PSY318H5 Lecture Notes - Andreas Vesalius, René Descartes, Neuropsychology
Document Summary
For majority of human history, people constantly made educated guesses to these questions. Some people said behaviour was governed by nonmaterial mind (soul) still exists today; others thought the heart governed behaviour. People didn"t know what the brain did for most of history. One of the first to document a formal theory: concept of mentalism = idea of the mind. The cardiac hypothesis: mind exists in the heart and it governs behaviour. Example: heartbroken emotions from the heart. Worked with gladiators and got to see inside the body. Agreed with mentalism but not cardiac hypothesis believed thoughts, feelings, etc. originated in the brain, particularly the ventricles (cavities in the brain) which were surrounded by tissue and filled with fluid. The mind is a consequence of how the ventricles are working their functions leads to behaviour. Published documents on his studies of the ventricles: their size, variation in life stages.
