Biological Psychology: Biopsychology as a Neuroscience

Biopsychology

• focuses on ^^brain/behavior relationships^^
• denotes a ^^biological approach to the study of psychology^^ rather than a psychological approach to the study of biology
• scientific study of the biology of behavior

Origins of Biopsychology

• emerged end of 19th century
• Hebb’s ^^The Organization of Behavior (1949)^^ was a key factor in the development into a major neuroscientific discipline
  • Hebb developed the first comprehensive theory of how complex psychological phenomena (e.g., perceptions, emotions, thoughts, and memories) might be produced by brain activity
• Biopsychologists study how the brain and the rest of the nervous system determine what we perceive, feel, think, say, and do
• Ultimate challenge for the human brain: ^^Does our brain have the capacity to understand something as complex as itself?^^

Relation to Other Disciplines of Neuroscience

• Neuroscience: scientific study of the nervous system
• Biopsychology: discipline/subfield of neuroscience
  • bridge between psychology and neuroscience
• Different Approaches in Neuroscience
  • Neuroanatomy: study of the structure of the nervous system
  • Neurophysiology: study of the functions and activities of the nervous system
  • Neurochemistry: study of the chemical bases of neural activity
  • Neuroendocrinology: study of interactions between the nervous system and the endocrine system
  • trends; transmitters (e.g., adrenaline, dopamine, serotonin); identities, structures, and functions of compounds (neurochemicals) that are generated and that modulate the nervous system [^^NEUROCHEMISTRY^^]
  • Neuropharmacology: study of the effects of drugs on neural activity
  • exogenous chemicals; prescription drugs
  • Neuropathology: study of nervous system disorders
  • neurological illnesses (e.g., infection, trauma, cancers)
• These 6 fields of neuroscience are particularly relevant to biopsychological inquiry

Human and Nonhuman Objects

• Advantages of Human Objects
  • can follow directions
  • can report subjective experiences
  • often less expensive
  • have a human brain
• Advantages of Nonhuman Subjects
  • simpler nervous systems
  • studying various species makes it possible to use comparative approach
  • fewer ethical constraints

Experiments and Non-Experiments

• Experiments
  • used to determine cause-and-effect relationships
  • Between-Subjects Design: different subjects under each condition
  • Within-Subjects Design: same group of subjects under each condition
  • Independent Variable: difference between conditions
  • Dependent Variable: variable measured by the experimenter to assess the effect of the IV
  • Confounding Variable: unintended difference
• Quasi-Experiments
  • used when controlled experiments are impossible
  • examine subjects in real-world situations who have self-selected into specific conditions (e.g., excessive alcohol intake), subjects assigned themselves to treatment conditions
  • Key Problem: cannot control confounds therefore, cannot establish direct cause-and-effect relationships
• Case Studies
  • focused on single subject
  • used when conditions are rare
  • questionable generalizability
  • cannot generalize based on a single person

Pure and Applied Research

• Pure Research
  • primarily motivated by the curiosity of the researcher to find out how things work
  • focuses on establishing building blocks/basic concepts that may provide information salient to many problems
• Applied Research
  • use basic research to answer specific problems
  • human and animal problems are directly addressed
  • more common in medical field, applications in psychology

6 Divisions of Biopsychology

• Physiological Psychology
  • direct manipulation of nervous system in controlled laboratory settings (e.g., lesions, invasive recording)
  • subjects are usually lab animals
  • strong focus on pure research
  • emphasis is usually on research that contributes to the development of theories of the neural control of behavior
• Psychopharmacology
  • focuses on the manipulation of neural activity and behavior with drugs
  • manipulation of nervous system pharmacologically
  • focuses on drug effects on behavior
  • drug effects change neural activity
  • pure research → use drugs to reveal the nature of brain-behavior interactions
  • applied questions → e.g., drug abuse, therapeutic drugs
• Neuropsychology
  • focuses on behavioral effects of brain damage in humans, typically cortical damage
  • uses case studies and quasi-experimental designs
  • most applied of the 6 divisions of biopsychology
  • applied research
  • abnormal and illnesses
• Psychophysiology
  • focuses on physiological and psychological processes
  • uses noninvasive recordings from humans
  • muscle tension
  • eye movement
  • pupil dilation
  • electrical conductance of the skin
  • Scalp Electroencephalogram (EEG): usual measure of brain activity
  • noninvasive → no operation done; external sensors used; no pain involved
• Cognitive Neuroscience
  • newest divisions
  • Focus: Neural basis of cognitive processes
  • learning or memory
  • attention
  • perceptual processes
  • often employs human subjects
  • Key Methods: noninvasive, functional brain imaging techniques
  • often collaborative between varied scientists
• Comparative Psychology
  • focuses on the biology of behavior
  • features comparative and functional approaches
  • features lab research, as well as studies of animals in their natural environments (ethology)
  • includes disciplines of evolutionary psychology (understanding behavior through its evolutionary origins) and behavioral genetics (understanding the genetic influences on behavior)
  • compare the behavior of different species in order to understand the evolution, genetics, and adaptiveness of behavior

Converging Operations: How do biopsychologists work together?

• each area has a weakness
• must collaborate to ask good questions
• converging operations
  • progress made using different approaches
  • each compensate for the shortcomings of others

Scientific Interference: How do biopsychologists study the unobservable workings of the brain?

• science is empirical
  • method of answering questions by direct observation
• brain activity is not directly observable (e.g., one cannot see a neuron firing/neurochemicals being released from neurons)
• scientists look at the effects of processes
  • the effects of the processes are observable, but not the processes themselves
  • Scientific Inference: scientists observe the consequences of unobservable processes and from these they infer the nature of unobservable processes

Taming a Charging Bull with Caudate Stimulation

• implanted electrode into caudate nucleus
• delivered an electrical stimulation when bull charged
  • this stopped the charge
• Delgado claimed he found caudate taming center
  • suggested it might cure psychopaths
  • bulls and humans have inherently different neurosystems
  • the bull could have stopped because of the pain

Prefrontal Lobotomy

• Prefrontal Lobotomy
  • a procedure that separates the prefrontal lobes from the rest of the brain
• Moniz wins Nobel Prize based on research with chimpanzees (Becky)
• following reports of success, lobotomy freely used
• the case of Howard Dully
  • lobotomized at 12 years old at the insistence of stepmother
  • procedure done in 10 minutes

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