Week 1: Introduction Flashcards
Biological Psychology
The study of genes, nerves, neurotransmitters, brain circuitry and basic biological processes that underlie behavior.
Aristotle (382-322 BC)
Cardiocentric View
- Localization of function is in the heart
- The heart initiates thought and behavior.
- It is the root of intelligence and source of nerves in the body
Hippocrates (430-350 BC)
Cephalocentric (Brain) View
Heredity: The child “is healthy when it comes from healthy parts, diseased when it comes from diseased parts”
Homeostasis: Health is primarily that state in which these humors are in the correct proportion to each other, both in strength and quantity, and are well mixed. Pain occurs when one of the substances presents either a deficiency or an excess, or is separated in the body and not mixed with others”
Galen (130 - 200 AD)
- Father of Experimental Physiology
- First to study the structure of the nervous system through dissection and observation
- Arteries carry blood, not water, to parts of the body
-Described valves of the heart - Observations around bones, muscles, and nerves
- Physician to gladiators –prevention through hygiene and nutrition
- Advanced Hippocrates’ bodily humors theory –Typology of Human Temperament
Rene Descartes (1596 - 1650)
Father of Modern Philosophy
- Concept of the Reflex –likened to hydraulics of machines
- The mind affects the body through a brain structure called the pineal gland
- The pineal gland (seat of the soul) is full of animal spirits
- Nerves are hollow tubes allowing flow of “animal spirits” which inflates muscles causing the withdraw movement.
- First systematic account of Mind-Body relationship
Monism: Universe is made up of one substance. Dualism: Mind and body are different kinds of substance that exist independently.
▪Cartesian Dualism: The mind and body are two fundamental, independent substances
▪The mind is invisible –consciousness
▪The body has a physical size that occupies space
▪Non-material soul and a material body
▪The pineal gland is point of contact
Thomas Willis (1621-1675)
Founder of Neurology
Comparative anatomist
Assigned behavioral and physiologic functions to the brain
Discovered the Circle of Willis –circle of arteries at base of the brain
Johannes Peter Muller(1801-1858)
Physiologist and comparative anatomist
First to experimentally isolate components of the nervous system to see how they function; e.g., distinguishing afferent from efferent fibers Doctrine of Nerve Energies: The nature of perception is defined by the pathway over which the sensory information is carried. The origin of the sensation (i.e., the stimulus) is not important
E.g., optic nerve for seeing versus auditory nerve for hearing
Charles Darwin (1809-1882)
Principle of Natural Selection: A process in nature by which only the organisms best adapted to their environment tend to survive and transmit their genetic characters in increasing numbers to succeeding generations while those less adapted tend to be eliminated
➢Principle of functionalism: In order to understand a biological phenomenon, you must understand how it functionally serves the organism
Santiago Ramon Cajal (1852-1934)
▪Father of modern Neuroscience
▪Used Golgi stain to demonstrate that cells are separate and do not merely merge into one another ▪Neuron Theory: the relationship between nerve cells is not one of continuity, but rather contiguity ▪Provided detailed description of cell types in the CNS associated with neuronal structures
(Golgi Stain = Silver staining method by Camillo Golgi)
Biological Explanations of Behavior: Evolutionary
explains behavior via evolutionary history of the structure/behavior (A evolved from B)
Biological Explanations of Behavior: Functional
why a structure or behavior evolved (natural selection).
Biological Explanations of Behavior: Physiological
relates behavior to activity of the brain/organs.
Biological Explanations of Behavior: Ontogenetic
describes how behavior developed via gene X environment.
How do we correlate brain with behavior?
Postmortem dissection
*Examine effects of brain ablation/lesion on behavior
*Correlate brain anatomy with behavior
*Record brain activity during behavior
*Examine effects of brain stimulation on behavior
Postmortem
*Importance for confirming disease:
*Probable vs. Definite Alzheimer’s disease: histopathological evidence via autopsy or biopsy
*Evidence for lateralization of behaviour (i.e., language)
*Evidence for sexual dimorphism and behavior (e.g. reproductive behavior)
