INTRODUCTION TO PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY

Psychology- The science of behavior, a science that looks into the ways that animals and human
beings adjust or cope with the world around them.

Physiology- The study of bodily processes; the dynamics of the tissue and organ system of the
body. How our cells, muscles and organs work together, how they interact.

Physiological psychology is an organized reconciliation of these two sciences. The study how a
person’s physiology or biological makeup, affects their behavior. It focuses on the relationship
between our biological makeup and our behavior and experiences.

It is defined as “the study of the physiological basis of human and animal behavior”. How can
we perform its basic objective of relating the anatomical functions of organ systems to
behavior? It investigates the structure of different body components, their role in psychological
processes (e.g., learning, perception, motivation, etc.) and the principles and laws that
govern the relationship between the two.

Physiological psychologists often use experiments with animals to study the physiological roots
of behavior.

The observable results of brain surgeries can be used to determine which behaviors correspond
to specific structures in the brain.

Machines that view the brain, like an MRI, are used to study the brain's physical structures and
functional activity.

Physiological psychologists focus on how physical structures within the human brain direct or
influence behavior

Physiological psychology is a subdivision of biological psychology that studies the neural

mechanisms of perception and behavior through direct manipulation of the brains of
nonhuman animal subjects in controlled experiments. Unlike other subdivisions within
biological psychology, the main focus of physiological psychological research is the
development of theories that explain brain-behavior relationships rather than the development
of research that has translational value. It is sometimes alternatively
called psychophysiology and in recent years also cognitive neuroscience.

In the past, physiological psychologist received much of their training in psychology

departments in major universities. Currently, physiological psychologists are also trained
in behavioral neuroscience or biological psychology programs that are affiliated with
psychology departments, or in interdisciplinary neuroscience programs
The term biopsychology denotes a biological approach to psychology, rather than a
psychological approach to biology. Most biopsychologists are trained experimental
psychologists who have brought their knowledge of biology to the study of psychological
phenomena. These phenomena include behavior and underlying psychological processes, such
as learning, memory, perception, attention, motivation, and cognition.

Biopsychologists work in a variety of overlapping fields of study. Scientists in cognitive

neuroscience primarily study the brain to understand the neural mechanisms of mental
processes. Researchers in the field of psychopharmacology examine how drugs affect the
psychological functions of the brain. Scientists in the field of neuropsychology study the
psychological effects of brain damage in humans. Researchers in behavioral genetics study how
genes influence behavior and psychological traits. Evolutionary psychologists investigate how
evolution shapes psychological processes. Comparative psychologists study animal behavior by
comparing findings among different species. Comparative psychology often entails ethology,
the scientific study of the way animals behave in their natural habitat.

NATURE OF PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY

1. Physiological psychologists believe that the mind is a function performed by the brain
2. Study of human brain functions has helped us gain some insight into the nature of
human consciousness, which appears to be related to the language functions of the
brain.
3. Scientists attempt to explain natural phenomena by means of generalization and
reduction. Because physiological psychologists use the methods of psychology and
physiology, they employ both types of explanations.
4. Descartes developed the first model to explain how the brain controls movement, based
on the animated statues in the Royal Gardens. Subsequently, investigators tested their
ideas with scientific experiments.
5. Darwin’s theory of evolution, with its emphasis on function, helps physiological
psychologists discover the relations between brain mechanisms, behaviors, and an
organism’s adaptation to its environment.

Early Development Related to Physiological Psychology

- Early Egyptians: Thought heart and liver were the vital organs; “not the brain”
- Alcmacon (5th Century): Thought brain was “seat of the soul”

-Plato (4th Century): Also thought brain was “seat of the soul”

- Hippocrates (400 BC):

1. Emphasized that the brain was “organ of intellect”.

2. Brain controlled senses and movement.
3. Lesion produces a contralateral effect.

- Aristotle (3rd century BC): believed function of the brain was to cool the blood.

- Herophilus (3rd century BC):

1. Brain was organ of intellect.

2. Third ventricle responsible for cognition.
3. Fourth ventricle was seat of soul.

- Galen (2nd century BC): Influenced medical thought for 1000 years.

1. First experimental physiologist.

2. Concluded it was not the ventricles but the brain that was important.
3. Frontal lobes was seat of soul.

- Catholic Church during the middle ages, proposed view of natural and animal spirits.

1. The Hydraulic Model: R. Descartes (17th century)

 Perhaps the first model of how the nervous system controls behavior was developed by
the French philosopher Rene Descartes
 Movements controlled by a hydraulic system using water.
 Descartes hypothesized that the nervous system was really a hydraulic system
consisting of hollow tubes (nerves) than led to muscles.
 The fluid that flowed through the nerves was called animal spirit.
 In Descartes’s model, the fluid was stored in hollow chambers of the brain.
 During movement, the fluid flowed through the nerves and inflated the muscles—

Dualism vs Monism
  All animal behavior, and some human actions, were controlled by this mechanism—the
movement of animal spirits through the body.
 Unlike animals, Descartes argued that humans possessed a rational soul, and that
voluntary human actions were controlled by the interaction of the soul (mind) with this
system of animal spirits.
 Descartes was a dualist; he believed that each person possesses a mind- a unique
human attribute that is not subject to the laws of the universe. He was the first to
suggest that a link exists between the human mind and its purely physical housing, the
brain.

