Biological Psychology 303 Fall 09

Lecture 1

Biopsychology: the study of the biological basis of behavior

the study of :

Neuroanatomy: structure of NSNeurochemistry: chemical bases of neural activityNeuroendocrinology: interactions btw NS & endocrine systemNeuropathology: disorders of NSNeuropharmacology: drugs effects on NS – neural activityNeurophysiology: function & activity of the NS

Neuroscience

Biopsychology

Biopsychology is the branch of psychology that studies the relationship between behavior and the body, particularly the brain.

Biopsychologists try to go beyond the mechanisms of how the brain works and focus on the brain’s role in behavior.

psychology biology

mechanismsbehavior

Biopsychology

Physiological Psychology: neural mechanisms of behavior by direct manipulation of the brain (Experimental)

Psychopharmacology: neural activity and behavior with drugs (Experimental & Applied)

Neuropsychology: psychological effects of brain damage in humans (Applied)

Psychophysiology: relation bwt physiological activity & psychological processes in humans – non invasive (Experimental..also Applied)

Comparative Psychology: compare behavior btw species, evolutionary level (experimental)

Cognitive Psychology: non invasive study of brain, cognition, information processing (Applied, Experimental)

Divisions

Behavioral Neuroscientist…

The impact the Brain has on behavior…that’s a no brainer

Psychopharmacology+ Comparative Psychology + Neuroscience

Thoughts, personality, cherished memories,future hopes…

Home to your…

It orchestrates the symphony of consciousness that gives you purpose and passion, motion and emotion

But what do you really know about it?

EgyptiansIndian

ChineseGreeks

- necessary for life- emotion HB

Aristotle

I get no respect…

Hippocrates (460-370 B.C)Galen (130-200 A.D)

Will the human brain ever completelyunderstand its own workings?

3 major debates

• Mind vs Brain (monism/dualism)

• Localism vs Holism (Neurons)

• Nature of neural communication

"The brain, the masterpiece of creation, is almost unknown to us."  Nicolaus Steno, 1669

3 major debates

• Mind vs Brain (monism/dualism)

Rene Descartes(1596-1650)

Mind-Body Question

Dualist: mind separate from body

Mechanist: Body is like a machine

Mind controls the machine

Body tells mind about the environment

hydraulic modelPipes = nerves

Water = fluids in body

Hidden Value = Pineal

Sensations, memories and other mental functions produced as animal spirits flowing through “pores” in the brain controlled by the pineal gland

Control Valve: Pineal Gland

“Seat of the Soul”

First technicalmodel for the NS

Innervation of the Pineal

Dependent on the

Light/Dark Cycle

Mind vs Brain???

Monism:

Mind is product of brain

Dualism:

Brain is physicalmind is not

Mind-Body Question..are you a monist or a dualist?

Debate: Mind vs Brain

Biopsychologist: the mind is just an illusion, a sense of mind is nothing more than the awareness of what the brain is doing

3 major debates

• Mind vs Brain (monism/dualism)

Still up for debate…

Luigi Galvani(1737-1798)

Italian PhysicianAnatomist

Next Debate: Nature of Neural Communication: Settled

"While one of those who were assisting me touched lightly, and by chance, the point of his scalpel to the internal crural nerves of the frog, suddenly all the muscles of its limbs were seen to be so contracted that they seemed to have fallen into tonic convulsions. “

Electrical Stimulation of frog legs

Contraction of the muscles

“Animal Electricity”

Johannes Muller(1801-1858)

German Physiologist

Doctrine of specific nerve energies

All nerves carry electrical signals

Different nerves = different outcomes

Debate: Neural Communication

Camillo Golgi (1843-1956) Italian Physician:

Silver Staining Method – continuous mass of

tissues…one cytoplasm(holism)

Santiago Ramon y Cajal (1852-1934)Spanish Histologist

Labeled Cells“neuron doctrine” – discrete entities

Nobel Prize 1906:Research on structure of the nervous

Debate: Nature of Neural Communication

1. Neurons are discrete and autonomous cells that can interact

2. Synapses are gaps that separate neurons

3. Information is transmitted in one direction from dendrites (input) to the axon (output)

Debate: Nature of Neural Communication

3 major debates

• Nature of Neural Communication

Settled…

Franz Joseph Gall (1757-1828)

German PhysicianNeuroanatomist

brought Anatomy & Psychology together

discrete regions of brain controls specific functions = mental state localization

Phrenology (personology)

Next Debate: Localism vs Holism

• Reasoning• Planning• Speech Produce• Movement• Emotions• Problem solving• Personality

• Movement• Orientation• Recognition• Perception of stimuli

• Visual Processing

• Perception & recognition of auditory stimuli• Memory• Speech Comprehension

Forebraintelencephalon

Wilder Penfield (1891-1976) American-Born Canadian

Neurosurgeon:

• Greatest neurosurgeon of all times• mapped the brain

• direct stimulation of the brain•“Grandmother Cell"

http://www.psych.ualberta.ca/~gcpws/Penfield/Penfield.html

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=wilder+penfield&pq=wilder+pen&docid=1068722028792&mid=A96D978895922811F964A96D978895922811F964&FORM=VIVR

• Localism vs holism?

Donald O. Hebb (1904-1985)

Canadian Psychologist

“The Organization of Behavior” (1949)

First comprehensive theory on how psychological phenomena might be produced by BRAIN ACTIVITY

perceptions emotions thoughts memories

A large brain, like large government, may not be able to do simple things in a simple way.Donald O. Hebb

Most Valuable Player

Hebb based his theories•humans and animals•clinical case studies•logical arguments = eclectic approach became a hallmark of biopsych

“Cell Assemblies”

Synaptic transmission Material basis

mental associations

“Connectionism”LTP

http://www.psych.ualberta.ca/GCPWS/Hebb/Hebb.html

3 major debates

• Localism vs Holism

a little of both going on…

New debate

Watson & Crick ( 1953)

Nature vs Nurture

Nature 171, 737-738 (1953)Molecular structure of Nucleic AcidsWATSON, J. D. & CRICK, F. H. C.Medical Research Council Unit for the Study of Molecular Structure of Biological Systems, Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge. A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid

discovered chemical structure of DNA

New debatesNature vs Nurture

J. Craig VenterCelera Genomic

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Francis Collins Human Genome Project (NIH)

Sequencing of the human genome: “the book if life”

“NCBI Genome Project”

(0.11 seconds) 

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genome/seq/

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/SCIENCE96/

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/genome/program.html