1 Part One:What is Psychology? Russell A. DeweyChapter 1 Part One:What is Psychology? Russell A. Dewey

2 What is Psychology? Answer: “Psychology is the science of behavior and mental processes.” Most people associate psych with therapies designed to help people w/emotional and mental problems and think psychologists are all therapists. Reality: “In actuality, many psychologists are not therapists. Some are researchers in laboratories, some are full- time teachers and researchers. Some are consultants to business and industry. Many never do therapy in their lives.”

3 Specialties Clinical Psychology (therapists working with mentally ill patients) Counseling Psychology (work with students in schools, workers in the workplace) Social Psychology (study the psychology of social relations) Industrial/Organization (study psychological features of large organizations) Cognitive Psychology (studies like the ones Nisbett pursues) Development Psych (studies childhood and adolescent development, both cognitive and emotional) Physiological Psych (psychological contributions of physiology) Comparative and Animal Psych (self-explanatory) Health Psych (self-explanatory) Behavioral Medicine (Studies relationship between behavior and health)

4 Four Approaches to Psychological ResearchBiological explanations are based on knowledge of living cells and organic systems, how brain structure affects behavior, mental life, etc. Behavioral research empha­sizes actions (behaviors). Behaviorists typically relate actions to the organism's environment and history of learning. Field research on animals is an example of behavioral research. So is intensive behavior therapy with autistic children, one of the most effective treatments for autism. Cognitive approaches stress information processing. Cognitive psychologists study the interactions of thoughts, images, knowledge, and emotions.

5 Subjective approaches describe unique thoughts, feelings, and experiences of individuals. This includes introspectionist approaches like Wundt’s and those followed in what is called phenomenology. All four perspectives are relevant to almost all areas of psychology. Anxiety, for example, can be studied as a biological response, a set of behaviors, a thought process, or an experience. Psychology is by nature an integrative science, employing a variety of perspectives on the same events.

6 Part Two: The History of Psychology

7 The 1800s Phrenology: Francis Gall Studied bumps on the skull as indicators of brain growth. More bumps, more brain development. Skull was mapped out showing which brain functions/mental functions were covered by bumps (or lack thereo) in that area. These maps bear no relation to underlying brain areas and their cognitive/mental functions. What Phrenology got right: 1) diff brain areas cover different mental functions; 2) sought a scientific/objective way to measure psychological qualities (as does modern psychology); 3) testing individuals can reveal valuable info about individuals in a short time (still a goal and practice of modern psych); 4) neurons do grow more in response to more brain activity, altho this does not affect the size of the brain nor the shape of the skull.

8 Psycho-Physics: studies the interaction of the mind (psyche) and the physical world (physics). Psycho­physicists were interested in exploring how energy from the physical world such as light and sound gave rise to mental experience such as perception of brightness and loudness. Wundt’s “New Psychology”: First pro to call himself a “psychologist”. Thought “only immediate experience” yields “certain reality”. To be a science, psychology would have to deal directly with the “data of experience”. This was to apply the typical approach to other sciences (botany, zoology) to psychology: science begins with observation. You then try to work out an agreement about what is observed by comparing data from different observers. For Wundt, the “data of experience” was what is evident through introspection.

9 Psycho-Physics: studies the interaction of the mind (psyche) and the physical world (physics). Psycho­physicists were interested in exploring how energy from the physical world such as light and sound gave rise to mental experience such as perception of brightness and loudness. Wundt’s “New Psychology”: First pro to call himself a “psychologist”. Thought “only immediate experience” yields “certain reality”. To be a science, psychology would have to deal directly with the “data of experience”. This was to apply the typical approach to other sciences (botany, zoology) to psychology: science begins with observation. You then try to work out an agreement about what is observed by comparing data from different observers. For Wundt, the “data of experience” was what is evident through introspection. The problem with introspection: different minds introspect different things, even when stimulated by the same external conditions. Wundt had trouble accepting this, but it was proved over and over to be the case.

