What is behavioral Neuroscience?

chapter 1

What is the decade of the brain?

Compares brain to computers, intense research and awareness, new understandings of neurological diseases and disorders (etc)

what is the weight and number of neurons in the brain?

the brain is 3 pounds and has over 80 billion neurons

Behavioral neuroscience

Studies the relationship between behavior and body, specifically the brain

Behavior

Both overt and covert events

Overt (behavior)

Make a sound, move in a particular way

Covert (behavior)

Learning, thinking, and emotion

Mind-brain problem

What is the mind and what is its relationships with the brain

Dualism

The idea that the mind and brain are separate

Monism

The idea that the mind and body consist of the same substance (can study the brain/mind, same thing)

Model

a proposed mechanism for how something works (ways to test hypothesis) consists of theories, simpler organisms, simulation etc.

Empiricism

Gathering information through observation, draw conclusions after all the evidence.

The electrical brain ideas (3)

used electricity to stimulate nerves (frogs)

produced movement by electrically stimulating the brain (in dogs)

Demonstrated nerves do not behave like conducting wires (slower in body than wires, and is used in a different way)

Localization

Specific areas of the brain that carry out specific functions (ex. left and right brain)

define Phrenology and is it accurate?

35 different faculties of emotion, intelletc found in precise areas of the brain or by the bumps on your skull not brain

Not accurate

Equipotentiality

The brain can function as an undifferentiated whole (no localization)

Nature vs. Nurture

(after vs before birth) a debate about importance of heredity is relative to environmental influences in shaping behavior (combination of the two)

Gene

biological unit that directs cellular processes and transmits inherited characteristics

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)

Double stranded double helix chain of chemical molecules

Zygote

fertilized egg which undergoes rapid cell division and development on it sway to become a functioning organism

How many chromosomes do we have?

46 total chromosomes

23 from mom, 23 from dad

Embryo

new organism as it develops over the first 8 weeks

Fetus

Organism at developmental stage between 8 weeks and birth

Alleles

Different versions of a gene (possible characteristics)

Dominant allele and give example

Produces effect regardless of which allele is paired with (Rr, RR) brown eyes are dominate over blue eyes

Recessive allele

Only has influence when paired with the same allele (rr)

Heterozygous

Two alleles are different (Rr)

Homozygous

two alleles are the same (rr, RR)

Phenotypes

An observable characteristics

Genotype

Combinations of alleles

X-linked and give example (explain)

A characteristic produced by an unpaired gene on the X-chromosome. More likely to be seen in males, girls have XX which is dominant so it takes over while have only X (recessive), which is why males more commonly have color blindness.

Polygenic

Characteristics determined by several genes

Genome

all the genes in our chromosomes

Human genome project

Project with the goal to map the location of all the genes on the human chromosomes (find bad genes), able to label the entire thing but we don’t know what some genes do. (3% of DNA is genes)

Natural selection

Those whose genes allow them with more adaptive traits are more likely to survive and reproduce and survive

Heritability give example

percentage of the variation in a characteristic attributed to genetic factors. Ex. height → 90% heritability would mean height is from genes while the other 10% is from environmental factors

Vulnerability

Genes contribute to the predisposition for a disorder (ex. Broca’s gene for breast cancer→ might not get it but has to do with heritability as well)