Dualism: Mind is nonphysical and exists separate from the physical body or brain.

 Because Descartes felt that much of human behavior required thought, he had to devise
a way for the mind to control the flow of animal spirits
 Descartes concluded, incorrectly, that this interaction between the nonphysical soul and
the body’s machinery occurred in a part of the brain called the pineal gland. (Why did
Descartes bestow this honor on the pineal?)
 The pineal gland controlled the flow of animal spirits in the body.
 In this way, Descartes believed that the nonphysical mind could interact with the body
and control behavior.
 Modern scientists reject the distinction between mind and brain put forth by Cartesian
dualism—they hold a position known as monism.

Monism: Mind is ultimately reducible to the physical workings of the brain-mind and brains are
one.

 Monism characterizes much of physio-psychological and science and medicine in

general.

Nervous Energy and Electricity (18th-19th Century)

1. Luigi Galvani: Animal Electricity

 Toward the end of the 18th century, Galvani observed that a frog’s leg could be made to
move when one of its nerves was stimulated by an electrical charge.
 Galvani found that electrical stimulation of a frog’s nerve caused contraction of the
muscle to which it was attached. Contraction occurred even when the nerve and muscle
were detached from the rest of the body, so the ability of the muscle to contract and
 the ability of the nerve to send a message to the muscle were characteristics of these
tissues themselves. Thus, the brain did not inflate muscles by directing pressurized fluid
though the nerve.
 Galvani concluded that the normal movements of the muscle must be produced by
electricity derived from nervous tissue.

2. Hermann von Helmholtz: Speed of nerve impulse.

 Up until Helmholtz’s time, scientists assumed that electrical activity in nerves travelled
at the same speed as electricity in wires—close to the speed of light.
 Helmholtz was the first to show that electrical activity in nerves travels much slower
than current in wires—that neural conduction was much slower- only about 90 feet per
second.
 What this suggests is that nerves do not function exactly like electrical wires.
 Hermann von Helmholtz devised a mathematical formulation of the law of conservation
of energy, invented the ophthalmoscope (used to examine the retina of the eye),
devised an important and influential theory of color vision and color blindness, and
studied audition, music, and many physiological processes.

Localization of Function (19th-20th century)

 The discovery of the electrical properties of nerve cells raised another fundamental
question about brain-behavior relationships.
 If all nerves conduct the same type of electrical signal, how could activity in different
nerves result in different types of sensory experience?

1. Johannes Muller: Doctrine of specific nerve energies

 Muller discovered the fact that specific nerves carry their messages to specific areas of
the brain. He argued that the destination of a nerve in the brain determines the nature
of the experience of function.
 This suggests that different parts of the brain carry out different functions: visual info
goes to one area; auditory info to another area, etc.
 Muller’s work suggests that the brain is not a homogenous mass of tissue, but a complex
organ with different parts specialized for different functions.

2. Franz Gall: Phrenology

 The principle of localization of function was carried to an extreme by the work of Franz
 Gall hypothesized that every mental function had its own specific location on the brain’s
surface.
  In Gall’s system, Phrenology, the extent to which a person possessed these functions
corresponded to bumps or grooves in the skull.
 Thus Gall and his followers claimed that by studying the bumps on the skull, they could
determine that person’s personality, intelligence, or any other human attribute you can
think of.
 Although phrenology was eventually false (it persisted here in the states well into the
20th century), Gall was partially vindicated.
 We now know that the brain is specialized—different anatomical structures are involved
in the control of different behavioral and physiological processes.

1. Evolution and Natural Selection (19th-20th century)

2. Charles Darwin

 Across generations, individual members of a species undergo changes in their anatomy

and physiology.
 If those changes allow the organism to adapt more effectively to its environment, and
reproduce more successfully, some of its offspring will inherit those characteristics.
 As a result, those offspring will be well-suited to their environment and produce more
offspring of their own.
 Thus, the characteristics of species we see today represent thousands if not millions of
years of evolution by natural selection.
 Darwin’s theory of natural selection gave rise to a type of theorizing in science and
psychology known as functionalism.

Functionalism: the characteristics of living organisms perform useful, adaptive functions.

 Thus, to understand the biological basis for a behavior, we must also understand and
explain the adaptive function of this behavior for the organism.
 IMPT: Behavior itself is not directly changed by mutations in chromosomes
 Changes in chromosomes alter the anatomy and physiology of cells within the body.
 However, mutations that affect the structure and function of brain cells can cause
changes in behavior.
 We can then see the effects of these mutations in chromosomes in the organism’s
behavior.
 In this way, natural selection exerts indirect effects on behavior via changes in the
structure and function of cells within the brain.
 Theory of natural selection plays a string role in physiology, especially physio-
psychological and the growing field of evolutionary psychology.
  When we study the biological basis of behavior, we also need to concern ourselves with
the BIG PICTURE: how does a physiological mechanism responsible for a behavior allow
the organism to successfully adapt to its environment?
 When we study the brain, we ask how the brain of higher mammals and primates has
evolved from the brains of lower mammals and other organisms.
 We examine how nature may have used a simple biological mechanism in existence to
enable emerging, complex organisms to perform more sophisticated behaviors.
 We interpret physiological explanations of behavior in terms of the organism’s natural
history- - we ask ourselves whether our physiological explanation makes sense from the
perspective of evolution and natural selection.