10 William James and Functionalism: James thought the mind is a process, a function of the organism. Given that by this point (late 19th century) James assumes that the organism is a product of evolution, if we developed higher cognitive functions than our ape ancestors, these higher functions must be useful to our survival. So to understand our minds and hence our psychological qualities, we needed only ask “What is this or that capacity of mind used for?” Watson and Behaviorism: After attempting to study psychological phenomena by way of introspection and functionalist approaches that looked to reveal features of the states of consciousness (even when studying Animals!!!), Watson got frustrated and asked “Why not just describe the behavior and leave it at that?” He thought psychology could succeed without even mentioning consciousness or the content of consciousness revealed through introspection. One great advantage of behaviorist psychology: it could be applied to creatures (animals) that have no language with which to express their inner thoughts! Watson did not invent behaviorism, but with his position as editor of Psychological Review at Johns Hopkins, he just gave it a name and publicized it.

11 Mid-20th Century Behaviorism Classical Conditioning + Operant ConditioningWatson thought all behavior could be generated by classical conditioning such as the kind of behavior that could be elicited from a dog using Pavlov’s laws of learning, plus some additional principles like trial and error learning. Problem: Never produced effective behavioral results, despite early promise. B.F. Skinner in 1950 offered a newer, more powerful set of learning tools called “operant conditioning” that he claimed could fulfill the promise that classical conditioning and trial and error laws of learning failed to. Operant conditioning applies the principles of reinforcement and punishment and Skinner hyped the new approach in his book Walden Two where he claimed that he could make anyone behavior in specific ways using his techniques.

12 In fact: operant conditioning failed to produce the results it promised. It is still used to train animals and non-verbal humans (if you take your dog or cat to be trained, these techniques will be used with great success). However, it did not manage to explain the much more complex kinds of human behavior. JP: Chomsky vs. Skinner and the acquisition of language (famous 1957 paper by Noam Chomsky challenges Skinner’s account of language acquisition based on operant conditioning techniques. Let to the development of Generative Grammar (the basis for the Theory of Universal Grammar propounded by Chomsky most of his life as a linguist)

13 Modern Trends Cognition and Neuroscience Cognition: in mid-20th century psychologists began to notice what they thought was a connection between information-processing routines of newly-available, powerful modern computers (like the IBM 360) and what seemed like analogous processing in humans. George Miller’s studies in memory revealed that human beings encode information received through the senses before they store it. This was unexpected, but it opened up the possibility that memory in a computer and in a human being are very similar, pushing the analogy between computer processing and human mental processing even further along.

14 By the 1970s, psychology was caught in a ‘cognitive revolution’By the 1970s, psychology was caught in a ‘cognitive revolution’. The emphasis on cognition was “disciplined, objective, and relied on experimentation.” As Dewey puts it, “While memory researchers focused on manipulating encodings and document­ing changes in memory retrieval, others outside psychology in the fields of computer science and artificial intelligence studied problem solving, visual scene analysis, and other information processing skills.” Behaviorism did not disappear in the cloud of enthusiasm for the new emphasis on cognition, mental processing, and ways to test theories of how human minds encode memories, process information, solve problems through special cognitive processes, etc. While cognitive techniques took over experimental psych, behavioral techniques still dominate animal research.

15 Neuroscience As machines capable of scanning the brain of a living person became available (e.g., MRIs and fMRIs) in the 1970s and 1980s, psychologists began to conduct investigations into what behaviors and mental states corresponded to measurable activity in various parts of the brain. Almost everything we presently know about which parts of the brain are responsible for which particular mental functions has come from these studies, when combined with what brain physiologists have discovered in the last 50 years about how the brain works at the cellular, structural level.

16 Part Three: Critical Thinking

17 Principles of Critical Thinking Avoid jumping to conclu­sions [Suspend judgment; keep an open mind until you have adequate evidence; tolerate uncertainty; avoid oversimpli­fication.] Examine assumptions [Identify premises or starting assump­tions; avoid accepting an idea simply because it appeals to pre-existing biases or assumptions.] Generate new ideas [Experiment with ideas opposite to those normally considered; ask questions; consider other perspectives.] Evaluate evidence [Ask whether an idea generates surprising predictions. Look for actual tests of an idea. See what experts in the field have to say about controversial ideas.]

