Principles of Behavioral Neuroscience:

Introduction
 What is Behavioral Neuroscience?

Behavioral neuroscience is the study of the neural bases of psychological

processes and behavior.

Neuroscience is the study of the nervous system.

Terminology refers more to the subject matter than the scientists’ training:
Neuroscientists can be computer scientists, chemists, psychologists, physiologists,
mathematicians, etc..
 Why study the brain and nervous system?

• To better understand who and what we are

• To improve quality of life by developing new treatments and

cures for diseases and disorders of the nervous system

• To reverse engineer biology and thereby create new kinds of

“artificially intelligent” machines that can perform complex
tasks that only animals and humans are currently capable of
 Historical views on the brain

• In antiquity the heart and the gut organs were thought to control
emotions.
• Pharaohs embalmed other organs, but not the brain
• Aristotle thought the brain acted as a cooling mechanism.

• The physician Galen linked head damage in gladiators to changes

in behavior
 Historical views on the brain

• Da Vinci and other anatomists also noted ventricles in the brain

and that different body regions connected to different nerves.

• Galen thought animal spirits travelled through nerves

• Later physicians thought the ventricles and nerves moved
muscles hydraulically
 Historical views on the brain

• Luigi Galvani discovered the link between electricity and muscle

movement

• Rene Descartes developed a thermal theory of spinal reflex (and

also cartesian coordinates!).

• These discoveries link

movement to physical
mechanisms and show the
importance of animal studies
 The Mind-Brain Problem

Dualism: The belief that mind and body are

different kinds of substance that exist
independently.

A nonphysical mind and a physical brain.

French Philosopher
Rene Descartes
1596-1650
The rise of Empiricism in Neuroscience

• Descartes’ lack of anatomical knowledge sent research on a

different path, until…
• Empiricism won favor.
• The testing of ideas through direct observation and experimental
manipulation rather than intuition.
 Rethinking the Mind-Brain Problem

From a neuroscientific perspective: The mind, is the brain, is the mind.

 The Mind-Brain Problem
• The Problem: What is the mind and what is its relationship to the brain?
• Neuroscientists tend to consider the mind as a collection of processes of
the brain: thinking, sensing, planning, feeling.

• What evidence do we have from our own experiences that the mind is
created from processes in the brain?
• Drugs affect behavior by acting on the brain
• Lesions and neurodegeneration affect mental processes
• People with brain development issues display impaired cognition
The Mind-Brain Relationship: Functional Localization

January 2010, Smithsonian Magazine

Damasio H., Grabowski T,. Frank R., Galaburda AM., Damasio AR. (1994). "The return of Phineas
Gage: Clues about the brain from the skull of a famous patient.“ Science 264 (5162): 1102-5.
Old Phrenology (a wrong and outdated theory)

Phrenology, developed by Franz Gall, is the idea

that each of the 35 different “faculties” of emotion and
intellect are located in a precise area of the brain.
Modern view of functional localization
 Historical metaphors about the brain
• Brain functions hydraulically (Galen)

• Thoughts are produced by tiny mechanical

motion in the brain, (like a clock) (Hobbes)

• Brain is like a telephone

switchboard
• Brain is like a computer
 Historical metaphors about the brain
• Brain is like the federal government? • It is a collection of somewhat
interconnected modules that
often have their own goals and
that may interpret the same data
differently.

• Important neuroscience
“principles” in this course will be
highlighted with slides in GREEN
background
Everything in Neuroscience should be considered with an evolutionary frame
Anatomical organization
is relatively well-conserved
across species.

Other similarities:
Connections
Brain chemicals
Genes
 Piloerection

A functional explanation for erect hair in the cat?

An evolutionary explanation for goosebumps in us.
Everything in Neuroscience should be considered with an evolutionary frame

Visual illusions Quirks of memory

(A and B are the same shade)
Levels of Analysis in Behavioral Neuroscience
 Divide & Conquer
• The nervous system is composed from many functional subsystems, which are in turn
composed from neural circuits, which are in turn composed from cells called neurons
nervous subsystems neural circuits neurons
system

SIMPLER EVEN YET

HARD
PROBLEMS SIMPLER SIMPLER
PROBLEM
PROBLEMS PROBLEMS
Levels of Organization in the Nervous System

Cellular &
• Molecules
UNIT 1 Molecular
Neuroscience
• Compartments
• Neurons
UNIT 2
Circuits
Neuroscience
• Populations
• Circuits
UNIT 3
Systems • Subsystems
Neuroscience
• Nervous System
Levels of Organization in the Nervous System

Cellular &
• Molecules
Molecular
Neuroscience
• Compartments
• Neurons
Circuits
Neuroscience
• Populations
• Circuits
Systems • Subsystems
Neuroscience
• Nervous System
The earliest animals with nervous systems lived hundreds of millions of years ago in
primordial oceans, …and similar creatures (jellyfish) still live in the ocean today.