Other Significant Contributions

 Flourens removed various parts of animals’ brains and observed their behavior. This
method is called experimental abolition. He used the experimental method to try to
refute the claims of the phrenologists. He was the first to employ the
term equipotentiality.

1. First scientific studies related to brain function.

2. Found that the brain functions as if composed of areas of specific function.
3. But specific areas interact to function as a whole.
4. Studying pigeons & chickens, he found that loss of function depends upon the extent of
damage (equipotentiality).

 Hughlings Jackson was resistant to localization.

1. He approached the problem from the idea of level of construction rather than specific
localization.
2. His ideas were too complex for the time.

 Monakow, Head & Goldstein

1. Many functions are the result of activity of the whole brain.

2. Categoric behavior- highest level, dependent upon mass of the brain rather than specific
localization.

 Marie (1906) examined one Broca’s brains and found widespread damage attacking his
theory.

 Lashley (1930’s) discovered data which tended to refute localization.

 1. Found size of damage more predictive of effect than specific location.
2. Mass action/Specific function is shared by all neurons in association cortex.
3. Equipotentiality- All neurons within a sensory area share equally determining function.

 Chapman & Wolff (1950’s) demonstrated Lashley’s findings with humans.

 Goldstein (1927, 1944, and 1948) acknowledged localization but stresses that brain
functions such as ability to deal with abstraction resulted from the intersections of the
brain as a whole.

 Paul Broca applied the principle of experimental ablations to the human brain. He
observed the behavior of people whose brains had been damaged by strokes. In 1861
he performed an autopsy on the brain of a man who had a stroke that resulted in the
loss of the ability to speak.

 In 1870, German physiologists Gustav Fritsch and Eduard Hitzig used electrical
stimulation as a toll for understanding the physiology of the brain. They applied weak
electrical current to the exposed surface of a dog’s brain of different portions of a
specific region of the brain caused contraction of specific muscles on the opposite side
of the body. We now refer to this region as the primary motor cortex, and we know that
nerve cells there communicate directly with those that cause muscular contractions.

Other contributions in the field:

1. Meynert- Frontal- motor and the posterior-sensory.

2. Bouilland & Broca (1800’s)- left frontal area for expressive language function.
3. Wernicke (1800) - left temporal receptive language function.
4. Ferrier & Munk (1900’s)- identified areas for vision, & skin senses.
5. Overemphasis on localization remained from the 1880’s to the 1930’s.

METHODS USED IN PHYSIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY

To investigate the biological bases of behavior and mental processes, biopsychologists must
find ways to observe and record the internal activities of the brain and body.

Methods:

 lesion methods,
 stimulation methods,
 recording methods,
 imaging methods
 1. LESION METHOD

What is lesion method?

 A lesion is any abnormality in the tissue of an organism (in layman's terms, "damage"),
usually caused by disease or trauma.
 Lesion is derived from the Latin word laesio meaning injury.
 A lesion is a wound or area of damage.
 Researchers using lesion methods damage, destroy, or remove a particular part of
laboratory animal’s brain.
 After this is done, the researcher carefully assesses the psychological consequences in
an effort to determine the function of the damaged part.

Example:

 Biopsychologists interested in memory may surgically remove a small part of a rat’s

brain and then devise an experiment to compare the rat’s memory to that of normal
rats.
 Ethical considerations prohibit experimental brain lesions in human subjects.
 However, researchers can conduct tests on patients with existing brain damage to try to
learn about the brain mechanisms involved in psychological processes.

Causes of brain lesions

Lesions to the brain can result from many factors, including

1. Vascular disorders

Vascular disorders of the brain, often called strokes, disrupt the flow of blood to the brain,
resulting in a lesion called an infarct.

Infarct a small localized area of dead tissue resulting from failure of blood supply.

1. Traumatic brain injuries

Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) damage the brain by causing swelling and bleeding inside the
brain, leading to inter-cranial pressure.
TBIs are divided into

 open-head injuries, in which the brain is penetrated, and

 closed head injuries, typically caused by blunt force to the head.

Brain lesions may be produced by injury or disease, or produced surgically.

Lesions resulting from accident or disease are rarely localized.

Experimental lesions permit much more localized lesions to be studied.

1. Tumors

Brain tumors increased inter-cranial pressure, causing brain damage.

Effects of brain lesions

 Studies show there is a correlation between brain lesion and language, speech, and
category-specific disorders.
 However, lesions in Broca's and Wernicke's areas are not found to alter language
comprehension.
 Lesions to the parietal lobes may result in agnosia (an inability to recognize complex
objects, smells, or shapes, or amorphosynthesis, a loss of perception on the opposite
side of the body)
 Surgery (Lesions are used as a treatment for epilepsy and in neuropsychological
research using animals).

