Psyc 362 Chapter 1 Corresponds to notes 1 27 15 1 29 15 Animism in ancient times it was believed that moving objects were controlled by animating spirits It was also believed that humans had spirits souls which stem from self awareness of our existence Understanding the human body especially the nervous system is the key to unlocking explanations of how we precieve think remember act and are self aware Consciousness refers to humans awareness of and ability to tell others about thoughts perceptions memories and feelings Can be altered by changes in the structure or chemistry of the brain it is possible that the evolution of the human ability to communicate verbally is what allows for consiouness Split brain procedure shows that disconnecting part of the brain which are involved with perceptions from parts involved with verbal behavior also disconnect them from consciousness It is possible that parts of the brain involved in verbal behavior are also involved in consciousness Corpus callosum is a bundle of axons that interconnect the 2 cerebral hemispheres In this procedure it is cut to separate the 2 hemisphere and prevent spread of epileptic seizures The 2 cerebral hemispheres are symmetrical parts of the largest part of the brain that each received sensory info and control movements in accordance with the opposite side of the body Contralateral Because the language and verbal center is located on the left hemisphere Testing ex olfactory stimulus presented to the right side and patient asked to say what they experienced but couldn t verbalize having any stimuli experience because olfactory information is received ipsilateral That information remains in the unconsciousness however when asked to grab with their left hand what they think the smell could ve been they are often capable of correctly choosing the stimuli object Goals of research is to explain the phenomena under study The explination takes 2 forms Generalization explains particular instances of behavior as examples of general laws Reduction explains complex phenomena in terms of simple ones History and biological roots of physiological psyc Ancient Greeks believed for a long time that the heart drove the mind Hippocrates was the first to recognize that role of the mind belonged to the brain Aristotle disagreed and thought the brain helped tame the heart which engine the mind Galen concluded Aristotle was wrong after dissection research showed that the sensory organs were so far from the heart and so close to the brain Descartes during renaissance saw the world and animals as mechanical with behaviors controlled by environmental stimuli Also saw human body as a machine and observed some reflex involuntary reactions to stimuli which had no participation of the mind He believed the mind was a uniquely human attribute that is not a subject to the laws of the universe He was the first to suggest a connection between the mind and its physical housing the brain such that the sense organs of the body supply the mind with info about what s happening in the environment and the mind uses this info to control the body He proposed the idea that the mind interacted with the physical body through the pineal body with its control of hydraulic pressure within the brain WRONG as proved by Galuani using electrical simulations that caused muscle contractions Muller doctrine of specific nerve energy Said that although all neurons carry the same message electrical impulse we precieve the messages of different neurons in different waves since the messages occur in different channels Also said the brain must be functionally divided since it receives sensory information from different parts of the body Flourens used ablation the removal of discrete brain areas from animals and observed their behavior What the animals could no longer do indicated the function of the specific part Broca and cortical location of function observed stroke patient with brain Tan showed major speech deficiet aphasia following a stroke His autopsy of Tans brain noted damage to the left hemisphere The location Broca s area is important for the production of speech Fitsch and Hitzig used electrical stimuli on cortex in dogs to elicit muscle contractions found connection between motor cortex and actual muscles is contralateral Also they identified the primary motor cortex of the brain the region where nerve cells communicate directly with those that cause muscular contractions Natural selection and Evolution Darwin believed there was functional significance to all organism s traits giving rise to Functionalism belief that traits of an organism perform useful function s Although behaviors aren t inherited a brain that causes those behaviors to occur is inherited We can use the history of a species to better understand its behaviors and what the functions of the behaviors are Natural selection With the 3 conditions variation differential success and heritability the natural environment shapes the process of evolution Variety is advantageous because it makes it easier for a speices to succeed in a changing environment Evolution the gradual change in structure and physiology of plant and animal species as a result of natural selection Genetic inheritance cells contain chromosomes which produce protiens that cells require and use to grow and perform their functions Mutations are accidental changes in the chromosomes of sperms or eggs that join together and develop into new organisms Most mutations are fatal while a small percentage are beneficial and confer a selective advantage to the organism such that the trait makes the individual more likely than others to live long and pass on its genes Some other mutations are not favorable but are still inherited by some members of the species because they don t harm the organism Human evolution hominids human like apes that first appeared in Africa Humans evolved from the first hominids and evolved all these characteristics that enabled them to fit their environment and successfully compete including color vision bipedalism and a large brain to accommodate for language All mammals require parental care for a period of time while their Nervous System develops which allows for observational learning and growth of the brain during development Neoteny a slowed process of maturation This allows us to produce larger brains and have more time for growth Ethics of animal research physiological psychologists study animals to learn of the