Introduction

Physiological psychology is a subdivision of behavioral neuroscience

(biological psychology) that studies the neural mechanisms of
perception and behavior through direct manipulation of the brains
of nonhuman animal subjects in controlled experiments. This field
of psychology takes an empirical and practical approach when
studying the brain and human behavior. Most scientists in this field
believe that the mind is a phenomenon that stems from the nervous
system. By studying and gaining knowledge about the mechjanisms
of the nervous system, physiological psychologists can uncover
many truths about human behavior. Unlike other subdivisions
within biological psychology, the main focus of psychological
research is the development of theories that describe brain-behavior
relationships.

Physiological psychology studies many topics relating to the body’s

response to a behavior or activity in an organism. It concerns the
brain cells, structures, components, and chemical interactions that
are involved in order to produce actions. Psychologists in this field
usually focus their attention to topics such as sleep, emotion,
ingestion, senses, reproductive behavior, learning/memory,
communication, psychopharmacology, and neurological disorders.
The basis for these studies all surround themselves around the
notion of how the nervous system intertwines with other systems in
the body to create a specific behavior
Methods of studying physiological psychology
Experimental Ablation
The removal or destruction of a portion of the brain; brain lesions;
used to infer function of ablated area or understand how brain
functions are combined to create behavior
Aspiration
Using air to suck out brain at surface
Radiofrequency Lesion
Stainless steel wire passed through brain; burns area around tip
Excitotoxic Lesion
Produces a lesion by an intracerebral injection of an excitatory
amino acid which kills neurons by stimulating them to death.
Destroys neurons in the vicinity but spares the axons.
Sham Lesion
Control group; doing all the steps except destroying the brain area
Reversible Lesion
Turning off a part of the brain temporarily using anesthetic or
antagonist
Removal
Open the skull and remove the brain
Perfusion
Remove blood and other fluids and insert saline or formaldehyde
Fixation
Process of stopping decomposition by placing the brain in
formaldehyde
Sectioning
Cutting the brain into slices using a microtome
Staining
Placing the slices into dye which is absorbed by cell bodies making
gray matter darkest
Examination
Transmission microscope; scanning electron microscope (3-D)
Anterograde labeling method
Labels the axons and terminal buttons of neurons whose cell bodies
are located in a particular region
PHA-L
Found in kidney beans; taken up by dendrites and carried to the
end of axons
immonocytochemical methods
Make PHA-L visible; antibodies for PHA-L are attached to the drug
Computerized tomography
CT; cheap, quick, tells you about a bleed. measures fluid in the
brain. , a method of examining body organs by scanning them with
X rays and using a computer to construct a series of cross-sectional
scans along a single axis
Magnetic Resonance Imagining
MRI; , magnetic field and pulses of radiowave energy create images
of the brain and spinal cord; very detailed, good for localizing
structures and lesions.
Electroencephalogram
EEG; an electrical brain potential recorded by placing electrodes on
in the scalp; good for measuring sleep patterns, seizures, and
during surgery, oxygen supply to the brain.
Positron Emission Tomography
PET; the metabolic activity of specific brain region; shows activity in
specific brain region.
Transcranial Magnestic Stimulation
TMS; electric shock therapy; stimulate neurons in the human
cerebral cortex with an electromagnetic placed on the brain; good
for mental disorders especially depression.
stereotax atlas
A collection of drawings of sections of the brain of a particular
animal with measurements that provide coordinates for stereotaxic
surgery.
transcranial tracing methods
Viruses injected directly into brain region and virus spreads
magnetoencephalogram
(MEG) tiny electrical fields produced by neurons are detected by
SQUIDs. Shows brain activity
Microdialysis
A procedure for analyzing chemicals present in the interstitial fluid
through a small piece of tubing made of semipermeable membrane
that is implanted in the brain; can be done in humans using a
modified PET scan to localize radioactive substances.