Brain and Cognition Module 3 Chapter 1 Biopsychology as a Neuroscience

neurons

Cells that receive and transmit electrochemical signals.

neuroscience

The scientific study of the nervous system.

thinking creatively

Thinking in productive, unconventional ways; Some of the most important advances in biopsychological science have been made by researchers who have managed to overcome the restrictive effects of conventional thinking and have taken creative approaches.

clinical

Pertaining (relating) to illness or treatment.

evolutionary perspective

Thinking of the environmental pressures that likely led to the evolution of our brains and behaviour.

comparative approach

Important component of the evolutionary perspective; Trying to understand biological phenomena by comparing them in different species.

neuroplasticity

The ability of the brain to continuously grow and change in response to the individual's genes and experiences.

biopsychology

The scientific study of the neural mechanisms of behaviour.

- psychology -

The scientific study of behaviour - the scientific study of all overt activities of the organism as well as all the internal processes that are presumed to underlie them (e.g., learning, memory, motivation, perception, emotion).

neuroatonomy

The field of the structure of the nervous system.

neurochemistry

The study of the chemical bases of neural activity.

neuroendocrinology

The study of interactions between the nervous system and the endocrine system.

neuropathology

The study of nervous system disorders.

neuropharmacology

The study of the effects of drugs on neural activity.

neurophysiology

The study of the functions and activities of the nervous system.

non-human advantages over human subjects in biopsychological research

(1) Non-human subjects' brains and behaviour are simpler than those of human subjects. Hence, the study of nonhuman species is more likely to reveal fundamental brain-behaviour interactions; (2) Insights frequently arise from the comparitative approach. Comparing the behaviour of species that do not have a cerebral cortex with the behaviour of species that do can provide valuable clues about cortical function; (3) It is possible to conduct research on laboratory animals that, for ethical reasons, is not possible with human participants.

between-subjects design

When a different group of subjects is tested under each condition.

within-subject design

When the same group of subjects is tested under each condition.

When is a experiment done correctly?

When any differences in the dependent variable between the conditions must have been caused by the independent variable.

confounding variable

A factor other than the one being studied that is associated both with the dependent variable and with the independent variable.

the Coolidge effect (Lester and Gorzalka)

The fact that a copulating (mating) male who becomes incapable of continuing to copulate with one sex partner can often continue copulating with a new sex partner.

lordosis

The arched-back, rump-up, tail-diverted posture of female rodent sexual receptivity.

quasiexperimental studies

Studies of groups of subjects who have been exposed to the conditions of interest in the real world; Not an experiment because potential confounded variables have not been controlled by, for example, random assignment of subjects to conditions.

case studies

Studies that focus on a single case or subject.

generalizability

The degree to which the results of a study can be applied to other cases.

pure research

Motivated primarily by the curiosity of the researcher, it is done soley for the purpose of acquiring knowledge.

applied research

Intended to bring about some direct benefit to humankind.

translational research

Research that aims to translate the findings of pure research into useful applications for humankind.

physiological psychology

The division of biopsychology that studies the neural mechanisms of behaviour through the direct manipulation and recording of the brain in controlled experiments, surgical and electrical methods are most common.

psychopharmacology

The division of biopsychology that fosuses on the manipulation of neural activity and behaviour with drugs.

neuropsychology

The division of biopsychology that focuses on the psychological effects of brain damage in human patients.

cerebral cortex

The outer layer of the cerebral hemispheres; It is most likely to be damaged by accident or surgery. This is one reason why neuropsychology has focused on this important part of the human brain.

psychophysiology

The division of biopsychology that studies the relation between physiological activity and psychological processes in human subjects.

cognitive neuroscience

The youngest division of biopsychology that studies the neural bases of cognition.

cognition

A term that generally refers to higher intellectual processes such as thought, memory, attention, and complex perceptual processes.

ethological research

The study of animal behaviour in its natural environment.

comparative psychology

The division of biopsychology that focuses on the study of the evolution, genetics, and adaptiveness of behaviour, largely through the use of the comparative method.

converging operations

Integrating evidence from various research methods to provide a more comprehensive understanding of psychological phenomena. By combining data from different sources, researchers aim to enhance the validity and reliability of their findings.

Korsakoff's syndrome

A chronic memory disorder caused by severe deficiency of thiamine (vitamin B-1). It is most commonly caused by alcohol misuse, but certain other conditions also can cause the syndrome.

scientific inference

The empirical (observational) method that biopsychologists and other scientists use to study the unobservable; Scientists carefully measure key events they can observe and then use these measures as a basis for logically inferring the nature of events they cannot observe.

critical thinking

A kind of thinking in which you question, analyse, interpret, evaluate and make a judgement about what you read, hear, say, or write.

Morgan's Canon rule

When there are several possible interpretations for a behavioural observation, the rule is to give precedence to the simplest one; Behaviour should be explained by the simplest method possible unless it can be proven that a higher process was the actual cause of the behaviour.

prefrontal lobotomy

A surgical procedure in which the connections between the prefrontal lobes and the rest of the brain are cut as a treatment for mental illness.

prefrontal lobes

The large areas, left and right, at the very front of the brain.

- bilateral lesion -

An area of damage to both sides of the brain.

leucotome

A surgical instrument used for performing leucotomies (also known as lobotomy) and other forms of psychosurgery.

transorbital lobotomy

Involves inserting an ice pick-like device under the eyelid, driving it through the orbit (the eye socket) with a few taps of a mallet, and pushing it into the frontal lobes, where it was waved back and forth to sever the connections between the prefrontal lobes and the rest of the brain.

psychosurgery

Any brain surgery, such as prefrontal lobotomy, performed for the treatment of a psychological problem.