Download Left Brain

Lecture 1
ProSeminar in Biological Psychology
10% theory
Absolutely no evidence to support 10% theory
• Natural Selection
• Clinical Neurology
• fMRI, PET, EEG
How well do you really know your brain?
Forebrain
telencephalon
• Movement
• Orientation
• Recognition
• Perception of stimuli
• Reasoning
• Planning
• Speech Produce
• Movement
• Emotions
• Problem solving
• Personality
• Visual Processing
• Perception & recognition of auditory stimuli
• Memory
• Speech Comprehension
Taking sides….
how the two sides process information that is!
Right Brain
Left Brain
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Logical
Sequential
Rational
Analytical
Objective
Looks at parts
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Random
Intuitive
Holistic
Synthesizing
Subjective
Looks at wholes
What is your brain made of?
Gray Matter:
40%
White Matter: 60%
Synapses: 0.15 quadrillion
Brain has more pathways: Receptors located
on neurons in membrane
2 Types of Cells in NS
Nerve Cells
(Neurons)
Electrical Signaling
Communicate with other cells
Glial Cells
(Glia)
Supportive
No signaling (90%)
Brain mostly composed of…
Brain Composition:
H20
77-78%
Lipids
10-12%
Proteins
8%
Carbs
1%
The “Kiss”
IONOTROPIC
(LIGAND BINDING RECEPTOR)
METABOTROPIC
(G-PROTEIN COUPLED RECEPTOR)
Will the human
brain ever
completely
understand its
own workings?
3 major debates
• Mind vs Brain (monism/dualism)
• Nature of neural communication
• Localism vs holism (Neurons)
Debate: Nature of Neural Communication
Luigi Galvani
(1596-1650)
Italian Physician
Physicist
 Electrical Stimulation of frog legs
 Contraction of the muscles
“Animal Electricity”
"While one of those who were assisting me touched lightly, and by chance,
the point of his scalpel to the internal crural nerves of the frog, suddenly all
the muscles of its limbs were seen to be so contracted that they seemed
to have fallen into tonic convulsions. “
Debate: Neural Communication
Johannes Muller
(1801-1858)
German Physiologist
 Doctrine of specific nerve energies
All nerves carry electrical signals
Different nerves = different outcomes
Camillo Golgi (1843-1956)
Italian Physician:
Santiago Ramon y Cajal (1852-1934)
Spanish Histologist
Silver Staining
Method – continuous mass of
tissues…one cytoplasm
(holism)
Labeled Cells
“neuron doctrine” – discrete entities
Nobel Prize 1906:
Research on structure of the nervous
Debate: Nature of Neural Communication
Debate: Nature of Neural Communication
1.
Neurons are discrete and autonomous cells that
can interact
2.
Synapses are gaps that separate neurons
3.
Information is transmitted in one direction from
dendrites (input) to the axon (output)
Debate: Localism vs Holism
 brought Neuroanatomy & Psychology together
 discrete regions of brain controls specific
functions = mental state  localization
Phrenology (personology)
Franz Joseph Gall
(1757-1825)
German Physician
Neuroanatomist
Localism!!!
Wilder Penfield (1891-1976)
American-Born Canadian Neurosurgeon:
• Greatest neurosurgeon of all times
• mapped the brain
• direct stimulation of the brain
•“Grandmother Cell"
• Localism vs holism?
Mind-Body Question
 Dualist: mind separate from body
Mechanist: Body is like a machine
Mind controls the machine
Body tells mind about the environment
Rene Descartes
(1596-1650)
• Mind vs Brain
Pipes = nerves
Water = fluids in body
Hidden Value = Pineal
Control Valve: Pineal Gland
“Seat of the Soul”
First technical
model for the NS
Innervation of
the Pineal
Dependent
on the
Light/Dark
Cycle
Debate: Mind vs Brain
Mind vs Brain???
Monism:
Dualism:
Mind is product of brain
Brain is physical
mind is not
Mind-Body Question..are you a monist or a dualist?