells
Santiago Ramon y Cajal
the brain is composed of nerve cells linked together by long extensions (correct: axons)
