1. Methods of Neuroscience
Lesson 2

2. Studying the Brain & Behavior
Anatomy & behavior
Damage  behavior changes
Structural differences  behavior
Activity & behavior
Behavior  record activity
Change activity  behavior?
Correlation vs experimentation
causality ~

3. Brain Damage & Behavior
Correlate damage  behavioral change
Clinical Neuropsychology
Broca’s aphasia
Experimental ablation
Lesion brain  behavior change?
Lashley & the engram
Problems: variability
location of damage
spared behaviors/abilities
multiple areas & tracts involved
post mortem ~

4. Anatomy & Behavior: Modern Techniques
Noninvasive
Computerized axial tomography
CAT (CT) scan
x-rays of brain
Low resolution
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
higher resolution than CAT
spinning H atoms radio waves ~

5. Tracing & Labeling Stains, radio-isotopes
Amino acids, antibodies, etc.
Tracing connections
Via axonal transport
Antero- & retrograde
Labeling structures
Receptors, genes, etc. ~
N: motor axons (green), neuromuscular synapse (orange)
O: DRG  spinal cord
A: visual cortex
Substance P receptors in dorsal horns

6. Normal Brain Differences
Sexual dimorphism
corpus callosum
hypothalamus
Sexually Dimorphic Nucleus - SDN ~

7. Brain Activity & Behavior
Record activity during behavior
EEG
electroencephalograph
reads electrical activity of brain
Ayahuasca – from South American vine; psychedelic drug; 5-HT agonist, DMT dimethyltryptamine

8. PET Scans Positron Emission Tomography metabolic activity
radioactive 2-deoxyglucose
Disadvantages
spatial/temporal resolution ~

9. fMRI Functional MRI detects increases in oxygen use Advantages
anatomy & activity
High resolution spatial & temporal
Disadvantages
Difficulty interpreting activity level ~

10. Electrical Stimulation of Brain (ESB)
Change activity  change behavior?
Fritz & Hitzig
Olds & Milner
neurosurgery
Advantage
experimental
Disadvantage
invasive
ESB during Neurosurgery
Map function
minimize loss ~

11. Experimental Psychopharmacology
Chemically change activity
learn about drugs
or use drugs to learn about brain & behavior
Block dopamine receptor
movement effects?
learning effects?
Combine with behavioral tests ~

12. Behavioral Psychopharmacology
Prenatal exposure to methamphetamine
effects on learning?

13. Cellular imaging Radioactive labeling similar idea to PET
Cellular changes during learning
role of Ca++ ions ~

14. Genetic Techniques Knock-out Mice Genes change microanatomy
alter function
Disable gene  no protein
receptor, enzyme, etc
evaluate effect on behavior
Obesity
Alcoholism ~