PSY 250 Study Guide - Spring 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Neuron, Thalamus, Cerebral Cortex
12 Oct 2018
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Department
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PSY 250
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Lecture #1
Lecture Notes: Introduction, Neuroanatomy (basics)
Does size matter?
-Size does not matter; we can see that elephants have a bigger brain than humans → leads to the questions
what is intelligence? Can do well in one aspect but someone can do better in another.
-Brain size is not a determining factor of intelligence
●Adult human - 1300 g
●Chimpanzee - 420 g
●Cat - 30 g
●Dolphin - 1500 g
●Elephants - 4700 g
Brain Facts:
●Weight: 1.3 kg (about 3 pounds)
●86 billion neurons (many more connections)
●100 trillion connections
●20-25% of total energy
I. Introduction & History
I.A. What is Biological Psychology?
●It is a discipline of neuroscience - the study of the nervous system to understand how it gives rise
to what we perceive, feel, think, say, and do → all of this comes from the brain
●Brain leads to behavior → behavior gives feedback to brain → change brain structure,
organization, and function
●Highly interdisciplinary and technical
I.B. Many unanswered questions
- The nervous system consists of many structures, each with substructures
- Multiple levels of operation, from molecular to cellular to structural to systems
- Fundamental questions
- - How does complex behavior emerge from an electrochemical system?
- - How do all little parts of the nervous system work together to make one behaving unit?
I.C. Many challenges
- Complex biological system
Increasing number of cells but most increasing number of connections
●Cutting back is an important developmental issues, cutting back process is not functioning quite
normal in the brain for people who have autism
- Complex brain & behavior relationship
- - For example, "No longer Gage"
1
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●Phineas Gage in an unfortunate accident, metal rod came through his audit and went through his
head
●half of his frontal lobe was damaged because of this accident, seemed okay
●Was no longer interested or motivated
●Could respond, but was no longer engaged/interested
(Phineas Gage's case Reported by Damasio & Colleagues, 1994)
I.D. A very brief history
1. Rene Descartes (1596-1650) - Mind and brain problem; were considered two separate entities → we
now know that is not true
2. Santiago Ramon y Cajal (1906) - found that cells are separated, one neuron next to another neuron,
found a gap between the neurons → neurons can communicate electrically and chemically
3. Donald O. Hebb (1949) - influential by his book, suggests neurons are organized into circuits, circuits
are formed by experience, can later on retrieve if the circuit is activated again
I.E. So, how do neuroscientists study the not easily observable workings of the brain, and relate that
to the elusive mind?
1. Memory is not directly observable, there will be deviation when recounting it
→ Back in the old days - Phrenos (mind) and logos (study of a thing)
2. Modern approach ...
→ Use a combination of theories and research approaches from many areas to better describe, understand
and predict behavior.
→ Highly interdisciplinary
3. Examine the inner working of things!
→ requires advance technology (for ex. Can look into body temperature, need a probe to get into
individual cells, we need dialysis to measure chemical concentration, we need computations of model
when dealing with circuits)
→ can use functional MRI, subjects do tasks and measure blood flow/metabolism
4. Finding common principles that might emerge from diverse animals and diverse functions
e.g., the general cortical organization is found to be similar across different mammals
→ For instance, to check a chemical for alzheimer's it can be tested in the animal first before testing it on
humans
5. Human vs. Nonhuman subjects
Advantages of human subjects: Advantages of nonhuman subjects
- better control - simpler nervous system
- follow instructions - comparative approach
- report subjective experiences - evolutionary continuity
- human brain! - test more specific models
- can apply more invasive procedures
All under strict regulations.
II. Neuroanatomy and Neurons -- some basics
2
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Can do well in one aspect but someone can do better in another. Brain size is not a determining factor of intelligence. 20-25% of total energy: introduction & history. It is a discipline of neuroscience - the study of the nervous system to understand how it gives rise to what we perceive, feel, think, say, and do all of this comes from the brain. Brain leads to behavior behavior gives feedback to brain change brain structure, organization, and function. The nervous system consists of many structures, each with substructures. Multiple levels of operation, from molecular to cellular to structural to systems. Increasing number of cells but most increasing number of connections. Cutting back is an important developmental issues, cutting back process is not functioning quite normal in the brain for people who have autism. Phineas gage in an unfortunate accident, metal rod came through his audit and went through his head.
