•Psychology: the scientific study of behavior and mental processes

•Biopsychology: the subarea which attempts to understand behavior & mental processes by studying the physiological or biological basis

•a.k.a. biological psychology, physiological psychology, psychobiology, behavioral biology, behavioral neuroscience

•Biopsychologists also study how biological mechanisms underlying behavior develop in the individual and how they evolved in the species.

•Studies both animals and humans, uses both experimental & non-experimental methods, and includes both basic or pure research and applied research

What Makes You You?
(or Captain Kirk James T. Kirk?)
The Transporter Problem

Areas of Study Within Biopsychology and Some Related Disciplines

•“Physiological psychology” – mostly basic research making use of surgical, electrical or chemical manipulations in controlled experiments to study the biology of behavior

•This rat has surgically produced brain lesions in the ventromedial hypothalamus leading to overeating until it weighs 5 X normal weight.

•Please read 5.3 to become familiar with the methods used to manipulate the brain.

•Psychopharmacology – basic and applied research studying the effects of drugs on brain chemistry and behavior

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•Comparative psychology – mostly basic research studying the evolution, genetics, and adaptive functions of behavior using different species

Jane Goodall studying chimpanzees

Sue Savage-Rumbaugh Studying Language Comprehension in a Bonobo Chimpanzee

Evolutionary Psychology or Sociobiology

•Area interested in the evolutionary origins of behaviors and mental processes. Attempts to study the adaptive functions of behaviors and the presumed selective pressures that caused them to evolve.

Behavior Genetics

•Area of study which seeks to understand both the genetic and environmental contributions to individual variations in behavior.

•This young man is grimacing because his genetic makeup allows him to taste the bitter chemical on the paper strip on his tongue. Others may be unable to taste this chemical or will experience a much milder bitter taste.

•Some behavioral genetics research is getting more applied these days.

•Neuropsychology – studies the effects of brain damage in humans & how to assess those effects

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•Psychophysiology- uses non-invasive recording techniques (HR, BP, EEG, etc.) to study bodily changes during behavior or psychological processes

•This student has an array of EEG electrodes applied to his scalp to monitor brain electrical activity

•Please read 5.2 to become familiar with the most common measures used by psychophysiologists

Psychophysiological Measures

•EEG – electroencephalogram

•ERP – event related potentials

•EMG- electromyogram

•EOG-electrooculogram

•SCR- skin conductance

•ECG/EKG-electrocardiogram & BP and HR measures

•Cognitive neuroscience – hot new area examining the neural basis of mental processes, usually using new brain imaging techniques like PET scans or fMRI scans.

•Converging sources of evidence improve our understanding (SEE Table 1.2 for example)

Other Disciplines Studying the Nervous System (p.4)

•Neuroanatomy

•Neurochemistry

•Neuroendocrinology

•Neuropathology

•Neuropharmacology

•Neurophysiology

Related Medical Specialties

•Neurologist – diagnoses and treats those with brain damage or nervous system disorders

•Neurosurgeon – performs brain surgeries

•Physical therapist– provides treatments to improve movement and decrease pain

•Occupational therapist – works with individuals to improve or retrain the activities of daily living

•One way to study brainàbehavior relationships is to study the effects of brain DAMAGE

Brain Atlas

•Detailed map of brain with coordinates

•Our library has brain atlas guides for rats, monkeys, “domestic animals” and humans.

Stereotaxic Surgery on a Rat

Atlas Guided Stereotaxic Surgery

•Using an electrode to create a lesion or area of brain damage

Bull Stereotaxic Surgery

Human Stereotaxic Surgery

•An alternative to studying the effects of damaging a brain region is to study the effects of stimulating or activating that brain region on behavior.

•Example: Damaging the lateral hypothalamus abolishes eating behavior in rats while

Stimulating the lateral hypothalamus triggers eating behavior!

Remote Control Electrical Brain Stimulation by Delgado

2 Examples of Stimulation

Electrical Stimulation of Reward System

Stimulation of the Pleasure Centers

Chemical Stimulation via an implanted “cannula”

•A third approach is to simply monitor the brain in some way and correlate your observations with ongoing behavior or mental processes.

Electroencephalogram (EEG)

http://mm1.uni.edu:8080/ramgen/1/walshrm/720X480/eeg.rm (1 minute example)

Monitoring Electrical Activity During Sleep and Waking

Recording Electrodes in Monkey

•Brain imaging can be used to examine the structure (anatomy) or the functioning of the brain.

•Structural imaging

–CAT or CT scans

–MRI scans

•Functional imaging (show brain activity)

–PET scans

–SPECT and regional cerebral blow flow scans

–fMRI scans

CT or CAT Scan of Intracerebral Hemorrhage

“Frontal” or “Coronal” View of brain using MRI
(magnetic resonance imaging)

Positron Emission Tomography (PET Scan)–see p. 247

•Brighter colors indicate more active regions

•Uses injection of a radioactive chemical

The “functional MRI” or fmri monitors the brain’s use of oxygen to tell which areas are most active during some task.

Caution! Just because it is “brain research” or makes use of fancy technology is no assurance that it is good science! We still have to ask questions and consider other possible explanations for the evidence presented

•EEG