Types of Brain Lesion

 Abscesses
 Arteriovenous malformations (AVMs)
 Cerebral infarction
  Cerebral Palsy
 Tumors
 Multiple sclerosis (MS)

1. STIMULATION METHOD

Stimulation methods activate the neurons in a specific part of the brain.

Researchers usually do this by implanting an electrode into a particular area of a laboratory

animal’s brain and passing a weak electrical current across the tip. An electrode is an electrical
conductor used to make contact with a nonmetallic part of a circuit.

Weakness

Electrical stimulation indiscriminately activates all neurons at the electrode tip. Although
scientists rarely conduct stimulation studies on humans,

 surgeons occasionally use stimulation techniques on conscious patients just before

brain surgery.
 By assessing the reactions of the patient, the surgeon can determine which brain tissue
to remove and which tissue to leave intact.

1. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation is a non-invasive clinical treatment option, usually reserved

for those suffering from severe treatment-resistant depression.

2. Electroconvulsive Therapy

Electroconvulsive Therapy (previously known as electroshock therapy) is also a non-invasive

brain stimulation technique, utilized in controlled clinical and research settings. ECT is reserved
to treat only severe psychiatric illnesses which have proven resistant to other forms of
treatment, and is usually considered as a “last resort” treatment option. ECT uses extremely
high current levels (around 800 milliamps) which induces an intentional, controlled, short-term
seizure.

Furthermore, some studies have reported that Electroconvulsive Therapy is only effective for
50% of individuals with treatment-resistant depression, and similar numbers were reported for
those suffering from bipolar depression.
 3. Deep Brain Stimulation

Deep Brain Stimulation differs from all other brain stimulation techniques previously discussed,
in that DBS is an invasive stimulation technique. Invasive brain stimulation involves a
preliminary procedure to surgically implant parts of the stimulation device into the patients
brain.

Deep Brain Stimulation is currently used to treat severe neurological conditions such
as Essential Tremor, Parkinson’s Disease, Tourettes Syndrome, and Dystonia.

4. Transcranial Direct

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation is rapidly becoming a viable alternative for nearly all of
the above mentioned stimulation techniques. due to its safety, portability, and affordability.
Studies have shown that depression relief can be achieved by placing the positive anode
electrode over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (around the left temple), and the negative
cathode over the right supraorbital region (just above the right eye).

1. RECORDING METHOD

Recording methods involve recording the activity of the brain or other parts of the body
while a subject engages in certain types of behavior or psychological activity. This procedure
records general changes in the electrical activity of the brain by means of disk-shaped
electrodes taped to the scalp.

1. ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY (EEG)

Measure and evaluate electrical activity in the brain. Uses electrodes in order to analyze the
electrical impulses in the brain and are attached to the scalp with wires that send signals to a
computer so that the results will be recorded.

An electroencephalogram (EEG) shows the voltage of the electrical signal as it fluctuates over
time. Psychologists use EEG signals to measure a person’s response to a sensory stimulus or to
help determine a person’s level of physiological arousal.

Experimenters can record the electrical activity of an individual neuron by inserting a tiny
electrode, called a microelectrode, either inside it or adjacent to it.

Used to confirm or rule out a number of conditions such as:

  Brain tumor
 Brain Dead
 Dementia
 Memory issues
 Seizures (such as epilepsy)
 Sleep problems

2. ELECTROMYOGRAPHY (EMG)

This measures the electrical potentials associated with contractions of muscle fibers. It has
invasive needle electrodes inserted into muscle tissue and records individual fibre potentials.
While the non-invasive surface electrodes that are fixed to the skin records the mass action of
muscle fibre group.

Used to confirm or rule out a number of conditions such as:

 Disorders of nerves outside the spinal cord

 Disorders that affect the motor neurons in the brain or spinal cord.

3. ELECTROCARDIOGRAPHY (ECG)

This can assess the electrical and muscular functions of the heart. This also measures the rate
and rhythm of the heartbeat, as well as provide indirect evidence of blood flow to the heart
muscle.

It measures the amount of electrical activity passing through the heart muscle to find out if
parts of the heart are too large or are overworked.

You may be recommended for an ECG/EKG if you're experiencing any of the following:

 Pain in your chest

 Trouble or difficulty in breathing
 High blood pressure
 Arrhythmias (irregularities in your heart rhythm)

4. ELECTROOCULOGRAPHY (EOG)
  It is concerned with assessing muscular activity around the eye, and evaluating the
change in voltage potential between the positively charged cornea and negatively
charged retinal segment of the eye.
 A procedure for recording eye movements.

Used to confirm or rule out a number of conditions such as:

 Ataxic Disorders
The electrooculogram (EOG) may provide clues about ataxic disorders because most of
the patients have difficulty with visual tracking and fixing their gaze. Using electrodes,
EOG records the biopotentials generated by eye movements.

5. PULSE OXIMETRY

 A test used to measure the level of oxygen (oxygen saturation) in the bloodstream. It
may be used to monitor the health of individuals with any type of condition that can
affect blood oxygen levels. It is also used to evaluate whether someone needs help
breathing and to asses psychological stress index.

Used to confirm or rule out a number of conditions such as:

 Sleep apnea
 Heart attack
 Heart failure
 Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
 Panic attack

Psychologists sometimes measure how the skin’s ability to conduct electricity, known as skin
conductance, changes in different situations.

