1. Advanced Behavioral Neuroscience PSY 525
Lecture 1

2. Neuroscience Scientific study of the nervous system Interdisciplinary
Chemistry
Physics
Genetics
Physiological Psychology ~

3. Behavioral Neuroscience
Alternate names:
Physiological Psychology, Biopsychology, Psychobiology, etc.
Controlled manipulation of nervous system of animal subjects
Focus on behavior ~

4. The Mind/Body Problem Nature of their relationship DONOR OR RECIPIENT?
in a heart transplant operation?
in a brain transplant operation? ~

5. The Mind/Brain Problem
Prehistoric psychosurgery
Evidence from 10,000 years ago
Trepanation
Deliberate opening of skull ~

6. The Mind/Brain Problem
DUALISM
mind & brain fundamentally different
mind (soul?) is extra corporeal
Rene Descartes
interactionism
pineal gland ~

7. The Mind/Brain Problem: Dualism
Sir John Eccles
Nobel Prize (1963)
Neuroscientist
supplemental motor area
Fundamental problem...
How do physical and nonphysical systems interact? ~

8. The Mind/Brain Problem
MONISM
operations of brain ---> mental events
Fundamental problem
How can a physical system produce mental states? ~

9. The Mind/Brain Problem
Consciousness
unique property of brains?
Or could it exist in other entities?
Livers?
Computers? ~

10. Relationship Between Brain & Behavior
Descartes
Mechanical statues
reflexes
Luigi Galvani
electrically stimulated frog leg ~

11. Relationship Between Brain & Behavior
Aggregate field view
brain acts a single unit
Cellular connectionism
individual neurons organized in functional groups
have specific connections
specialized function of brain regions ~

12. Relationship Between Brain & Behavior
Francis Gall
phrenology
localized functions ~

13. Relationship Between Brain & Behavior
Pierre Flourens
brain ablation
studied effects on behavior
aggregate field view ~

14. Relationship Between Brain & Behavior
Broca’s Aphasia
Left frontal lobe damage
Fluency deficits
Wernicke’s Aphasia
left temporal lobe damage
impaired comprehension
Distributed processing ~

15. Relationship Between Brain & Behavior
Fritsch & Hitzig
Electrical stimulation of brain
muscle movements
Hermann von Helmholtz
speed of conduction of nerve impulse
Golgi & Ramon y Cajal
Synctium vs. Neuron Doctrine ~

16. Experimental Methods

17. Experimental Ablation
Remove part of brain
Observe effect on behavior
Karl Lashley
search for the ingram
Clinical Neuropsychology
Paul Broca
studied patients with brain damage ~

18. New Experimental Techniques
Invasive
Electrical Stimulation of the Brain (ESB)
Noninvasive imaging
anatomy
physiology
Genetic Techniques ~

19. CAT Scan Computerized Axial Tomography anatomy x-rays
computer assembles ~

20. MRI Magnetic Resonance Imaging anatomy higher resolution than CAT
spinning H atoms ~

21. PET Scan Positron Emission Tomography metabolic activity
2-deoxyglucose (2DG)
radioactive
regional Cerebral Blood Flow
rCBF ~

22. Brain Imaging: fMRI Functional MRI detects increases in oxygen use
much better resolution
spatial & temporal ~

23. Knock-out Mice Genes: blueprint for proteins
Disable gene ---> no protein
evaluate effect on behavior ~

24. IF THE HUMAN BRAIN WERE SO SIMPLE THAT WE COULD UNDERSTAND IT,
WE WOULD BE SO SIMPLE THAT WE COULDN’T.