PSY290 - Introduction to Physiological Psychology

What is the role of neurosciences in psychology? Intersection of biological and mental processes. Requiem for the ‘Mozart Effect’ (Chabris and Steele, 1999) Not Mozart effect, rather an ‘enjoyment arousal’ Listening to a passage from Stephen King can result in the same kind of improvement. Prehistoric Brain Surgery: Trephining (Hole in the Skull) 7,000 years of neurosurgery This tells us that brain surgery existed long ago Release pressure Ancient Views of the Nervous System Ancient Treatme

Physiological Psychology (Intro to Neuroscience) Neuroanatomy About 4 pounds for a human brain (vs. sheep's brain) Both organisms about 150 pounds Think about how long it takes for each to mature and regress (for humans it takes decades) For a sheep from birth to maturity, it only takes 1.5 years for the brain to fully mature Relative Brain Size of Mammals The Central and Peripheral Nervous Systems CNS Spinal cord, brainstem, thalamus, cortex etc. Encapsulated in bone PNS Cranial Nerves,

Neurons are classified into three types Multipolar - a lot of branches out of the cell body and one single branch on the polar side. (most general type of neuron) They engage in long range connection through layer of different parts of the neocortex The biggest one comes from the sciatic nerve (base of the spine) to the big toe of our body Bipolar cells - two extensions of the cell body Play roles more in sensory functions, electrical signal that can be interpreted by the brain Light receptors

Neural Communication Transmission within Neuron Action potential are generated at the initial axonal segment Voltage gated channels only exist in an abundance inside an axon Axon hillock does not have voltage gated channels Axon potential actually starts in the initial axonal segment Each feature of an axon potential represent a biological changes in an axon (drawing above) First part - Has to be driven by a change from resting state (-70 mV = stable), known as the depolarization phase Sensor

From Conduction to Communication It's not that neurons actually communicate to other neurons through axon potentials but they convert it "Soups" vs "Sparks" Electrical properties of a neuron - Galen (frogs leg) Natural substance can have influence on behaviour Example - Cannabis Otto came up with this idea, he describes that he has a dream that he had done an experiment Completed an experiment using frogs heart Replaced a beating heart of a frog and put it in a chamber Stimulated the vagus ner

The Common Features: Transduction (changing environmental energy to a neuronal energy) Range (our sensory system can capture a range of things in the environment Organization (Information sent to the brain and how its send further out) Hierarchical processing ( We breakdown the world into its components then build it back up in our systems) Think of perception as a whole, what are the processes and mechanisms common to all sensory systems Theory of natural selection shoes that sensory systems sh

Critical Periods in Development Come Early in Life They end based on the level of intensity of the task Sensory first, motor development then cognitive functioning Visual development opens up at 60 days, peaks at 2-3 years, window closes 8 years old Event Affect Us Differently After critical periods a plasticity exists in our brain Takes a much more significant or intense moment to do this Dr. McKinnon her and her husband went to Portugal, their pilot accidentally dumped all the fuel into the

Different parts of the brains are functionally distinct And they regulate different parts of the brain Neuron hypothesis - fundamental unit of the brain (all behaviour should be reflected on some neuronal level) Charles Sherrington - started to say that processes like learning should represent changes in synaptic connection Golgi understood cells and neurons (all connected by synapse) What is Learning? Hebb's rule states thta a connection between two neurons will strengthen if they are activate

Physiological Psychology (Intro to Neuroscience) Where are memories (like your first vacation) stored? → Ribalt Amnesia - Can't remember facts or details about their own history Dementia - Any kind of change that causes cognitive impairment. Late onset or early onset "The disease of memory" (1881) → Called attention to the nature and course of memory loss in dementia. Ribot's Law - To describe the temporal gradient commonly observed in retrograde amnesia. Loss of memory for recent event, but lo