Psychologists studying the relationship between emotion and cardiovascular activity may
measure

 blood pressure,
 blood volume in various parts of the body, or
 electrocardiographic activity.

1. IMAGING METHOD
 Beginning in the early 1970s, advances in technology enabled scientists to see inside the
human brain without cutting into it. Today psychologists use a number of brain imaging
methods to study brain activity during various cognitive processes, such as perceiving, reading,
and imagining, and to investigate the biological bases of mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia.

1. CT Scan

What is CT scan?

Computerized (or computed) tomography or computerized axial tomography (CAT) scan, is an

X-ray procedure that combines many X-ray images with the aid of a computer to generate
cross-sectional views and, if needed, three-dimensional images of the internal organs and
structures of the body.

CT scan facts

 CT scanning adds X-ray images with the aid of a computer to generate cross-sectional
views of anatomy.
 CT scanning can identify normal and abnormal structures and be used to guide
procedures.
 CT scanning is painless.

A large donut-shaped X-ray machine or scanner takes X-ray images at many different angles
around the body.

These images are processed by a computer to produce cross-sectional pictures of the body. In
each of these pictures the body is seen as an X-ray "slice" of the body, which is recorded on a
film. This recorded image is called a tomogram.

CT scans are performed to analyze the internal structures of various parts of the body. This
includes the head, where traumatic injuries, (such as blood clots or skull fractures), tumors, and
infections can be identified.

In the spine, the bony structure of the vertebrae can be accurately defined. CT scan methods
can be used to accurately measure the density of bone in evaluating osteoporosis.

Types of CT Scan

 CT Scanning of the Abdomen

CT imaging of the abdomen is an examination that uses x-rays to visualize several types of
tissue with great clarity, including organs such as the liver, spleen, pancreas and kidneys.
  CT Scanning of the Chest

CT scanning of the chest uses special equipment to obtain multiple cross-sectional images of
the organs and tissues of the chest. CT produces images that are far more detailed than a
conventional chest x-ray. It shows many different types of tissue including the lungs, heart,
bones, soft tissues, muscle and blood vessels.

 CT Scanning of the Head

CT scanning of the head is an examination that provides detailed information on head injuries,
brain tumors, and other brain diseases.

 CT Scanning of the Spine

CT scanning of the spine is a type of x-ray examination that uses a scanner to obtain multiple
images of the spinal column.

2. Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (NMRI), or magnetic
resonance tomography (MRT) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to investigate
the anatomy and function of the body in both health and disease.

MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields and radio waves to form images of the body. The
technique is widely used in hospitals for medical diagnosis and staging of disease.

Contraindications to MRI include most

 cochlear implants and

 cardiac pacemakers,
 shrapnel and metallic foreign bodies in the orbits, and
 some ferromagnetic surgical implants.

MRI is the investigation of choice for neurological cancers as it is more sensitive than CT for
small tumors.
 3. Positron emission tomography (PET)

It is a nuclear medical imaging technique that produces a three-dimensional image or picture of

functional processes in the body. A positron emission tomography (PET) scan is an imaging test
that helps reveal how your tissues and organs are functioning. A PET scan uses a radioactive
drug (tracer) to show this activity. The tracer may be injected, swallowed or inhaled, depending
on which organ or tissue is being studied by the PET scan. The tracer collects in areas of your
body that have higher levels of chemical activity, which often correspond to areas of
disease. On a PET scan, these areas show up as bright spots. A PET scan is useful in revealing or
evaluating several conditions, including some cancers, heart disease and brain disorders.

4. Fluoroscopy is used in a wide variety of examinations and procedures to diagnose or

treat patients.

Some examples are:

 Barium X-rays and enemas (to view the gastrointestinal tract)

 Catheter insertion and manipulation (to direct the movement of a catheter through
blood vessels, bile ducts or the urinary system)
 Placement of devices within the body, such as stents (to open narrowed or blocked
blood vessels)
 Angiograms (to visualize blood vessels and organs)
 Orthopedic surgery (to guide joint replacements and treatment of fractures)

5. Endoscopy

Endoscopy is a nonsurgical procedure used to examine a person's digestive tract.

Using an endoscope, a flexible tube with a light and camera attached to it, your doctor can view
pictures of your digestive tract on a color TV monitor. During an upper endoscopy, an
endoscope is easily passed through the mouth and throat and into the esophagus, allowing the
doctor to view the esophagus, stomach, and upper part of the small intestine. Similarly,
endoscopes can be passed into the large intestine (colon) through the rectum to examine this
area of the intestine. This procedure is called sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy depending on how
far up the colon is examined.

6. Ultrasound

Diagnostic ultrasound, also called sonography or diagnostic medical sonography, is an imaging

method that uses high-frequency sound waves to produce images of structures within your
body. The images can provide valuable information for diagnosing and treating a variety of
diseases and conditions.

Most ultrasound examinations are done using an ultrasound device outside your body, though
some involve placing a device inside your body.

