1.1 Brief History of Neuropsychology

Franz Gall

Phrenology; believed that well established traits would lead the brain to grow in particular spots. So a person's brain could be analyzed by feeling the top of their head. Later disproven, but important for the evolution of neuropsychology.

Pierre Flourens

Extirpation/Ablation; surgically removed parts of the brains of birds to observe the changes in behavior that resulted.

William James

Functionalism; studied how mental processes help individuals adapt to their environment.

John Dewey

Functionalism; believed that psychology should focus on the study of the individual as a whole as it functioned to adapt to its environment.

Paul Broca

Speech deficit; he was the first person to demonstrate that specific functional impairments could be linked to specific brain lesions.

Hermann von Helmholtz

Psychology as a natural science; he was the first to measure the speed of a nerve impulse.

Sir Charles Sherrington

Existence of synapses; he thought it was an electrical process but we now know that it is a chemical process.