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lightning
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background texture
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person rock climbing
©istockphoto.com/Greg Epperson
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2. Topics 1.1 What Is Biopsychology? 1.2
What Is the Relation between Biopsychology and the Other Disciplines of Neuroscience?
1.3
What Types of Research Characterize the Biopsychological Approach?
1.4
What Are the Divisions of Biopsychology?
1.5
Converging Operations: How Do Biopsychologists Work Together?
1.6
Scientific Inference: How Do Biopsychologists Study the Unobservable Workings of the Brain?
1.7
Critical Thinking about Biopsychological Claims
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lightning
©istockphoto.com/Soubrette
background texture
©istockphoto.com/Hedda Gjerpen
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3. Neurons and the Human Brain
An amazingly intricate network of neurons
Cells that receive and transmit electrochemical signals
Credits
brain
©istockphoto.com/Stephen Kirklys
neuron
©istockphoto.com/ktsimage
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4. Neuroscience The scientific study of the nervous system
May prove to be the brain’s ultimate challenge: Does the brain have the capacity to understand something as complex as itself?
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person with thought bubble
©istockphoto.com/Digital Savant LLC
brain
©istockphoto.com/Stephen Kirklys

5. The Purpose of This Chapter
Biopsychology
Neuroscience comprises several related disciplines. The primary purpose of this chapter is to introduce you to one of them:
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6. Four Major Themes of This Book1 2 3 4
Thinking Creatively about Biopsychology
Clinical Implications
The Evolutionary Perspective
Neuroplasticity
1. Thinking creatively about biopsychology
Thinking creatively: Thinking in productive, unconventional ways (“Think outside the box.”)
Base thinking on the evidence presented rather than on widely accepted views
2. Clinical implications
Clinical: Pertaining to illness or treatment
Study of diseased or damaged brains leads to new knowledge
New knowledge leads to new treatments
3. The evolutionary perspective
Evolutionary perspective: Consideration of environmental pressures that likely led to the evolution of our brains and behavior
Important component of this approach is the comparative approach: trying to understand biological phenomena by comparing them in different species
4. Neuroplasticity
What the adult brain is: A plastic (changeable) organ that continuously grows and changes in response to the individual’s genes and experiences
What the adult brain is NOT: A static network of neurons
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7. What Is Biopsychology?
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8. Defining Biopsychology
What is biopsychology?
Biopsychology is the scientific study of the biology of behavior.
The term biopsychology denotes a biological approach to the study of psychology (the scientific study of behavior).
Biopsychology is also called psychobiology, behavioral biology, or behavioral neuroscience.
Credit
text messaging
©iStockphoto.com/Freeze Frame Studio, Inc.
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9. History of Biopsychology
The Organization of Behavior D.O. Hebb (1949)
Key factor in biopsychology’s development into a major neuroscientific discipline
Proposed that psychological phenomena might be produced by brain activity
Helped discredit the notion that psychological functions were too complex to be derived from physiological activities
Hebb based his theory on experiments involving both humans and laboratory animals, on clinical case studies, and on logical arguments developed from his own observations of daily life.
This eclectic approach has become a hallmark of biopsychological inquiry.
Credit
book
©istockphoto.com/Carmen Martínez Banús

10. What Is the Relation between Biopsychology and the Other Disciplines of Neuroscience?
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11. Biopsychology’s Relationship to Other Disciplines of Neuroscience
Neurophysiology
Biopsychology is an integrative discipline. Biopsychologists draw together knowledge from the other neuroscientific disciplines and apply it to the study of behavior.
Neuropathology
Neurochemistry
Neuropharmacology
Neuroanatomy
Biopsychologists’ behavioral orientation and expertise make their contribution to neuroscience unique.
Neuroendocrinology

12. Disciplines of Neuroscience That Are Relevant to Biopsychology
Neurophysiology
Neuroanatomy
Functions and activities of the nervous system
Structure of the nervous system
Neuroscience
Neuropharmacology
Neurochemistry
Effects of drugs on neural activity
Chemical bases of neural activity
Neuropathology
Neuroendocrinology
Nervous system disorders
Interactions between the nervous system and the endocrine system

13. What Types of Research Characterize the Biopsychological Approach?
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14. Biopsychological Research
Three dimensions along which biopsychological research varies:
SUBJECTS
METHODS
TYPES OF RESEARCH
Human
Nonhuman
Experiments
Nonexperiments
Pure
Applied