Ultrasound is used for many reasons, including to:

 View the uterus and ovaries during pregnancy and monitor the developing baby's health
 Diagnose gallbladder disease
 Evaluate blood flow
 Guide a needle for biopsy or tumor treatment
 Examine a breast lump
 Check your thyroid gland
 Detect genital and prostate problems
 Assess joint inflammation (synovitis)
 Evaluate metabolic bone disease

7. X-ray

X-rays are a type of radiation called electromagnetic waves. X-ray imaging creates pictures of
the inside of your body. The images show the parts of your body in different shades of black
and white. This is because different tissues absorb different amounts of radiation. Calcium in
bones absorbs x-rays the most, so bones look white. Fat and other soft tissues absorb less and
look gray. Air absorbs the least, so lungs look black.

The most familiar use of x-rays is checking for fractures (broken bones), but x-rays are also used
in other ways. For example, chest x-rays can spot pneumonia. Mammograms use x-rays to look
for breast cancer. When you have an x-ray, you may wear a lead apron to protect certain parts
of your body. The amount of radiation you get from an x-ray is small. For example, a chest x-ray
gives out a radiation dose similar to the amount of radiation you're naturally exposed to from
the environment over 10 days.

Genetic Engineering

Advances in genetics have taken biopsychology to the threshold of a new era in research on
behavioral genetics. Behavioral geneticists most often use genetic engineering techniques on
invertebrate animals, such as snails and slugs. Recently, experimenters have used these
techniques on mice, creating so called-transgenic mice by transferring genes from another
species into the mice.

Genetic engineering is the process of manually adding new DNA to an organism. The goal is to
add one or more new traits that are not already found in that organism. Examples of
genetically engineered (transgenic) organisms currently on the market include plants with
resistance to some insects, plants that can tolerate herbicides, and crops with modified oil
content.

LOBOTOMY

Lobotomy, also called prefrontal leukotomy, surgical procedure in which the nerve pathways in
a lobe or lobes of the brain are severed from those in other areas. The procedure formerly was
used as a radical therapeutic measure to help grossly disturbed patients with schizophrenia,
manic depression and mania (bipolar disorder), and other mental illnesses.

Evidence that surgical manipulation of the brain could calm patients first emerged in the late
1880s, when Swiss physician Gottlieb Burkhardt, who supervised an insane asylum, removed
parts of the brain cortex in patients suffering from auditory hallucinations and other symptoms
of mental illness (symptoms later defined medically as schizophrenia). Burkhardt performed his
operation on six patients, with the specific purpose not of returning the patients to a state of
sanity but of putting them into a state of calm. One of Burkhardt’s patients died several days
following the operation, and another later committed suicide (though it is unclear whether the
suicide was associated with the surgery). However, several of the patients were easier to
manage following the surgery. His idea for the operation had been influenced by the work of
German physiologist Friedrich Goltz, who had performed brain ablation (surgical removal of
tissue) experiments on dogs and observed distinct changes in the animals’ behaviour. In the
decades following Burkhardt’s work, there were few attempts at surgical disruption of the
human brain.

In 1935, however, American neuroscientists Carlyle F. Jacobsen and John Fulton presented the
results of an experiment involving frontal lobe ablation in chimpanzees. Prior to ablation, one of
the animals would become agitated when it made an incorrect choice during a memory task;
this response was eliminated by the operation. (The other animal in the study experienced the
opposite reaction; having been relatively docile, after ablation it experienced agitation during
task performance.)

Also in 1935, Portuguese neurophysician

António Egas Moniz headed a similar operation on a human. Moniz, who was affected
by gout and could not use his hands to perform the surgery, enlisted the help of Portuguese
surgeon Pedro Almeida Lima. The surgery consisted of drilling two holes in the patient’s head
and then injecting pure ethyl alcohol into the prefrontal cortex. Alcohol was used to disrupt the
neuronal tracts that were believed to give rise to and reinforce the recurrent patterns of
thought observed in mentally ill patients. At the time, this first operation was considered a
success, since there appeared to be a reduction in the symptoms of severe paranoia
and anxiety that the patient had suffered prior to the surgery. Moniz and Lima subsequently
performed the operation on a small subset of patients, refining the procedure as they went.

Moniz created an instrument called a leukotome (leucotome), designed specifically to disrupt

the tracts of neuronal fibres connecting the prefrontal cortex and thalamus of the brain. Moniz
and Lima operated on nearly 40 patients by 1937; however, the results were mixed, with some
patients improving, others showing no change in symptoms, and still others relapsing. Despite
this, the practice was soon widely adopted, largely because there were few other therapeutic
measures available at the time for quieting chronically agitated, delusional, self-destructive, or
violent patients.

The prefrontal leukotomy procedure developed by Moniz and Lima was modified in 1936 by
American neurologists Walter J. Freeman II and James W. Watts. Freeman preferred the use of
the term lobotomy and therefore renamed the procedure “prefrontal lobotomy.” The American
team soon developed the Freeman-Watts standard lobotomy, which laid out an
exact protocol for how a leukotome (in this case, a spatula) was to be inserted and manipulated
during the surgery.