It was in these animals that nerve cells, or neurons, first evolved.

Neurons are specialized cells that can generate fast electrical impulses, called action potentials. As we
shall see, neurons are primary building blocks of the nervous system.
Neurons gave these animals the ability to control their own movement through their environment, by
gently pulsing their bell-shaped bodies to “swim” through the water. So unlike their ancestors (who
were completely at the mercy of ocean currents), these animals could move around to find food and
mates, instead of passively floating around and waiting to encounter food or a mating opportunity.
Bringing the ocean onto land…
The earliest animals with
nervous systems lived
hundreds of millions of years
ago in primordial oceans…

…their neurons generated action

potentials by exploiting the
chemistry of the surrounding
seawater. Millions of years later,
this created problems when
animal’s tried to bring their
nervous systems with them out of
the ocean and onto land.
 How does the “wetware” stay wet?
• You don’t live in an ocean, but your nervous
system does!
• When animals evolved to move from the sea onto
land, they had to bring a bit of the ocean with
them to keep their nervous systems working
• Your brain (cerebrum) and spinal cord are
wrapped in three layers of protective membrane
called meninges:
• Dura Mater (thick outer layer)
• Arachnoid (spongy middle layer)
• Pia Mater (thin inner layer)
• Inside of these protective membranes, your
nervous system is floating in a liquid called
cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) which has a chemical
composition very similar to seawater!
dentalday.wikispaces.com
 The ventricular system
• CSF is constantly manufactured by an organ called the choroid plexus,
which resides in hollow tubes and cavities called ventricles that run
throughout the brain and spinal cord

www.patienthelp.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Choroid-plexus-
Location.jpg
Meningitis: Inflammation of the meninges
• Meningitis occurs
when the meninges
become inflamed,
often from a bacterial
or viral infection
• It is a life-threatening
condition because it
can lead to infections
of the nervous system
which may be fatal
Levels of Organization in the Nervous System

Cellular &
• Molecules
Molecular
Neuroscience
• Compartments
• Neurons
Circuits
Neuroscience
• Populations
• Circuits
Systems • Subsystems
Neuroscience
• Nervous System
Two major subdivisions of the nervous system

Central Nervous System (CNS)

▪ Brain
▪ Spinal Cord

The Peripheral Nervous

System (PNS)
▪ All neurons outside bone
 Brain subsystems (or “modules”)
• Numerous subsystems in the brain (sometimes localized within specific
anatomical regions) can perform distinct cognitive or behavioral tasks
brain
subsystems
Levels of Organization in the Nervous System

Cellular &
• Molecules
Molecular
Neuroscience
• Compartments
• Neurons
Circuits
Neuroscience
• Populations
• Circuits
Systems • Subsystems
Neuroscience
• Nervous System
 Circuit-level analysis of neural computations
• Once it is known that a brain region contains neurons
that perform specific functions, we may begin to ask
how the neurons in that region are interconnected
subsystems

with one another to form circuits that perform those

functions
circuits
Levels of Organization in the Nervous System

Cellular &
• Molecules
Molecular
Neuroscience
• Compartments
• Neurons
Circuits
Neuroscience
• Populations
• Circuits
Systems • Subsystems
Neuroscience
• Nervous System
 Classifying neural populations by morphology
• Neurons come in many different shapes & sizes
(morphologies)
• Branching patterns of axonal and dendritic arbors
exhibit diverse morphology, much like that
observed among trees
http://www.lonza.com/
WEEPING WILLOW TREE POMPOUS TREE CLIMBING VINES DORSAL ROOT
www.featurepics.com/online/Winter-Bare- GANGLION
Pompous-Tree-Branches-611136.aspx
NEURONS

photos-public-domain.com

www.people.vcu.edu/~kmjacobs/
www.gardenality.com

Linda Van Aelst, Cold Spring Harbor Lab

PINE TREE NEOCORTICAL
NEOCORTICAL CHANDELIER
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebellum
CEREBELLAR PURKINJE NEURON PYRAMIDAL
NEURON NEURON
“-ergic”ness: classifying neurons by neurotransmitter
• Neurons are often classified into subtypes according to which
neurotransmitter(s) they release

