BIOL 031 002 1st Edition Lecture 1 Outline of Current Lecture Course Introduction and Mind Body I Reading Behavior Why it Matters II The Herding Instinct III Ren Descartes IV The Inconsistent Tetrad V Three Main Approaches to Studying the Neuroscience of Behavior VI Levels of Analysis in Biological Psychology VII Relationships among Biological Psychology VIII Your Brain by the Numbers IX The Ties That Bind X Five Research Perspective Applied to Three Kinds of Behavior Current Lecture I Reading Behavior Why it Matters A The Case of Terri Schiavo 1 A female who was paralyzed and brain damaged from a stroke 2 View Terri Schiavo video Reactions to stimuli i http www youtube com watch v P7fulbiC7Co 3 Dr Blumberg asks us to analyze Terri s behavior from the video i Seemingly positive reaction to bright lights ii Increasing volume of Terri s moans iii Positive reaction to her father telling her stories iv Trying to talk back to her father v Terri doesn t actually know what is going on she is simply reacting to stimuli 4 Autopsy of Terri Schiavo i Determined that her frontal lobe was completely destroyed a Frontal lobe was basically turned into gelatinous disarray ii She was cortically blind and actually did NOT respond to any light B Medical Law and Ethics 1 The public death of Terri Schiavo in 2005 became a major medical and ethical issue 2 View Diagnosing Terri Schiavo on Senate Floor video i http www youtube com watch v FBYk4F164Hk ii Senator Bill Frist urging to passing a bill to save Terri Schiavo a To prevent her from becoming starved These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute Starved according to the medical community being denied a feeding tube Terri was not showing signs of hunger or asking to be fed therefore her physician s decided to starve her iii Terri Schiavo ended up being starved to death 3 We must always retain the idea of OUTER behavior and INNER behavior How we see a person behave vs how the person actually feels inside II The Herding Instinct A 1 What is going on in this picture i Sheep are being herded by dog ii Owner is commanding dog to herd sheep iii Sheep look scared iv The dog looks aggressive 2 Even though dogs have the instinct to herd sheep certain animals like sheep also have the instinct to be herded B We forget that other animals can have the instinct to herd 1 View video of the rabbit who herded sheep i http www youtube com watch v qeuL5IGimCQ III Ren Descartes 1596 1650 A Mind Body Dualism 1 Descartes thought we were hydraulic beings that we are complex machines i Hydraulics in this case is essentially automatons which are inanimate objects that move and are self operating 2 He believed that humans have a material soul as well as a material body 3 The mind not the brain occupies nonmaterial space i Although the mind is STILL material 4 Dualism definition from the textbook The notion promoted by Descartes that the mind is subject only to spiritual interactions while the body is subject only to material interactions B Man Animal and Instinct 1 Animals were never allowed in the same realm as humans i INSTINCT vs FREE WILL a Free will soul b Animals lack soul IV The Inconsistent Tetrad A There are a series of 4 propositions which cannot ALL be true at the SAME time i ii iii iv The human body is a material thing The human body is a spiritual thing Mind and body interact Spirit and matter do not interact a b c d Reject i you are considered a SPIRITUALIST Reject ii You are considered a MATERIALIST Reject iii You are considered a DUALIST parallelist Reject iv You are considered a DUALIST interactionist Descartes position was dualist interactionist V Three Main Approaches to Studying the Neuroscience of Behavior pg 7 in the textbook A Manipulating the body may affect behavior 1 Somatic intervention change the body structure or chemistry of an animal in some way B Experience affects the body including the brain 1 Behavioral intervention change an animal s behavior or its environment then see if there are physiological or anatomical changes C Body and behavioral measures covary covary means to measure how much two variables change together 1 Both somatic and behavioral intervention Measurements of both kinds of variables to arrive at correlations between somatic changes and behavioral changes D Biological psychology seeks to understand ALL these relationships 1 All three of these approaches enriches and informs the others VI Levels of Analysis in Biological Psychology pg 10 in textbook A The scope of biological psychology ranges from the level of the individual interacting with others all the way to the molecular level Here are the levels as follows organized in a reductionism approach 1 Social Individuals behaving in social in interaction 2 Organ Brain spinal cord peripheral nerves and eyes 3 Neural systems Eyes and visual brain regions 4 Brain region Visual cortex 5 Circuit Local neural circuit 6 Cellular Single neuron 7 Synaptic the functions of multiple neurons 8 Molecular or atomic level closer look at membranes receptors etc VII Relationships among Biological Psychology pg 3 in the textbook A Biological psychology is related to many scientific fields 1 For example Genetics neuro immunology biochemistry physiology neurology health psychology evolutionary psychology behavioral ecology ethology anthropology etc VIII Your Brain by the Numbers pg 2 in the textbook A The cerebral cortex is the outermost portion of the brain B The brain is a wonderful organ here are some of the interesting facts from Figure 1 1 1 There 86 billion neurons in the brain 2 400 miles of capillaries 3 100 000 miles of axons 4 100 000 000 000 000 000 calculations per second 5 Has 20 of the body s oxygen 6 The brain has ZERO pain receptors brain surgery is often performed in awake patients IX The Ties That Bind pg 5 in the textbook A Each person has some characteristics shared by 1 All animals Use DNA to store genetic information 2 All vertebrates Have a backbone and spinal cord 3 All mammals Suckle their young 4 All primates Have hands with opposable thumb and complex brain 5 All humans Use symbolic language to communicate with each other 6 Some people Like or are partial to certain things 7 No other person No two people are exactly identical not even identical twins Individual experiences leave their unique stamp on every brain B Behavior of rats correlates with humans Rats