Chapter 1: Introduction
Overview Of Course Topics
Foundations of Physiological Psychology
Neurophysiology and Neuroanatomy
Methods
Sensation and Movement
Physiology of Behavior
Sleep and circadian rhythms
Ingestion: feeding and drinking
Sexual behavior
Physiological Psychology
Physiological psychology seeks to describe the physical mechanisms of the body that mediate our behaviors.
Physical movement
Mental activity
The "Mind-Body Problem"
Two major views
"Dualism": Mind and body are separate but interacting.
"Monism": Mind is a property of a physical nervous system.
Broca’s Area
Broca’s area
Patient "Tan" showed major deficit in speech
Termed aphasia
After Tan died in 1861, Broca’s autopsy noted damage in left hemisphere
Electrical Stimulation of Brain
Luigi Galvani used electrical charge to induce muscle contraction
Fritsch and Hitzig applied electrical stimuli to cortex in dog: showed muscle contraction on opposite body side (notion of contralateral)
Work was based on battlefield observations
Penfield’s cortical stimulation studies (Montreal)
Behaviors Elicited by Electrical Brain Stimulation:
Implant electrode into brain, administer electrical current: observe behavioral change:
Feeding
Drinking
Sexual Behavior
Reward and Aversion
Locomotion
Consciousness and Blindsight
Blindsight: damage to the visual system on one side of the brain will produce blindness in the contralateral visual field
Wieskrantz: blind patients are unable to see but are able to reach for objects placed in their blind visual field
Implies that we need not be conscious of a stimulus in order to act on that stimulus