15. Advantages of Human and Nonhuman Subjects
They can follow instructions.
They can report their subjective experiences.
They are often cheaper to work with.
They have a human brain.
Simpler brains make it more likely that brain- behavior interactions will be revealed.
Insights arise from the comparative approach – making comparisons with other species.
There are fewer ethical restrictions.
Many questions about the biology of behavior are addressed using human subjects.
However, much can be learned from studying the brains of other species, since species differences are often more quantitative than qualitative.
The ethics of both human and animal research is carefully scrutinized by independent committees.
Credits
one person silhouette
Derek Borman
white rat
©iStockphoto.com/Elena Butinova

16. Experiments Used to determine cause-and-effect relationships
Between- and within-subjects designs
Independent and dependent variables (e.g., type of dog and level of fear)
Experiments involve the manipulation of variables.
Experiments involving living subjects require that subjects be placed in various conditions:
Between-subjects design: A different group of subjects is tested under each treatment condition of an experiment.
Within-subjects design: The same group of subjects is tested under each condition.
Independent variables are set or manipulated by the experimenter; these manipulations produce the different treatment conditions in an experiment.
Dependent variables reflect the subject’s behavior; this is what the experimenter measures to assess the effect of the independent variable.
The experimenter tries to conduct the experiment so that the independent variable is the only thing that varies between each treatment condition. In a well-designed experiment, the experimenter can conclude that any differences in the dependent variable between the various treatment conditions were caused by the independent variable.
Credits
barking dog
©iStockphoto.com/Yuriy Zelenenkyy
little dog
©iStockphoto.com/Eric Isselée
heartbeat animation
Derek Borman
one person silhouette

17. ? ? ? ? ? ? Confounded Variables Dependent variable Dependent variable
Unintended differences between conditions that can influence the dependent variable
Can be difficult to eliminate
Can make experiments difficult to interpret
Hard to tell how much of the effect on the dependent variable was caused by the independent variable and how much was caused by the confounded variable
Independent variable
Confounded
variable ? ? ? ? ? ?
Dependent variable
Dependent variable
Dependent variable
Although the principle of good experimentation is conceptually simple, it is often difficult in practice to make sure that there is only one difference among conditions.

18. Example of Good Experimental Design
Lester and Gorzalka (1988)
Demonstrated the Coolidge effect in female hamsters
Showed that female hamsters were more sexually receptive to an unfamiliar male than to the male they had already copulated with during an earlier test
Coolidge effect: The fact that a copulating male who becomes incapable of continuing to copulate with one sex partner can often recommence copulating with a new sex partner
Lordosis: The arched-back, rump-up, tail-diverted posture of female rodent sexual receptivity
Lester and Gorzalka argued that the Coolidge effect had not been demonstrated in females because it is more difficult to conduct well-controlled Coolidge-effect experiments with females—not because females do not display a Coolidge effect.
Because the males of most mammalian species become sexually fatigued more readily than do the females, attempts to demonstrate the Coolidge effect in females are often confounded by the fatigue of the males.
Lester and Gorzalka’s study controlled for this confounded variable.
Credit
Figure 1.3
Pinel 8e, p. 7

19. Quasiexperimental Studies
Nonexperiments
Quasiexperimental Studies
Case Studies
Studies of groups of subjects exposed to conditions in the real world
Not real experiments as potential confounded variables have not been controlled
Focus on a single case or subject (e.g. Jimmie G.)
Usually more in-depth than other approaches
Good source of testable hypotheses
Major problem is generalizability: the degree to which results can be applied to other cases
Sometimes it is impossible to conduct controlled experiments ethical or technical reasons.
In a quasiexperimental design, researchers examine subjects in real-world situations who have self-selected into specific conditions (e.g., excessive alcohol intake); in a sense, these subjects have assigned themselves to treatment conditions.
The major shortcoming of a quasiexperimental study is that although researchers can examine relations between the variables of interest (e.g., alcohol consumption’s relation to brain damage), a quasiexperimental study cannot control for potential confounding variables. Therefore, it does not allow a researcher to establish direct cause-and-effect relationships.
Case studies are scientific studies that focus on a single subject. The main problem with case studies is their generalizability: because humans differ from one another in both brain function and behavior, it is important to be skeptical of any biopsychological theory based entirely on a few case studies.

