Lecture 1ProSeminar in Biological Psychology

10% theory

• Natural Selection

• Clinical Neurology

• fMRI, PET, EEG

Absolutely no evidence to support 10% theory

How well do you really know your brain?

• Reasoning• Planning• Speech Produce• Movement• Emotions• Problem solving• Personality

• Movement• Orientation• Recognition• Perception of stimuli

• Visual Processing

• Perception & recognition of auditory stimuli• Memory• Speech Comprehension

Forebraintelencephalon

Taking sides….how the two sides process information that is!

Left Brain

• Logical• Sequential• Rational• Analytical• Objective• Looks at parts

Right Brain

• Random• Intuitive• Holistic• Synthesizing• Subjective• Looks at wholes

What is your brain made of?

Gray Matter: 40%

White Matter: 60%

Synapses: 0.15 quadrillion

Brain has more pathways: Receptors located on neurons in membrane

2 Types of Cells in NS

Nerve Cells Glial Cells (Neurons) (Glia)

Electrical Signaling Supportive Communicate with other cells No signaling (90%)

Brain Composition:

H20 77-78%

Lipids 10-12%

Proteins 8%

Carbs 1%

Brain mostly composed of…

The “Kiss”

IONOTROPIC (LIGAND BINDING RECEPTOR)

METABOTROPIC(G-PROTEIN COUPLED RECEPTOR)

Will the human brain ever completelyunderstand its own workings?

3 major debates

• Mind vs Brain (monism/dualism)

• Localism vs holism (Neurons)

• Nature of neural communication

Luigi Galvani(1596-1650)

Italian PhysicianPhysicist

Debate: Nature of Neural Communication

"While one of those who were assisting me touched lightly, and by chance, the point of his scalpel to the internal crural nerves of the frog, suddenly all the muscles of its limbs were seen to be so contracted that they seemed to have fallen into tonic convulsions. “

Electrical Stimulation of frog legs

Contraction of the muscles

“Animal Electricity”

Johannes Muller(1801-1858)

German Physiologist

Doctrine of specific nerve energies

All nerves carry electrical signals

Different nerves = different outcomes

Debate: Neural Communication

Camillo Golgi (1843-1956) Italian Physician:

Silver Staining Method – continuous mass of

tissues…one cytoplasm(holism)

Santiago Ramon y Cajal (1852-1934)Spanish Histologist

Labeled Cells“neuron doctrine” – discrete entities

Nobel Prize 1906:Research on structure of the nervous

Debate: Nature of Neural Communication

1. Neurons are discrete and autonomous cells that can interact

2. Synapses are gaps that separate neurons

3. Information is transmitted in one direction from dendrites (input) to the axon (output)

Debate: Nature of Neural Communication

Franz Joseph Gall (1757-1825)

German PhysicianNeuroanatomist

brought Neuroanatomy & Psychology together

discrete regions of brain controls specific functions = mental state localization

Phrenology (personology)

Debate: Localism vs Holism

Localism!!!

Wilder Penfield (1891-1976) American-Born Canadian

Neurosurgeon:

• Greatest neurosurgeon of all times• mapped the brain

• direct stimulation of the brain•“Grandmother Cell"

• Localism vs holism?

Rene Descartes(1596-1650)

Mind-Body Question

Dualist: mind separate from body

Mechanist: Body is like a machine

Mind controls the machine

Body tells mind about the environment

Pipes = nervesWater = fluids in body Hidden Value = Pineal

• Mind vs Brain

Control Valve: Pineal Gland

“Seat of the Soul”

First technicalmodel for the NS

Innervation of the Pineal

Dependent on the

Light/Dark Cycle

Mind vs Brain???

Monism:

Mind is product of brain

Dualism:

Brain is physicalmind is not

Mind-Body Question..are you a monist or a dualist?

Debate: Mind vs Brain