PSY 2301 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Wilder Penfield, Paul Broca, Cerebral Cortex

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 2301
• Professor: Andra Smith

Document Summary

Study of the relations between brain function and behavior. Origins: paul broca (mid 19th century) discovered the link between left hemisphere damage and language difficulties. Brain sectioning and staining (beginning of 20th century) Dozens of techniques are now available that allow researchers to identify molecular, neurochemical, and structural differences among neuronal types. Study of the biological basis of behavior. Includes the study of both humans and laboratory animals. Major challenge is to develop methods for studying both normal and abnormal behavior. People with damage to the temporal lobes often complain of memory disturbance. But memory is not a single function (memory for events, colors, names, places and motor skills) Rare for someone to be impaired in all forms of memory so each must be measured separately. Corsi block-tapping test: short-term recall of spatial position. Recency memory: challenges assumptions about memory. We can modify the brain and see how behavior is altered. Develop hypotheses about how the brain affects behavior.