20. Pure and Applied Research
Many research projects have elements of both approaches.
Pure Research:
Conducted for the purpose of acquiring knowledge
Applied Research:
Intended to bring about some direct benefit to humankind
Pure and applied research are defined by the motivation of the researcher.
Many scientists believe that pure research will ultimately prove to be of more practical benefit than applied research.
However, pure research is more vulnerable to political regulation because politicians and the voting public have difficulty understanding why research of no immediate practical benefit should be supported.

21. What Are the Divisions of Biopsychology?
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22. Six Major Divisions of Biopsychology
Physiological
psychology
Neuro- psychology
Psycho-
physiology
Cognitive
neuroscience
Psycho- pharmacology
Comparative
psychology
Each division has a different approach, but there is much overlap.
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blue sky & clouds
©istockphoto.com/kertlis

23. Physiological Psychology
Division that studies the neural mechanisms of behavior
Uses direct manipulation of the brain in controlled experiments (e.g. surgical and electrical methods of brain manipulation)
Subjects usually laboratory animals
Strong focus on pure research
Credit
hand holding rat
©iStockphoto.com/sidsnapper

24. Psychopharmacology Similar to physiological psychology
Focuses on the manipulation of neural activity and behavior with drugs
Substantial portion of research is applied
Although drugs are sometimes used by psychopharmacologists to study the basic principles of brain–behavior interaction, the purpose of many psychopharmacological experiments is to develop therapeutic drugs or to reduce drug abuse.
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Credit
pill background
©istockphoto.com/Fotografia Basica

25. Neuropsychology
Studies the psychological effects of brain damage in human patients
Cannot be studied in humans by experimentation; focuses on case studies and quasiexperimental studies
Has focused on cerebral cortex, since it is most likely to be damaged by accident or surgery
Most applied of the biopsychological subdisciplines
Cerebral cortex: The outer layer of the cerebral hemispheres
Neuropsychological tests of brain-damaged patients facilitate diagnosis, treatment, and lifestyle counseling (e.g., the case of Mr. R described in the text).
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Credit
brain
©istockphoto.com/Stephen Kirklys

26. Psychophysiology
Studies the relation between physiological activity and psychological processes in human subjects.
Typically uses noninvasive procedures (e.g. electroencephalogram, measures of eye movement)
The usual measure of brain activity is the scalp electroencephalogram (EEG).
Other common psychophysiological measures are muscle tension, eye movement, and several indicators of autonomic nervous system activity (e.g., heart rate, blood pressure, pupil dilation, and electrical conductance of the skin).
The autonomic nervous system (ANS) is the division of the nervous system that regulates the body’s inner environment.
Most psychophysiological research focuses on understanding the physiology of psychological processes, such as attention, emotion, and information processing, but there have also been a number of interesting clinical applications of the psychophysiological method.
For example, psychophysiological experiments have indicated that people with schizophrenia have difficulty smoothly tracking a moving object such as a pendulum (see FIGURE).
Adapted from Iacono & Koenig, 1983.
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Credit
Figure 1.4
Pinel 8e, p. 10

27. Cognitive Neuroscience
Newest division of biopsychology
Focuses on the neural bases of cognition
Often employs human subjects
Key methods are functional brain imaging techniques
Cognition: A term that generally refers to higher intellectual processes such as thought, memory, attention, and complex perceptual processes.
Cognitive neuroscience often involves collaborations between researchers with widely different backgrounds (e.g., biopsychology, cognitive psychology, computer science).
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Credit
PET scan
©istockphoto.com/BanksPhotos

28. Comparative Psychology
Deals with biology of behavior
Compares different species to understand evolution, genetics, and adaptiveness of behavior
Uses laboratory and/or ethological research
Areas of research that often employ comparative analysis:
Evolutionary psychology
Behavioral genetics
Ethological research: the study of animal behavior in its natural environment.
Evolutionary psychology: Understanding behavior through its evolutionary origins
Behavioral genetics: Understanding the genetic influences on behavior
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Credit
DNA
©istockphoto.com/Mark Evans