The use of lobotomy in the United States was resisted and criticized heavily by American
neurosurgeons. However, because Freeman managed to promote the success of the surgery
through the media, lobotomy became touted as a miracle procedure, capturing the attention of
the public and leading to an overwhelming demand for the operation. In 1945 Freeman
streamlined the procedure, replacing it with transorbital lobotomy, in which a picklike
instrument was forced through the back of the eye sockets to pierce the thin bone that
separates the eye sockets from the frontal lobes. The pick’s point was then inserted into the
frontal lobe and used to sever connections in the brain (presumably between the prefrontal
cortex and thalamus). In 1946 Freeman performed this procedure for the first time on a
patient, who was subdued prior to the operation with electroshock treatment.

The transorbital lobotomy procedure, which Freeman performed very quickly, sometimes in
less than 10 minutes, was used on many patients with relatively minor mental disorders that
Freeman believed did not warrant traditional lobotomy surgery, in which the skull itself was
opened. A large proportion of such lobotomized patients exhibited reduced tension or
agitation, but many also showed other effects, such as apathy, passivity, lack of initiative, poor
ability to concentrate, and a generally decreased depth and intensity of their emotional
response to life. Some died as a result of the procedure. However, those effects were not
widely reported in the 1940s, and at that time the long-term effects were largely unknown.
Because the procedure met with seemingly widespread success, Moniz was awarded the
1949 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (along with Swiss physiologist Walter Rudolf Hess).

Lobotomies were performed on a wide scale during the 1940s; Freeman himself performed or
supervised more than 3,500 lobotomies by the late 1960s. The practice gradually fell out of
favour beginning in the mid-1950s, when antipsychotics, antidepressants, and other
medications that were much more effective in treating and alleviating the distress of mentally
disturbed patients came into use. Today lobotomy is rarely performed; however, shock
therapy and psychosurgery (the surgical removal of specific regions of the brain) occasionally
are used to treat patients whose symptoms have resisted all other treatments.

Reasons for Animal Research

 1. The underlying mechanisms of behavior are similar across species and sometimes easier
to study in a nonhuman species.

If you want to understand a complex machine, you might begin examining a simple machine.
The brains and behaviors of nonhuman vertebrates resemble those of humans in their
chemistry and anatomy.

2. We are interested in animals for their own sake.

We would like to understand how bats chase insects in the dark, how migratory birds find their
way over unfamiliar territory, and how schools of fish manage to swim in unison.

3. What we learn about animals sheds light on human evolution.

How did we come to be the way we are?

What makes us different from chimpanzees and other primates?

Why and how did primates evolve larger brains than other species?

Researchers approach such questions by comparing species.

4. Legal or ethical restrictions prevent certain kinds of research on humans.

Correlating Brain Anatomy with Behavior

One of the first ways ever used for studying brain function around easy: Find someone with
unusual behavior and then look for unusual features of the brain. In the 1800s, Franz Gall
observed some people with excellent verbal memories who had protruding eyes. He inferred
that verbal memory depended on brain areas behind the eyes that had pushed the eyes
forward. Gall then examined the skulls of people with other talents or personalities. He
assumed that bulges and depressions on their skull corresponded to the brain area below them.
His process of relating skull anatomy to behavior is known as phrenology.
One problem of the phrenologists was their uncritical use of data. In some cases, they
examined just one person with a behavioral quirk to define a brain area presumably responsible
for it. Another problem was that skull shape has little relationship to brain anatomy. The skull is
thicker in some places than others and thicker in some people than others.

Today, researchers examine detailed brain anatomy in detail in living people. One method is
computerized axial tomography, better known as a CT or CAT scan.

 CT scan

A physician injects a dye into the blood (to increase contrast in the image and then places the
person’s head into a CT scanner.

 MRI

Brain Size and Intelligence

What is the relationship between brain size and intelligence? It seems natural to assume that
bigger brains are better, but maybe it’s not that simple.

In the 1800s and early 1900s, several societies arose whose members agreed to donate their
brains after death for research into whether the brains eminent people were unusual in any
way. No conclusion resulted. The brains of the eminent varied considerably, as did those of less
eminent people. If brain anatomy was related to intellect in any way, the relation wasn’t
obvious (Burrell, 2004). Still, the idea lingers: Even if brain size isn’t strongly related to
intelligence, shouldn’t it have some relationship?

Comparison Across Species

All mammalian brains have the same organization, but they differ greatly in size.

Do variations in brain size relate to animal intelligence?

We humans like to think of ourselves as the most intelligent animals—after all, we get to define
what intelligence means! However, humans do not have the largest brains. Sperm whales’
brains are eight times larger than ours, and elephants’ are four times larger. Perhaps, many
people suggest, intelligence depends on brain-to-body ratio.

Comparison of Men and Women

If we examine intelligence test scores and brain size for just men, or for just women, we find a
moderate positive correlation. If we combine results for men and women, the correlation
declines. Men on average have larger brains than women but equal IQs (Gilmore et al., 2007;
Willerman, Schultz, Rutledge, & Bigler, 1991; Witelson, Bresh, & Kigar, 2006). Even if we take
into account differences in height,men’s brains remain larger (Ankey, 1992).

Although male and female brains differ,on average, behavioral differences, when carefully
measured, are smaller than most people expect (Hyde, 2005).

Example:

Vastly more men than women become grandmasters in chess.

