PSYC 305 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Central Processing Unit, Stimulus Modality, Trichromacy
Document Summary
Research in brain function will transition from phrenology to patients with brain damage to electrophysiology research. Phrenology: the study of bumps and grooves on the skull. The body as a machine will allow further exploration of the nervous system. Discoveries will show nerves are not hollow tubes and have speci city and directionality. Sensory and motor nerves were also discovered. Muller will elaborate on the speci city of sensory nerves. Each sensory modality has its own speci c type of nerve energy. The information above all led to new techniques in the laboratory, the rst mathematical law in psychology, and the creation of psychophysics. Gall"s childhood findings: some of his classmates were able to memorize verbal material. Gall"s adult neuroanatomist ambition: he scienti cally found modularity and localization of brain functions. He developed the rst cohesive idea about phrenology. Gall dissected many animals and humans and took a bottom-up approach.