29. Converging Operations: How Do Biopsychologists Work Together?
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30. Converging Operations
Using multiple approaches to address a single question
Strengths of one approach compensate for the weaknesses of the others
Example: Korsakoff’s syndrome
Characterized by severe memory loss
Initially believed to be a direct consequence of the toxic effects of alcohol on the brain
Subsequent research: Largely caused by brain damage associated with thiamine deficiency, although the damage is accelerated by alcohol
Each of the six approaches to biopsychological research is not without its weaknesses; thus, biopsychological issues are rarely resolved by a single experiment or study, or by any single approach.
Alcoholics often develop Korsakoff ’s syndrome because most of their caloric intake comes in the form of alcohol, which lacks vitamins, and because alcohol interferes with the metabolism of what little thiamine they do consume.
However, alcohol has been shown to accelerate the development of brain damage in thiamine-deficient rats, so it may have a direct toxic effect on the brain as well.
By exploring the possible causes of Korsakoff’s using multiple approaches, or converging operations, findings are more accurate.
Credits
green beer bottle
©istockphoto.com/Bjørn Heller
bottle of vitamins
©istockphoto.com/Baris Simsek

31. Scientific Inference: How Do Biopsychologists Study the Unobservable Workings of the Brain?
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32. Scientific Inference
The empirical method that biopsychologists use to study the unobservable
Scientists measure what they can observe, use these measures as a basis for inferring what they can’t observe
Brain activity is not directly observable (e.g., one cannot see a neuron firing or neurochemicals being released from neurons).
This situation is no different than other sciences (e.g., physicists cannot see gravity, chemists cannot see evaporation); the effects of the processes are observable, but not the processes themselves.
Credits
ruler
©istockphoto.com/Christopher Hudson
woman observing & taking notes
©istockphoto.com/Claudio Arnese

33. Illustration of Scientific Inference: Perception of Motion Under Four Different Conditions
Eye is stationary, and object is stationary; therefore, retinal image is stationary. No movement is seen. 1
Eye actively rotates
upward, and
Object is stationary;
therefore, retinal
Image moves up.
No movement
is seen. 2
Eye is stationary,
and object moves down; therefore, retinal image moves up.
Object is seen to
move down. 3
Eye is passively
rotated upward by finger, and object is stationary; therefore, retinal image moves up. Object is seen to move down. 4
The eye-movement example illustrates that biopsychologists can learn much about the activities of the brain through scientific inference, without directly observing them.
Conclusion: Therefore, the brain sees as movement the total movement of an object’s image on the retina minus that portion produced by active movement of the eyes: It does not subtract passive movement of the eyes.
Charlie: Can we divide these up somehow so each one comes onto the screen at once and they are bigger so you can really see each one (and so the conclusion is bigger as well)? done
Credit
Figure 1.6
Pinel 8e, p. 14

34. Critical Thinking about Biopsychological Claims
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35. Critical Thinking
The ability to evaluate scientific claims by identifying potential omissions or weaknesses in the evidence
The first step in judging the validity of any scientific claim is to determine whether the claim and the research on which it is based were published in a reputable scientific journal.
In order to be published in a reputable scientific journal, an article must first be reviewed by experts in the field and judged to be of good quality.
People should be particularly skeptical of scientific claims that have not gone through this review process, although the review process itself is not a guarantee that scientific papers are free of unrecognized flaws.
Credit
person thinking
©istockphoto.com/akurtz

36. Analysis: Subject: José Delgado
Exciting account reported in popular press
Many possible alternative explanations
Morgan’s Canon: Give precedence to the simplest interpretation for a behavioral observation
Subject: José Delgado
Claimed a charging bull could be tamed using stimulation of its caudate nucleus
The biopsychologist José Delgado implanted an electrode into the caudate nucleus of a bull.
Each time the bull charged, Delgado used his hand-held transmitter to deliver an electrical stimulation to the caudate nucleus of the bull via the implanted electrode.
This stopped the bull’s charge and after a few attempts, the bull stood tamely.
Delgado and the popular press declared this a major discovery, the discovery of the caudate taming center. It was even suggested that caudate stimulation might cure human psychopaths.
However, there are numerous ways in which brain stimulation can abort a bull’s charge, most of which are simpler or more direct, and thus more
probable, than the one suggested by Delgado. For example, the stimulation may have simply rendered the bull confused, dizzy, nauseous, sleepy, or temporarily blind rather than nonaggressive; or the stimulation could have been painful.
Credits
paper clip
©istockphoto.com/Jon Patton
folder
©istockphoto.com/kyoshino
tabletop
©istockphoto.com/Andrew Cribb

