(7e) Carlson PowerPoint Lecture Outline Chapter 1: Introduction
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Copyright 2001 by Allyn & Bacon
Overview Of Course Topics
s
Foundations of physiological psychology
q Neurophysiology q Methodology
and neuroanatomy
Sensation and movement s Physiology of behavior
s
q Sleep
and circadian rhythms q Ingestion: feeding and drinking q Sexual behavior q Memory
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1.2
Physiological Psychology
Physiological psychology seeks to describe the physical mechanisms of the body that mediate our movements and our mental activity s What is the relationship between mind and body?
s
q Two
major views of the mind-body problem:
x Dualism:
mind and body are separate but interacting x Monism: mind is a property of the physical nervous system (body)
Copyright 2001 by Allyn & Bacon
1.3
Consciousness
Consciousness refers to self-awareness and the ability to communicate our thoughts, perceptions, feelings, and memories s Consciousness can vary across the day/night cycle (sleep and dreaming are special states of consciousness) s Drugs can alter consciousness
s
q Alcohol q LSD
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1.4
Consciousness and Blindsight
Damage to the visual system on one side of the brain will produce blindness in the opposite (contralateral) visual field s Blindsight: blind patients are unable to see, but are able to reach for objects placed in their blind visual field
s
q Implies
that we need not be conscious of a stimulus in order to act on that stimulus
1.5
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Blindsight
1.6
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The Split-brain Procedure
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The corpus callosum is a bundle of axons that interconnects the two cerebral hemispheres
q Callotomy
involves cutting the corpus callosum to alleviate epileptic seizures q Without a corpus callosum, the left and right cerebral hemispheres are unable to directly communicate q Information that does not reach the left hemisphere of a callotomy patient does not enter consciousness: the person cannot verbalize it
1.7
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Testing a Split-brain
An odor presented to the right nostril only is not named because the information does not reach the left hemisphere s Yet, the person can use their left hand to reach for the source of the odor
s
1.8
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Research Goals
The goal of science is to explain the phenomena under study s Explanation involves two processes:
s
q Generalization
is the deduction of general laws, using results from experiments q Reduction is the use of simple phenomena to explain more complicated phenomema
1.9
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Descartes View of Behavior
s
Descartes viewed the world as mechanistic and viewed human behavior in terms of reflexive mechanisms elicited by stimuli in the environment
q Descartes
proposed that the mind interacted with the physical body through the pineal body q Descartes viewed hydraulic pressure within nerves as the basis for movement
x Galvani
soon showed that stimulation of isolated frog nerves will evoke muscle contraction
1.10
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Localization of Function
Muller noted nerves that carry messages via different channels (Doctrine of Specific Nerve Energies) s Fluorens used ablation (removal of discrete brain areas) in animals to assess the role of brain in the control of behavior s Flourens reported discrete brain areas that controlled heart rate and breathing, purposeful movements, and visual and auditory reflexes
s
1.11
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Brocas Area
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Patient Tan showed major deficit in speech (aphasia) following a stroke
q Brocas
autopsy of Tans brain (1861) noted damage in the left hemisphere q Brocas paper can be viewed at: http://www.yorku .ca/dept/psych/classics/Broca/ perte-e.htm
1.12
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Electrical Stimulation of Brain
s Fritsch
and Hitzig applied electrical stimuli to cortex in dogs to elicit muscle contraction on opposite body side (notion of contralateral)
q Identified
primary motor cortex, a region of cortex that activates discrete muscles on the opposite side of the body q Other brain regions control movements via connections with primary motor cortex 1.13
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Natural Selection and Evolution
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Functionalism is the belief that the characteristics of an organism serve some useful function
q
Hands allow for grasping
x x
Skin color can allow an organism to blend into the background (avoid predators) Color vision allows for detection of ripe/rotten food
s
Natural selection suggests that characteristics that allow an organism to reproduce more successfully are passed on to offspring
q
A consequence is that these characteristics will become more prevalent in a species
s
Evolution is the gradual change in structure and physiology as a result of natural selection 1.14
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Evolution of Vertebrates
Redrawn from Carrol, R. Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. New York: W.H. Freeman, 1988
1.15
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Human Evolution
s
Hominids are humanlike apes that first appeared in Africa
q q
Humans evolved from the first hominids There are four surviving species of hominids:
x x
Humans, c...