Does that fact indicate a difference in abilities?

No.

Boys and girls start an equal level in playing chess and progress at equal rates. Apparently the
only reason more men reach the highest level is that vastly more boys than girls start playing
chess (Chabris & Glickman, 2006). The difference pertains to interests, not abilities.

Many people believe that men tend to be better than women in mathematics. That may have
been true in the past and is still is true today in countries where men have greater status than
women, but in countries where men and women have roughly equal opportunities, their
performance on math tests is about equal (Guiso, Monte, Sapienza, & Zingales, 2008).

In the United States, girls on average do at least as well as boys in all math courses from
elementary schools through college, except for certain aspects of geometry. Even that
difference may reflect differences in interests rather than ability. From an early age, most boys
spend more time on activities related to angles and distances. In one study, young women who
spent 10 hours playing action video games significantly improved on the kinds of items related
to geometry.

How can we explain why men and women are equal in intellect, but men have larger brains?

One potentially relevant factor pertains to relative amounts of gray matter (cell bodies and
white matter (axons). Women average more and deeper sulci on the surface of the cortex,
especially in the frontal and parietal areas (Luders et al., 2004). Consequently, the surface area
of the cortex is almost equal for men and women. Because the surface is lined with neurons
(gray matters), the sexes have about the same number of neurons, despite differences in brain
volume (Allen, Damasio, Grabowski, Bruss & Zhang, 2003). The idea would provide a convincing
explanation if intelligence depended only on gray matter.

Neurons and Synapses

The Nervous System contains of two kinds of cells: neurons and glia.

 Neurons receive information and transmit it to other cells.

 Glia serves many functions that are difficult to summarize.

Neurons

 Basic units of the nervous system

 Receive, integrate, and transmit information to other cells.
 Operate through electrical impulses
 Communicate with other neurons
through chemical signals

According to one estimate, the adult human brain contains approximately 100 billion neurons.

Cerebral Cortex and associated areas: 12 to 15 billion neurons

Cerebellum: 70 billion neurons

Spinal cord: 1 billion neurons

Glial cells

 Support neurons (literally, provide physical support, as well as nutrients)

 Clean up debris
 “Housewives”
The Structure/Components of a Neuron

 Dendrites
 Soma9cell body)
 Axon
 Presynaptic terminals

Dendrites are branching fibers that get narrower near their ends. (The term dendrite comes
from the Greek root word meaning “tree”. A dendrite branches like a tree. The dendrite’s
surface is lined with specialized synaptic receptors, at which the dendrite receives information
from other neurons. The greater the surface area of a dendrite, the more information it can
receive.

Cell body or soma contains the nucleus, ribosomes, and mitochondria. Cell bodies of neuron
range in diameter from0.005 mm to 0.1 mm in mammals.

Axon is a thin fiber constant diameter, in most cases longer than the dendrites. (The term axon
comes from a Greek word meaning “axis”.) The axon is the neuron’s information sender,
conveying an impulse toward other neurons or organ or muscle. A neuron can have any
number of dendrites. It has only one axon, but that axon may have branches far from the soma.
Axons can be a meter or more in length, as in the case of axons from your spinal cord to your
feet.

Myelin Sheath

 Fatty material made by glial cells

 Insulates the axon
 Allows for rapid movement of
electrical impulses along axon
 Protective layer surrounds some axons.

Synapse
  This the region at which communication occurs between the neuron and whatever it
connects to.
 This might be another neuron or a different type of body structure, such as muscle or a
gland.

Three main types of neurons

 Sensory Neurons
 Interneurons
 Motor Neurons

Every Sensory neuron is an Afferent to the rest of the nervous system and Every Motor neuron
is an Efferent from the nervous system

If a cell’s dendrites and axon are entirely contained within a single structure, the cell is an
interneuron or intrinsic neuron of that structure. For example, an intrinsic neuron of the
thalamus has its axon and all its dendrites within the thalamus.

Nervous System

 Central nervous system (CNS):

o Brain
o Spinal cord
 Peripheral nervous system (PNS):
o Sensory neurons
o Motor neurons (somatic and autonomic)

The central nervous system processes and coordinates all incoming sensory information and
outgoing motor commands, and it is also the seat of complex brain functions such as memory,
intelligence, learning and emotion.
The peripheral nervous system is responsible for providing sensory, or afferent, information to
the central nervous system and carrying motor, or efferent, command out to the body’s tissues.

Voluntary motor commands, such as moving muscles to walk or talk, are controlled by the
somatic nervous system, while involuntary motor commands, such as digestion and heartbeat,
are controlled by the autonomic nervous system.

The somatic nervous system controls voluntary motor commands, such as moving muscles to
walk or talk, are controlled by system, while involuntary motor commands, such
as digestion and heartbeat, are controlled by the autonomic nervous system.

The autonomic nervous system is further divided into two systems.

The sympathetic nervous system, sometimes called the “fight or flight” system,

 increases alertness,
 stimulates tissue, and
 prepares the body for quirk responses to unusual situations.

In contrast, the parasympathetic nervous system, sometimes called the “rest and repose”
system,

 conserves energy and

 controls sedentary activities, such as digestion.