PSYC10003 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Luigi Galvani, Phineas Gage, Frontal Lobe
14 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
MBB1 – Lecture 2
Behavioural Neuroscience
What is BN?
• Scientific study of the role of the CNS in behaviour
o How its structure and function, brain in particular, give rise to things like
perception, attention, language etc.
• Combines psychology and neuroscience and there are a range of disciplines
o Physiological psychology, psychopharmacology, cognitive neuroscience etc.
Phineas Gage
• Survived damage to frontal lobe from a metal pole
• Changes in his personality, but not other functions such as movement
o Fitful, irreverent, profane, impulsive
o Impatient, obstinate – difficulty in making clear decisions
o Unable to plan for future
o Jos he o orked had little resposiility as he ouldt go ak to his old
job
Historical limits to understanding link between mind and brain
• Changes and advances to our understanding of the brain were limited by
o Religious or moral views
o Limited methods
o Reliance on chance discoveries
o Scientific conservatism – people dot at to rejet ooly elieed
Ideas
• Nerves connect brain to body - Galen
o Used vivisection (animal studies) to study the anatomy of the NS, and
distinguished between sensory and motor nerves
Distinction between reflexes and volitional acts – Descartes
• Suggested that all animals can act automatically
• Proposed that humans alone possessed a mind that allowed them to perform
voluntary, conscious and thoughtful acts
• He proposed the first model to link mind and body
o Animal spirits flowing through hollow veins hydraulically to create movement
Importance of the cortex recognised – Thomas Willis
• Rejected the idea that the mind resides in the ventricles
• Suggested that thought is generated by the outer tissue of the cerebral hemispheres
(cortex)
• Based his idea on comparative anatomy and the effects of cortex damage on
behaviour
Nerve signals are electrical, not fluid – Luigi Galvani
• Rejected idea of animal spirits flowing through hollow nerves
• Found that electrical charges made body parts move
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
• Suggested that nerves must be coated in fat to prevent electricity from leaking
The idea of a modular brain – Franz Joseph Gall
• Influenced by the art of ascribing particular personality features to facial features
• Thought rai as ade up of seeral distit orgas of thought that ere
reflected by bumps on the skull
• Itrodued a skull ap that ould e used to read a persos harater
First evidence of brain modularity – Broca
• Had a patiet ho as uale to speak after daage the left frotal loe (Broas
area), but could chew normally and comprehend speech
• Concluded that the damaged area of the brain of the left frontal cortex is the site of
expressive language in humans
Frontal lobes linked to personality – Egaz Moniz
• Introduced the prefrontal leucotomy to relieve psychiatric disorders
• Surgery was based on observations of personality changes in monkeys and humans
following frontal lobe damage
• Resulted in profound personality changes – apathy, emotional unresponsiveness etc.
MBB1 - Lecture 3
The synapse
Myasthenia Gravis – disorder of synaptic transmission
• Extreme fatigability
• Fluctuation muscle weakness
• Problems chewing
• Action potentials in nerves are normal
• Arises from a problem with synapses on muscles
The synapse – communication between neurons
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Phineas gage: survived damage to frontal lobe from a metal pole, changes in his personality, but not other functions such as movement, fitful, irreverent, profane, impulsive. Impatient, obstinate difficulty in making clear decisions: unable to plan for future, jo(cid:271)s he (cid:374)o(cid:449) (cid:449)orked had little respo(cid:374)si(cid:271)ility as he (cid:272)ould(cid:374)(cid:859)t go (cid:271)a(cid:272)k to his old job. Ideas: nerves connect brain to body - galen, used vivisection (animal studies) to study the anatomy of the ns, and distinguished between sensory and motor nerves. The idea of a modular brain franz joseph gall. Influenced by the art of ascribing particular personality features to facial features: thought (cid:271)rai(cid:374) (cid:449)as (cid:373)ade up of se(cid:448)eral disti(cid:374)(cid:272)t (cid:858)orga(cid:374)s of thought(cid:859) that (cid:449)ere reflected by bumps on the skull. I(cid:374)trodu(cid:272)ed a skull (cid:373)ap that (cid:272)ould (cid:271)e used to read a perso(cid:374)(cid:859)s (cid:272)hara(cid:272)ter. Frontal lobes linked to personality egaz moniz.
