PSYC 362 Chapter 5: Textbook Notes - Chapter 5

• School: Binghamton University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 362
• Professor: Maria Romero

Document Summary

Experimental ablation involves destroying part of the brain and evaluating the animal"s subsequent behavior. Tissue destroyed= stays in place; oldest method used. Lesion: a wound/ injury; destroying brain= brain lesion. Rationale for lesion studies is that the function of an area of the brain can be inferred from the behaviors that the animal can no longer perform after the area has been damaged. Goal from lesion studies: to discover what functions are performed by different regions of the brain and then to understand how these functions are combined to accomplish particular behaviors. Note: circuits within the brain perform functions not behaviors. No one brain region or neural circuit is solely responsible for a behavior; systems work together. Excitotoxic lesions a more selective method of producing brain lesions that employs an excitatory aa such as kainic acid, which kills neurons by stimulating them to death.