NSCI 302 Thinking clearly

cartesian dualism

• universe is composed of physical matter and the human mind

• body interacted with the mind via the pineal gland

• brain is not capable of very complex things, so there must be a mind

• only humans have minds and only humans can think

conversion disorder

normal EEG but physical manifestation of symptoms

placebo

3 drug group vs 1 placebo (greater placebo) 1 placebo vs 1 drug

asomatognosia

• an acquired condition where the individual displays a lack of awareness of parts of one side of their own body

• damage to right frontal and parietal lobes

• affects the left side of the body

• infarcts situated right at the primary somatosensory and motor cortex

somatoparaphrenia 

asomatognosia with delusion - not see body part

problem with physiological vs psychological

1. complex human cognitions can be affected by damage or stimulation to parts of the brain - asomatognosia

2. non-human species possess many psychological processes that are considered human - mirror self recognition test

mirror self recognition (MSR) test

• fear at first to the coloured spot and then try to figure out the correlation - when I move does the reflection move?

• chimpanzee, magpies, crows and asian elephants past the test

• gibbons, gorillas do not pass the test

bird with nut phenomenon

• drop the nut in traffic so cars can run over them and break it

• station the nut at the pedestrian crossing and wait for light to turn green

scientific thinking involves

1. scientific skepticism

2. critical evaluation

3. creative thinking

scientific skepticism

have to be skeptical with what you think - emphasized for self-critique

critical evaluation

evaluating scientific claims by identifying potential weakness in evidence

case 1: 2 chimps and an ice pick

• 2 chimps were trained to perform various tasks that = frustrational behaviour when left unrewarded

• display of frustration = experimental neurosis

• removed frontal lobes of both of the chimps and reported that the chimps had become devoid of emotional expression

• no control group and no other animals were tested

Egas Moniz

• EVIL BITCH

• persuaded a neurosurgeon to lesion frontal lobes of psychiatric patients

• surgeon used a leucotome to cut holes in prefrontal cortex - like an apple core

• believed that surgery = success and no significant side effects

• did caution that should be used as last possible resort and only in the most severe psychiatric cases

walter freeman

• promoted the transorbital lobotomy - icepick like device driven into the back of both eyes and drive it back and forth

• also created movies on how to lobotomize in 5 mins

lobotomy statistics

• over 100k ppl 

• most women

• 19 were under 18

chlorpromazine 

• after the lobotomy

• mostly given to women

• became vv popular for a lot of things

Wilder penfield

• created the homunculus

• famous for his treatment for epilepsy

Donald Hebb

1. cells that fire tgt wire tgt - learning depends on strengthening synaptic connections between neurons that fire tgt

2. the operation of ^^ leads to formation of cell assemblies of synaptically-connected neurons whose connections are molded by experience to form a thought

3. thoughts result from the activation of interlinked cell assemblies in sequences thought to be molded by experience - stream of consciousness = phase sequence

Ewen Cameron

• EVILEST BITCH

• brainwash them: 1. wiping clean and 2. psychic driving

Depatterning

• wiping clean

• massive dose of electric shock activity = no control of their own bowel movement and remove all memories

Psychic driving

• starting fresh

• tapes replaying of “i love life” over and over while in a coma