Download Class #1: Intro, p.5

This course is called “Introduction to
Brain and Behavior,” which means that it is
actually an introduction to “Neuroscience,”
with an emphasis on behavior.
WHAT IS NEUROSCIENCE?
Neuroscience is a field of scientific
study that seeks to understand how the
nervous system* carries out its functions.
(* The nervous system is comprised of the peripheral
nervous system, spinal cord, & brain.)
 So, what are the nervous system’s
functions?
The nervous system organizes and controls an
individual’s appropriate interactions with his/her
environment. Thus, it’s functions are dynamic, vast
and wide-ranging – extending, many believe, to
include all thoughts, perceptions, bodily actions,
behaviors, and even the very essence of one’s
being: consciousness and the mind.
Class #1: Intro, p.1
Do you believe that mind and
consciousness are an inherent part of
our body - specifically –
the nervous system (or brain)?
The question is really a philosophical one, whose
answer(s) have challenged philosophers, and more
recently neuroscientists, for centuries.
This issue is called the MIND-BODY - or, in our case,
the MIND-BRAIN – problem, and there are basically
two views:
Dualism: The belief that the body is physical, but the
mind is not; i.e., that, as your textbook states (p. 5),
the mind and body are different kinds of substance
that exist independently (but can interact).
Monism: The belief that the universe consists of only
one kind of substance, and that the mind is part of it
(see pages 5 - 7).
Class #1: Intro, p.2
The mind-body (brain) problem has had a very
long and contentious history.
Most ancient Egyptians, Indians, Chinese, and
Greeks thought that the heart was the seat of our
minds and emotions. Thus, they were MONISTS.
But one Greek,
Hippocrates (460-
379 BC), also a monist,
did not; he placed the
functions firmly in the
brain. He writes in his
essay “On the Sacred
Disease” (epilepsy):
Other MONISTS:
Aristotle (384-322 BC): the
brain cools the passions of the
heart.
Galen
(130-200 AD): Nerves
convey fluids secreted by the brain
and spinal cord to the body – I.e.,
CNS behaves like a gland.
Versalius (1514-1564): The
mind/soul is the nervous system.
Class #1: Intro, p.3
The dark ages: Monistic beliefs were
thought to be heretical, so dualism
prevailed for many years.
DUALIST:
René Descartes
1596-1650
Descartes believed that the “soul” (mind) controlled
muscles via the pineal gland by hydraulic mechanisms. This
idea stemmed from devices of his day such as garden
statues and figures in clocks with moving figures.
Such beliefs remained until the end of the
18th century, when, emerging from the dark
ages, and discovering electricity (e.g., Ben
Franklin), knowledge about the function of
the nervous system advanced rapidly.
Class #1: Intro, p.4
Most neuroscientist today are monists,
and make statements such as:
“All behavior is a result of brain (i.e., nervous
system) function” (Kandel, 2000, p.5).
“The mind is a phenomenon produced by the
workings of the nervous system” (Carlson,
2001, p.2).
I am a neuroscientist too, and it may interest
you to know how I became and remain one:
Class #1: Intro, p.5
In high school, I wanted to learn more
about pain and how to reduce it.
I realized research was one way to do this - mainly
because I had a great biology teacher [Mr. Zinn]…
In college (Brown Univ): Biology, B.A., 1963
Neuroscience was a new and very exciting
field then, and because of its promise to
answer my many questions about pain, I
became a neuroscientist.
Univ. Wash., Seattle): Physiol. & Biophysics, Ph.D.,
1968
I arrived at FSU in 1967, never left, and
still love the challenges and clinical
promise of research…
In class, I’ll explain my continuing - and
always thrilling - journey for answers to
the puzzle and challenge of pain....
Class #1: Intro, p.6
One of the major reasons many of us are
monists today is because of what we have
learned about neural functionning over the
past 150 years.
We have learned that the nervous system is organized
to accumulate and process knowledge about its
owner’s outer and inner worlds in a manner suited to
survival and health.
THUS:
• Neural input capabilities are appropriate to the
lifestyle of the species.
• The nervous system processes the information it
receives in a complex, dynamic manner.
•The nervous system makes use of that information in
a dynamic, plastic manner: that is, the nervous system
learns.
•The nervous system generates current behaviors that
are appropriate to past and current circumstances.
• Because of this situation, abnormalities can have
behavioral-social consequences.
HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES:
Class #1: Intro, p.7
ULTRASOUND COMMUNICATION: We
will learn, using a “bat detector” (which your
instructor will bring to class) how rodents and
other species can detect ultrasound, and how
communication using these sound frequences has
social consequences.
INJURY and PAIN: We will see how
perceptions are appropriate to circumstances.
Does injury always give rise to pain perception?
Does pain perception mean that some part of
your body is injured? (See figure on next page.)
YOUR INSTRUCTOR’S HEARING
AIDS: We will discuss the behavioral and
social consequences of her hearing abilities.
Class #1: Intro, p.8
Traditional drawing of the battle between the Imam
Ali, cousin of Mohamed, and Amr Bin Wid,
champion of the enemy host. Amr Bin Wid threw
his amputated leg at Imam Ali before being killed.
The two-pointed sword called Al-Sahar remains on
display in the topkapi Palace in Istanbul.
(From: Wall PD. Pain: The Science of Suffering. Columbia Univ
Press, New York, 2000, p. 4.)
Class #1: Intro, p.9
Don’t forget!
(from book, Module 1.2)
• The Genetics of Behavior
Class #1: Intro, p. 10