1 Notes: Methods – biologicalpsych.com

What’s in a name?
- Behavioral Neuroscience
- Physiological psych
- Biological psych
- Psychobiology
What does it do?
- Behavior people of neuroscience
- The brain people of psychology
- Study of behavior & experience
- How produced physically
- Where did it come from
- How develops
- Combine biology & psychology
- Neuroscience but with
  - Less chemistry
  - Less anatomy
Research Goals
- Generalization – find laws
  - Lots of little observations
- Reduction – find simple explanation
  - Start with general issue (intelligence)
  - Find component
  - Structures
  - Processes
Approaches
- Physiological explanations
  - machinery of the body
- Ontogenetic explanations
  - influence of genes
- Evolutionary explanations
  - Ancestors to present
- Functional explanations
  - Benefit-advantage of behaviors
Mind-Body Problem
- Matter & energy out of nothing?
- Consciousness
- Out of matter & energy
- Mental experience and physical
- Two BIG questions
  - Which part of body?
  - Which methods?
Top 10 approaches to solving it
- 1. Comparative-Evolutionary
  - Aristotle
    - Heart is the center of sensation, intelligence and the cause of behavior
    - Center of vitality
    - Origin of nerves
    - Brain & lungs keep it cool
    - 3 chambers
    - Conclusion based on
      - which part of chicken embryo develops first
  - Continuity of Behavior
    - Same processes in dif. species
  - Nature is conservative; e.g.. nerve impulse, heart
  - Nature can be adventurous
  - Species-Specific Behavior
    - No one does it quite this way, e.g.. language, eye, frontal lobe
  - Comparing
    - All of the animals
    - All vertebrates
    - All mammals
    - All primates
    - All humans
    - Some folk
    - Individual
- 2. Dissection
  - Galen
    - Heart is the right organ
      - Aristotle use wrong method
    - Dissect human hearts (taboo)
    - Intelligent heart
      - Expands & contracts
      - Gets larger when wants to attract
      - Clings to what it captures
    - Heart is important
      - Hard flesh, not easily damaged
      - Best fibers in body
      - Continuous hard work
      - Source of internal heat-energy
    - Soul
      - Liver more important
      - Where humors come from
      - In good humor = balanced
  - Description
    - Inference
      - Heart expands and contracts
    - Inference
      - Intelligence
    - KT: Always trust data; question conclusions
- 3. Correlational
  - Franz Gall (1758-1828)
    - Compared brains & skulls
    - Several species
    - Independent variable = skull size
    - Dependent variable = # shot
    - Musket balls
  - ********
  - Brain size & intell corr.
    - Larger-brain = more complex-varied tasks
    - Average brain weights
      - Human 3-165 1.8% 1/55
      - Dolphin 3-350 .85 1/17
      - Cat 1/100
      - Dog 1/125
      - hippo 1/2800
    - Most mammals are 90% of adult brain size at birth
      - Chimp 54%
      - Bottlenose dolphin 43%
      - Elephants 35%
      - humans 28%
  - *******
  - Gall (con’t)
  - Compared brains & skulls
    - Argued for brain localization
    - Each region of the brain is reserved for its own skill, ability, mental faculty or personality trait
  - Phrenology
    - Founder of “cranioscopy”
    - Skull shape reveals internal skills
    - “Brain is like a muscle” theory
    - Skull gets bigger the more you use it
    - Gets bigger pushes skull outward
    - Examine topography of skull
    - Discover underlying brain areas
***********************************************
What is a correlation
Compare 2 things, same people
Pair of operations
Height & age
Schiz & age
Bumps and abilities
Shows relationships, not causation
A can cause B
B can cause A
C can cause A & B
***********************************************
- 4. Ablation
  - Pierre Flourens (1794-1867)
    - French physiologist
    - brain surgery & anesthesia
    - Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte
    - Academy of Sciences of Paris
    - study Franz Gall’s claims
    - asked Flourens to investigate
    - rabbits and pigeons
  - Ablation
    - Destroyed small parts with brain lesions
    - Observed effects: Hop or not hop
    - 1st proof main divisions of brain had different functions
- 5. Developmental
  - Longitudinal
    - Same people over time
    - Life span over years
  - Cross-sectional
    - Dif people (diff. ages)
    - Same time
  - Identifying emotions
    - Changes over time
    - Teens & Adults differ
      - Teens use amygdala
      - Adults use frontal lobe
- 6. Stereotaxic Surgery
  - 3-D frame
  - Orthogonal coordinates
  - Ablation
  - Biopsy
  - Injections
  - Stimulation
  - Implantation
  - Radiation
- 7. Histological Methods
- 8. Recording Brain Activity
  - EEG of brain
- 9. Neuro-Chemical
  - Identify neurotransmitters
  - How receptors work
- 10. Genetics

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