PSYC-2900 Chapter 1.1

neurogenesis

the generation of new neurons

plasticity

the brain’s ability to adapt and change at molecular and structural levels in response to internal and/or external conditions/events

physiological psychology

explains behaviour by studying physiological processes using generalization and reduction

generalization

a level of explanation used to understand/describe events/behaviour that deduces general laws from specific events

(e.g. applying results from an experiment to a general conclusion about behaviour)

limitations: cannot correlate a behaviour to only a physiological process, external circumstances must be considered

reduction

a level of explanation used to understand/describe events/behaviour that explains complex phenomena in basic elements

(e.g. breaking down a complex observation into simpler processes)

limitations: cannot correlate a behaviour to only a physiological process, external circumstances must be considered

mind-body question

a philosophical question about the relationship between the mind and body by a dualist or monist perspective

(e.g. how do mental states, thoughts, and feelings relate to physical states like the brain?)

dualism

a perspective of the mind-body question that states the mind and body are separate

(i.e. the body is made of physical, palpable matter, but the mind is not)

monism

a perspective of the mind-body question that states everything is made of matter and energy

(i.e. the mind is a product of the mechanisms of the nervous system; the mind/brain is within the body)

Hippocrates

a Greek physician and philosopher who concluded that thoughts/emotions should be associated with the brain

Aristotle

a Greek philosopher who argued that the brain “served to cool the passions of the heart”

Galen

a Greek physician who dissected and studied several animal models of the brain, and disagreed with Aristotle’s argument

Descartes

a French dualist philosopher and scientist who believed human and animal behaviour were controlled by environmental stimuli (due to the automatic nature of reflexes), and does not require processing by the mind, and believed the mind controlled the movements of the body and the body supplied the mind with sensory information

reflex

an action that is performed in response to a stimuli that does not require conscious thought

(i.e. automatic/involuntary movement)

pineal gland (Descartes)

per Descartes;’ proposal, tilting it in different ways changed the flow of fluid to the appropriate nerves and inflated muscles

Galvani

an Italian physician and philosopher that disproved Descartes’ idea of the pineal gland, and found that the ability of the nerve to send a signal to the muscle and the ability of the muscle to contract were self contained by electrically stimulating a frog’s nerve

(i.e. there isn’t a need for a direct connection to the central nervous system for a muscle to contract)

Muller

a German physiologist who proposed the doctrine of specific nerve energies, and had isolated tissues and organs, and exposed them to various chemicals/conditions

doctrine of specific nerve energies

a theory proposed by Muller that states all nerves carry an electrical impulse, but the message received by different types of nerves produce different sensations/perceptions

(i.e. localization of function) (e.g. electrical impulses from the optic nerve produce visual perceptions)

Helmholtz

a German physician and physicist who studied the speed of conduction through nerves. he demonstrated that it is slower than that through wires (speed of light), and therefore that neural conductance is more than just an electrical signal

Fritsch, Hitzig

applied weak electrical stimulation to the surface of a dog’s brain and found that different parts of specific areas would cause muscle contraction on the opposite side

(i.e. brain lateralization)

Flourens

a French physiologist who used experimental ablation on animals and found areas associated with heart rate, breathing, purposeful movement, visuals, and auditory reflexes

ablation

a procedure that destroys tissue in the body

Broca

a French physician who used the principle of ablation to study human brains, specifically lesions following stroke injury, and found that an area in the left frontal lobe is responsible for speech production (Broca’s area)

Cajal

a Spanish neuroscientist who used Golgi staining techniques to examine individual neurons, and proposed that the nervous system consisted of billions of discrete/individual neurons, rather than a continuous network

eeg amplifier

a device that allows for detection/amplification of weak neural signals/firing

neurochemical techniques

a development in behavioural neuroscience that allows for the detection of chemical changes within and between cells during neural firing

histological techniques

a development in behavioural neuroscience that allows for the visualization of cells and their parts

(e.g. Golgi staining)

optogenetics

a genetic technique used in behavioural neuroscience that allows for the selective activation and subsequent observation of single neurons

CRISPR-Cas9

a genetic technique used in behavioural neuroscience that allows for genetic editing

epigenetics

the study of how the environment and external stimuli affect gene expression