Biopsychology and Foundations of Neuroscience

Vocabulary flashcards covering biopsychology definitions, historical debates, brain localization, genetics, nervous system anatomy, and evolutionary concepts based on the lecture transcript.

Biopsychology

The study of the relationship between the body, brain, other biological systems, and behavior (what we do, say, think, and feel), involving over $80\text{ billion}$ neurons that connect with thousands of other neurons and over $100\text{ trillion}$ synapses.

Dualism

A perspective in the mind vs. body debate dating back to $2\text{ million BCE}$ Egypt asserting that the mind/soul and body are separate.

Monism

A perspective in the mind vs. body debate (encompassing idealic monism and materialistic monism) stating that everything is physical and denying the presence of a soul.

Trephining

An ancient surgical intervention dating back to $5000\text{ BCE}$ identified in early historical medical records.

Ebers and Edwin Smith Papyrus

Original medical sources from $1500\text{ BCE}$ (whose original sources may be $1500\text{ years}$ older) documenting $48$ cases of injury using observation and logic, containing the earliest descriptions of brain processes, connecting the brain to physical form, and asserting that the soul existed in the heart.

Hydraulic Theory of Human Behavior

René Descartes's theory of human behavior proposing that the soul and body are separate and die separately.

Luigi Galvani

A researcher in the late $1700\text{s CE}$ who investigated the electrical brain using frogs.

Gustav Fritisch and Eduard Hitzig

Researchers who studied the electrical nature of the brain in $1806$ using dog brains.

Hemann von Helmholz

An $1800\text{s}$ researcher who demonstrated that electrical activity in the brain is not exactly like standard electricity.

Phrenology

An $1800\text{s}$ theory of localization of brain function developed by Franz Gall and Spurzheim.

Broca's Area

A specific region of the brain associated with localization of function, identified in $1861$.

Equipotentiality (Distributed Function)

The concept that brain functions are distributed across regions rather than localized, studied by Karl Lashley (early $1900\text{s}$), Patient H.M. and Brenda Milner (mid $1900\text{s}$), and Mortimer Mishkin (late $1900\text{s}$ and early $2000\text{s}$).

Tabula Rasa

The concept proposed by John Locke in the $17\text{th}$ century within the nature vs. nurture debate viewing the human mind as a blank slate.

Nature vs. Nurture

A phrase popularized in the $19\text{th}$ century by Sir Francis Galton alongside Charles Darwin, and later debated in the mid $20\text{th}$ century by Freud, Skinner, and Chomsky.

Protein-Encoding Genes

The specific segment of human DNA responsible for encoding proteins, which comprises $3\%$ of all genes.

Gene Expression

The biological process responsible for turning genetic traits on or off.

Mitochondria Genetics

Genetic structures where more mitochondrial content originates from the mother.

X-Linked Recessive Traits

Traits caused by an unpaired gene on the X chromosome, including Red/Green Color weakness, Haemophilia A, and Male Pattern baldness.

X-Linked Dominant Traits

Dominant genetic traits carried on the X chromosome, including Rett Syndrome and Vitamin D resistant rickets.

Wet Ear Wax

A physical trait governed by a single gene.

Identical Twins

Twins who share $100\%$ of their genes, studied alongside fraternal twins to separate genetic from environmental influences.

Fraternal Twins

Twins who share $50\%$ of their genes, utilized in twin studies to quantify heritability.

Central Nervous System (CNS)

The major division of the nervous system composed of the brain and spinal cord.

Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)

The structural division of the nervous system encompassing all neural elements outside the Central Nervous System.

Dendrites

Neuronal structures that send messages out.

Axon Hillock

The portion of a neuron that processes the initial message and sends it to the axon.

Myelin Sheath

A fatty layer covering the axon that helps speed up message conduction.

Motor Neurons

Efferent, multipolar neurons that carry information away from the CNS to organs and muscles across long distances.

Sensory Neurons

Afferent, unipolar or bipolar neurons that carry information toward the CNS from sense organs over long distances.

Strategic Pluralism

An evolutionary theory asserting that different traits are apparent and advantageous in different environments.

Evolution of Skin Tone

An adaptation where darker skin acts as a natural sunblock to prevent folate deficiency in hotter climates with greater UV exposure, while lighter skin permits greater UV exposure needed for Vitamin D absorption in colder climates.

Watson and Crick

Researchers who proposed the structural model of DNA in $1953$.

Nucleotides

The basic building blocks of DNA, consisting of the base pairs Adenine + Thymine and Cytosine + Guanine.