Flourescent labeling of dopaminergic

neurons (green) in a rat brain
web.centre.edu/bmb/personalpgs/
Steve_Asmus_Homepage.html
– Glutamatergic cells release glutamate
– GABAergic cells release GABA
– Cholinergic cells release acetylcholine
– Dopaminergic cells release dopamine
– Serotonergic cells release serotonin
– Adrenergic cells release adrenaline
– Histaminergic cells release histamine
 Classifying neurons by their axonal targets
• Neural populations are sometimes classified according to their
efferent connections (that is, where they send their axons to make
synapses onto other neurons)
Neurons that send long-range efferent
projections to distant brain areas (yellow)
are often called projection neurons or
principal neurons

Neurons that only send short-range efferents to

their local neighbors (blue) are often called
interneurons or local circuit neurons

NOTE: Many neurons project to both local and distant targets, but any neuron that projects
to at least one distant target is usually considered to be a projection neuron
 Single-unit recording: Identifying neural
populations by their firing properties
subsystems

• Chronic single-unit recording is an invasive method for

measuring spike activity of neurons by surgically implanting
electrodes into the brain
• This method is usually used in research animals (such as
circuits

rodents) but is sometimes used in human patients suffering

from neurological disorders
populations
 Head direction cells: An internal compass

Open field pellet foraging task

Levels of Organization in the Nervous System

Cellular &
• Molecules
Molecular
Neuroscience
• Compartments
• Neurons
Circuits
Neuroscience
• Populations
• Circuits
Systems • Subsystems
Neuroscience
• Nervous System
 Neurons vs. Glia
• The nervous system is composed
from two main cell types: NERVOUS SYSTEM
• Neurons
• Glial cells (or glia) NEURONS GLIA
(50%) (50%)
 Neurons
• Neurons are cells that generate fast electrical impulses called action
potentials (or spikes)
• This fast signaling allows interconnected networks of neurons to
rapidly sense and respond to environmental events
Optical recording of neural activity

Nature Methods, 2011

Levels of Organization in the Nervous System

Cellular &
• Molecules
Molecular
Neuroscience
• Compartments
• Neurons
Circuits
Neuroscience
• Populations
• Circuits
Systems • Subsystems
Neuroscience
• Nervous System
 Neuronal Compartments
• A tree can be subdivided into functionally
distinct “compartments”: roots, branches,
leaves, flowers, etc.
• A neuron can also be subdivided into
soma functionally distinct compartments:

• Dendrites: Treelike arborizations that receive

signals from other neurons.
• Soma: Cell body containing the nucleus.
• Axon: Long branched cable that sends
signals to other neurons, which is
sometimes surrounded by a myelin sheath.
• Axon terminals (synaptic boutons): Tips of
axon terminals
axon branches from which neurotransmitter
(synaptic boutons) is released onto target cells.
 Synapses
• Neurons are connected with one another at chemical junctions called
synapses
• Information flows mostly in one direction across the synapse, from the
presynaptic neuron to the postsynaptic neuron
Neurons form complex circuits & networks

Superior Colliculus Santiago Ramon y Cajal

“Neuron Doctrine”

Cortex Cerebellum Hippocampus

 Neurotransmitters
• Most neurons communicate with one another by
releasing chemicals onto each other across synapses
www.pestwizard.com

Postsynaptic Cell
Presynaptic Cell

• These chemicals are called neurotransmitters

• A single presynaptic neuron may release neurotransmitter
onto thousands of different postsynaptic neurons!
A Many axonal targets
• A neuron’s axon may branch many times, so that
a single neuron can have thousands of synaptic
boutons that release transmitter onto many other
neurons
B
• Each bouton may release either a single
neurotransmitter, or a ‘cocktail’ of several
neurotransmitters

• Although most neurons release the SAME

transmitter substances at ALL of its synaptic
boutons, recently there have been reports of
evidence that some neurons release different
transmitters from different boutons
Levels of Organization in the Nervous System

Cellular &
• Molecules
Molecular
Neuroscience
• Compartments
• Neurons
Circuits
Neuroscience
• Populations
• Circuits
Systems • Subsystems
Neuroscience
• Nervous System
Different ion channels in different neural compartments
Ion Channels

LEAK POTASSIUM CHANNEL

VOLTAGE-GATED
SODIUM CHANNEL

LIGAND-GATED
SODIUM
CHANNEL

VOLTAGE-GATED
POTASSIUM
CHANNEL

nucleus
AXON DENDRITES

Ion Pumps
SOMA

Na+/K+ ATPase
PUMP Active zone