37. Analysis: Subject: Egas Moniz
Adoption for human therapy based largely on study of a single chimpanzee (Becky)
Inadequate postoperative evaluation of human patients
Procedure can produce undesirable side effects: amorality, lack of foresight, emotional unresponsiveness, epilepsy, urinary incontinence
Subject: Egas Moniz
Developed the prefrontal lobotomy, cutting connections between the prefrontal lobes and the rest of the brain to treat mental illness
In 1949, Dr. Egas Moniz received a Nobel prize for developing prefrontal lobotomy.
Moniz based his technique on a report that a chimpanzee (Becky) was easier to handle after part of her prefrontal lobes – large areas, left and
right, at the very front of the brain – had been destroyed as part of an experiment.
Various forms of the operation were devised, such as the transorbital lobotomy procedure, which was performed by inserting an ice pick-like device through the eye sockets, often in a doctor's office.
Following the initial reports by Moniz of the operation’s benefits, it was performed on mentally-ill patients all over the world.
No program of psychosurgery (any brain surgery performed for the treatment of a psychological problem) should ever be initiated without a thorough assessment of the effects of the surgery on a large sample of subjects from various nonhuman mammalian species.
Moniz and others failed to carefully evaluate the consequences of the surgery in the first patients to undergo the operation. The early reports that the operation was therapeutically successful were based on the impressions of the individuals who were the least objective—the physicians who had prescribed the surgery and their colleagues.
Credits
paper clip
©istockphoto.com/Jon Patton
folder
©istockphoto.com/kyoshino
tabletop
©istockphoto.com/Andrew Cribb

38. The Prefrontal Lobotomy
The leucotome was inserted six times into the patient’s brain with the cutting wire retracted.
FIGURE 1: The right and left prefrontal lobes, whose connections to the rest of the brain are disrupted by prefrontal lobotomy
FIGURE 2: The prefrontal lobotomy procedure developed by Moniz and Lima
FIGURE 3: The transorbital procedure for performing prefrontal lobotomy
After each insertion, the cutting wire was extruded and the leucotome rotated to cut out a core of tissue.
Credits
Figure 1.7
Pinel 8e, p. 16
Figure 1.8
Figure 1.9
Pinel 8e, p. 17

39. Watch: Themes of Biopsychology
Watch: Greetings
Watch: Themes of Biopsychology
Animation: The History of the Brain
Note: To view the MyPsychLab assets, please make sure you are connected to the internet and have a browser opened and logged into

40. Acknowledgments Slide Image Description Image Source template
lightning
©istockphoto.com/Soubrette
background texture
©istockphoto.com/Hedda Gjerpen
ch01 image
person rock climbing
©istockphoto.com/Greg Epperson 3
brain
©istockphoto.com/Stephen Kirklys
neuron
©istockphoto.com/ktsimage 4
person with thought bubble
©istockphoto.com/Digital Savant LLC 8
text messaging
©iStockphoto.com/Freeze Frame Studio, Inc. 9
book
©istockphoto.com/Carmen Martínez Banús 15
one person silhouette
Derek Borman
white rat
©iStockphoto.com/Elena Butinova 16
barking dog
©iStockphoto.com/Yuriy Zelenenkyy
little dog
©iStockphoto.com/Eric Isselée
heartbeat animation 18
Figure 1.3
Pinel 8e, p. 7 22
blue sky & clouds
©istockphoto.com/kertlis 23
hand holding rat
©iStockphoto.com/sidsnapper 24
pill background
©istockphoto.com/Fotografia Basica 25 26
Figure 1.4
Pinel 8e, p. 10 27
PET scan
©istockphoto.com/BanksPhotos 28
DNA
©istockphoto.com/Mark Evans 30
green beer bottle
©istockphoto.com/Bjørn Heller
bottle of vitamins
©istockphoto.com/Baris Simsek 32
ruler
©istockphoto.com/Christopher Hudson
woman observing & taking notes
©istockphoto.com/Claudio Arnese 33
Figure 1.6
Pinel 8e, p. 14 35
person thinking
©istockphoto.com/akurtz
36-37
paper clip
©istockphoto.com/Jon Patton

41. Acknowledgments 39 laptop ©istockphoto.com/CostinT table and wall
36-37
folder
©istockphoto.com/kyoshino
tabletop
©istockphoto.com/Andrew Cribb 38
Figure 1.7
Pinel 8e, p. 16
Figure 1.8
Figure 1.9
Pinel 8e, p. 17 39
laptop
©istockphoto.com/CostinT
table and wall
©istockphoto.com/David Clark