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Brain and Behavior 304
Chapter 1
19
Psychology
Undergraduate 3
10/09/2007

Additional Psychology Flashcards

 


 

Cards

Term
Somatic intervention
Definition

Altering the structure/function of the brain/body to see how this changes behavior.

 Behavioral intervention = the opposite.

Term
Where did Aristotle locate mental capacities? 
Definition
The heart.
Term
Herophilus 
Definition
advanced our knowledge of the nervous system by dissecting bodies of both people and animals.
Term
Galen 
Definition
drew attention to the brain as the controller of behavior.
Term
Da Vinci
Definition
Pioneered in providing views from different angles and cross-sectional representations.
Term
Descartes 
Definition

Suggested the pineal gland for the location of our consciousness because

1) whereas most brain structures are double, located symetrically in the two hemispheres, the pineal gland is single, like consciousness, and

2) Descartes believed, erroneously, that the pineal gland exists only in humans and not in animals. 

Also pioneered the idea of dualism -- the idea that the mind and body are separate. He was also the first to suggest a link between the mind and body. 

He was also the first person to come up with the idea of a reflex: if you stubbed your toe, there would be a literal cord going from your foot to your brain, pulling your foot back. We now know we have reflexes, but not physical ones.

Term
Thomas Willis
Definition
convinced educated people in the Western world that the brain is the organ that coordinates and controls behavior.
Term
Paul Broca 
Definition
discovered that language expression is mediated by this specific brain region rather than reflecting activities of the entire brain (localization).
Term
William James' Principles of Psychology
Definition
in this book, psychological ideas such as consciousness and other aspects of human experience came to be seen as properties of the nervous system.
Term
Ebbinghaus
Definition
showed in 1885 how to measure learning and memory in humans.
Term
Franz
Definition
sought the site of learning and memory in the brain by removing different brain regions in animal subjects.
Term
Hebb  
Definition

showed in principle how complex cognitive behavior could be accomplished by networks of active neurons. His hypothesis about how neurons strengthen their connections through use became known as the Hebbian synapse.

father of modern behavioral neuroscience. “What fires together, wires together.” If two neurons fire together more, the connection between them is strengthens. This applies not only to individual neurons but to neural networks.

Term
Advantages of having human subjects
Definition

- follow directions.

- report subjective experiences.

- less expensive.

- have a human brain.

Term
Advantages of non-human subjects
Definition

 → have simpler nervous systems

use of comparative approach

fewer ethical constraints

easier to control for confounds

Term

Hippocrates

Definition

The father of modern ethics. He was the first to describe effects of head injuries. He was the first to suggest that our mental processes were somehow related to things happening in the brain. However, he thought it was due to an excess to one of the 4 humors humors (black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and sanguine.

Term

Johannes Muller

Definition

Advocate of experimental science. Came up with the doctrine of Specific Nerve Energies: Response of the sensory organs to stimuli is specific to the sensory system

Term
Luigi Galvani
Definition
Demonstrated that nerves conduct electricity.
Term
Franz Gall
Definition
Pioneered phrenology: Mental and moral faculties determined by shape of skull. We now know this to be completely untrue.
Term
Pierre Flourens
Definition
Advocate of experimental ablation: remove part of brain and observe which behaviours
remain.
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