What is Biopsychology? Flashcards
Neurons are…
… cells that receive and transmit electrochemical signals.
Neuroscience is…
… the scientific study of the nervous system.
Before neuroplasticity…
… the brain was thought to be a 3-dimensional static array of connected neural elements.
Neuroplasticity refers to…
… the brain’s ability to continuously grow and change in response to genes and experiences.
Biopsychology is…
… the scientific study of behaviour.
Also known as:
physiology
behavioural biology
behavioural neuroscience
“The Organization of Behaviour”
by D. O. Hebb
Described how psychological phenomena could be produced by neural activity.
Biopsychologists…
… draw knowledge from other neurosciences and apply it to the study of behaviour
Neurosciences (6)
- Neuroanatomy
study of structure of nervous system - Neurochemistry
study of chemical bases of neural activity - Neuroendocrinology
study of interactions between nervous and endocrine systems - Neuropathology
study of nervous system disorders - Neuropharmacology
study of effects of drugs on neural activity - Neurophysiology
study of functions and activities of the nervous system
Examples of non-human test subjects
- Rats (most common)
- Mice
- Cats
- Dogs
- Primates
Pros of human subjects (4)
- Can follow instructions
- Can describe subjective experience
- Cheaper (since animals need to be of high quality and require care)
- Human brains (animal brains may differ structurally)
Pros of non-human subjects (3)
- Simpler brains and behaviour
- Comparative approach allows further insight on functions
- Experiments deemed unethical for human subjects can be conducted
Confounded variable…
… is a variable other than the independant variable which may unintentionally affect the dependant variable
Quasiexperimental studies examine…
… subjects exposed to the conditions of interest in the real world.
Confounded variables are not controlled (not “true experiment”).
Generalizability…
… is the degree to which experimental results can be applied to other experiments.
Pure research…
… is motivated by curiosity of experimenter.
Applied research…
… is motivated by the intention of bringing direct benefit to mankind.
Physiological psychology
division of biopsychology that studies neural mechanisms of behaviour through direct manipulation of brain in controlled experiments (usually with non-human subjects)
Psychopharmacology
Studies influence of drugs on behaviour and neural activity, often to develop therapeutic drugs or to reduce drug abuse (uses both human and non-human subjects)
Neuropsychology
Study of psychological effects caused by brain damage (usually through case studies or quasiexperimental studies of humans).
Psychophysiology
Studies the relation between physiological activity and psychological processes by measuring brain activity using electroencephalographs (using human subjects)
Cognitive neuroscience
The study of the neural bases of cognition (usually in human subjects, but also in non-human subjects)
Comparative psychology
Studies the biological base (evolution, genetics, adaptiveness) of behaviour.
Ethological research…
… is the study of animal behaviour in its natural environment
Converging operations…
… combines approaches toward a single problem to compensate for individual weaknesses
Scientific interface…
… is the empirical method used to study the unobservable
How do scientists study the unobservable workings of the brain?
- Scientific inference
- Using measured key events to logically infer the nature of unobservable events
Critical thinking is…
… the process by which weaknesses in ideas are recognized (e.g. is the research published in a reputable journal?)
