Scope and Outlook

What is behavioral Neuroscience?

A field of psychology that relates behavior to the working brain

What is cognitive psychology?

how we store and retrieve information

What is Cognitive neuroscience?

Looking at what areas of the brain are doing what type of work

What is behavioral neuroscience?

going into the brain (using animal models to understand how the brain works)

What is memory?

biochemical and structural changes in the brain

What are the five research perspectives?

Description, evolution, development, mechanisms, applications

What is description?

describing essential features of behavior or essential features of someone’s anatomy

What is structural description?

looking at brain differences in males and females

What is Functional description?

How do the behaviors facilitate what is meant to happen

What is continuity?

Nature is conservative. This means “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. If something works, there is no reason to change it

what are species-specific differences?

There are differences in species both in behavior and biology. These evolved as a way for us to adapt to our environment

What is ontogeny?

process by which an organism changes over its lifetime

What are biological mechanisms or mechanics underline all behavior?

the body is a machine composed of a bunch of neurons

What are somatic interventions?

manipulating the body to see how it changes behavior

What is the independent variable in somatic interventions?

What we do to the body

What is the dependent variable in somatic interventions?

subsequent effect on behavior

What are behavioral interventions?

interfere with behavior to determine the effect on the body or brain

What is the most famous study with behavioral interventions?

EC/IC studies

What were the two conditions in the EC/IC studies?

enriched condition and impoverished condition

What was the impoverished condition?

put rats in a standard rat cage by themselves. They had plenty of food and water

What is the enriched condition?

rats were put in a giant cage with a bunch of toys and other rats to play with

What was the main question of the EC/IC studies?

does the living environment change the brain

What did the EC/IC studies find?

the living environment did change the brain

What were the differences that were found in the EC/IC studies?

EC brains were heavier, EC rats learned better than IC rats, EC rats recovered function better than IC rats

What is a correlation?

determining relationship between body measures and behavior measures

What are the three scientific approaches to behavioral neuroscience?

somatic interventions, behavioral interventions, and correlation

What did Hippocrates believe was the most important structure?

the brain

What did Aristotle believe was the most important structure?

heart

How many mL of CSF do we have?

150

How many times a day is our CSF replaced?

4-5 times