Why Study the brain Is it necessary for psychologoists to understand the biology fo the brain o Yes the brain is the organic matter underlying the mind The Mind body problem o Monism Mind and brain are the same thing o Dualism Mind and brain are different entities o Current research rejects strict dualism How does the Brain Work at the Cellular Level Neurons cells in the nervous system that communicate to perform information processing tasks o 3 main parts Cell Body Dendrites Receives information from other neurons axons Axons Transmits information o 3 Major Types Sensory Neurons Sensory information transferred to the brain Motor Neurons Receive information from the spinal cord to direct movement Inter Neurons Connect neurons o Approximately 100 billion neurons in the brain Neurotransmitters Chemicals that transmit information across the synapse to a receiving neuron s dendrites o Acetylcholine Ach involved in voluntary motor control memory regulation of attention learning sleeping and dreaming o Dopamine regulates motor behavior motivation pleasure and emotional arousal o GABA involved in stopping o Norepinephrine o Serotonin o Endorphins The Brain communicates via electrochemical processes o Conduction o Transmission A major debate in the 1800s o Equipotentiality All parts of the cortex contribute equally to all mental abilities o Functional Localization different parts of the cortex underlie different mental processes Phrenology Assessing personality and abilities by measuring bumps on the skull functional localization Broca s area 1861 Broca described a patient who had lost the capacity to produce spoken language but not the ability to understand language Excellent evidence for functional localization and challenged Descartes notion of dualism Can be studied with Transcranial Magnetic Simulation TMS Brainstem Basic survival o Midbrain o Pons o Medulla Cerebellum little brain fine motor movement Pituitary gland master gland produces and releases hormones Thalamus Relays filters sensory information Hypothalamus Regulates drives o The four F s Feeding fighting fleeing and Sex Cerebral Cortex Cerebrum Specialized into four lobes o The occipital lobe Structure Back of head Functions include Vision o The Temporal lobe Structure Near the temples Funcitons Hearing Memory o The Parietal lobe Structure Top rear of the brain Funcitons include Spatial abilities integrate sensory info Sense of touch Somatosensory cortex o The Frontal Lobe Structure Front of the brain Huge in humans Funcions include Planning Rational directed activity Self control Socialy appropriate behavior Movement motor control Motor Cortex Somatosensory and Motor Homunculi little men Phineas Gage o 25 year old railroad construction foreman in Vermont o An explosion blew a tamping iron clear through his head o The tamping iron was long and heavy Landed 80 ft away o Physical and Intellectual consequences He was able to walk and talk immediately To the doctor Here is business enough for you He fully recovered physically within two months Intelligence memory language etc were intact o Personlaity consequences Before he was most efficient and a capable employee After Gage was no longer Gage He got really mean afterwards o Personality is controlled by the frontal lobe Corpus Callosum 200 million nerve fibers that connect the two hemispheres Controlateral pereption and control o Each hemisphere perceives information from the opposite side of the body o Each hemisphere controls the opposite side of the body o Each Hemisphere controls the opposite side of the body Hemispheric Lateralization The hemispheres specialize in different things o Left hemisphere Verbal processing language speech reading writing o Right Hemisphere Nonverbal processing spatial musical visual recognition Split brain patients o In extreme epilepsy treatment sometimes includes cutting the corpus callosum o Patient can still function but information cant cross from one side of the brain to the other The Split brain task o Hemispheric Lateralization Vision The right visual field goes to the left side of the brain and vice versa