Neuropsychology

SP212
 Name: Dr. Victor Goh

Introduction Email: VictorGoh@ucsiuniversity.edu.my

Consultation: email at least 24 hours prior to meeting
 Class attendance (10%)
Phones on silent will consist of pop-quizzes

Pop-quizzes are to be submitted

in class – at the end of the 15 mins break given after
Class rules semester, total score of all pop
quizzes will be divided across
total number of pop quizzes
every 45 mins of
lecture/discussion
given

Participate and talk in Dinner Break at 7.30pm

class! – you can eat in my class
Quiz Format
 9 Oct.
Group Assignment (due 9th Oct,
Assignment Wednesday, Week 5):
• Form up in groups of 4-5
Briefing • Create a poster on a chosen
particular neurological disorder,
including:
• A 2500-3000 word written
report to accompany your
poster
• Worth 20% of total grade
14 Oct.
Group Oral Presentation (starts on
14th Oct, Monday, Week 6):
• Present your poster in class
• Each group given 10-15
minutes
• Oral presentation judged on
clarity, creativity,
professionalism, teamwork, and
flow.
• Worth 10% of total grade
 The Mind-Brain
Relationship
QUESTION: WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE BRAIN AND THE
MIND? WHICH CAN YOU PROVE?
  Rene Descartes – “Cogito ergo sum” (I think, therefore, I
Mind-Brain am)
 How can a mind (immaterial) affect the brain
Problem: 
(material)?
Arguments against dualism:
Dualism  Materialism: everything that exists is material, or
physical (the primary scientific view)
 Mentalism: everything that exists actually only exists
in the mind

Can we reduce everything to materialism (physics and

chemistry)?
Can we reduce everything to mentalism (just thoughts)?
What is consciousness?
 Physiological

Ontogenetic
Biological
Explanations of
Behaviour Evolutionary

Functional
 Behaviour is related to the brain and other organs

Primarily involved with the “machinery” of the body

Physiological
Explanation Attempts to explain behavior E.g. Mutation in the X-
chromosome of some males lead
through physiology to criminal behavior

What are the issues with a purely physiological

explanation of behavior?
  “Ontogenetic” focuses on the origin (or genesis) of being
(‘ontos’)
 Describes how a structure or behavior develops,
Ontogenetic including influences of genes, nutrition, experiences, and
their interactions
explanation  E.g. of ontogenetic explanation:
 The ability to inhibit impulses develops from infancy
through teenage years, which is in line with the maturation
of the frontal parts of the brain (pre-frontal cortex)
  Examines behavior through an evolutionary perspective
 Primarily focused on the history of behavior and actions
Evolutionary  Can explain certain kinds of involuntary behavior that do

Explanation 
not seem to be useful in animals today
E.g. ‘goosebumps’ on the human body when we are
scared or cold
  Describes why the behavior or structure evolved as it did
A gene that is prevalent in a large population is normally
Functional

advantageous/useful to that population

Explanation  E.g. certain animals have common genes that make them
blend into the background – these genes evolved in order
to help the species survive