18 The Role of Science Putting ideas to a testThe Role of Science Putting ideas to a test. Karl Popper: Science is “conjection [speculation] and refutation.” George Polya: “What is the scientific method except Guess and Test?” What is the key to making a hypothesis testable? 1) For Popper, it must be possible for the results to falsify the hypothesis. This means choosing a hypothesis which predicts a certain outcome such that if it doesn’t occur, the hypothesis has failed. Example of an unfalsifiable hypothesis: Freud’s explanations for adult behavior based on unconscious motives drawn from childhood traumas: any adult behavior could always be explained according to the theory, and it made no predictions that would prove the theory correct.

19 Model Building or “Mapping” Reality Metaphors that describe activities of scientists: The puzzle: scientists are largely motivated by puzzle solving. They want to explain things that are strange or unexplained. They gain satisfaction from achieving new insights into how things work. The filter: scientists start with lots of different ideas, particularly in frontier areas with problems to be solved. Many ideas are eventually disproved. Scientists try to filter out misleading and false claims. The map: scientific theories are like maps. They preserve information about selected portions of reality. Like maps, they are schematic (incomplete or skeletal) but extremely useful in particular situations.

20 Science is self-correctingScience is self-correcting. It modifies its theories in the face of new evidence (Aristotle->Newton; Newton->Einstein; Ptolemy->Copernicus) Science is not dedicated to any particular point of view, although particular scientists may be. Science as a institution aims at accuracy, not dogma. Key Tools of Science Operational Definitions: These are necessary because you must relate the words (and associated ideas to which they refer) in a theory/hypothesis to “concrete, measurable events in the world.” Variables and Values A variable is some observable characteristic in the world that can change. A value is the number or score used to express the particular state of a variable at a given time. For example, temperature is a variable in my present environment, and the current value of that variable is 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

21 Reliability and Validity A test is reliable if it produces the same results over and over when measuring the same thing. A test is valid if it measures what you think it measures, as determined by some independent way of measuring the same thing. Self-Report Measures: Notoriously Unreliable This is particularly important when a psychologist relies on polling to establish what is true about any psychological phenomenon. It is often a measure used when studying health-related behaviors (a study of obesity and food intake sometimes is based on what the participants in the study report about their food intake…..these reports are notoriously inaccurate).

22 Constructs and the Problem of Reification Many of the psychological states and phenomena that psychologists seek to understand and explain are things that cannot be strictly observed. For example: intelligence, happiness, personality. These are called constructs. They are really ideas that represent things we cannot observe directly, but which we think play a causal role in the psychological phenomena we want to understand. In physics there are also constructs. In Newtonian Mechanics, the “f” in “f=ma” represents force. There is no way to actually observe a force. So we have to replace something observable for what counts in the theory as “f” when testing the theory. When a construct is treated like a real thing in the world, but there is nothing in the world that corresponds to it, this is called reification of that construct/idea. Whether a particular construct has been reified or not is hard to determine. In the end, what matters is whether you can find observable evidence for it.

23 Part Four: Observational and Experimental Research

24 Observational Research A non-experimental research methodObservational Research A non-experimental research method. Seven Types: Naturalistic, Controlled, Standardized Testing, Clinical, Surveys and Polling, Interviews, Microanalysis Naturalistic: researcher attempts to observe without being directly involved in the phenomenon. It is ‘natural’ because the subjects of observation are allowed to ‘behave naturally’. (uses video cameras, one-way mirrors, etc.) Controlled: researchers control the conditions of the phenomena being observed so the ‘subjects’ experience the same conditions. Used to detect individual differences in response of subjects. Allows for grouping subjects into different types according to their particular reaction styles (e.g.,: stranger approaches with newborns) Standardized Testing: This is a form of controlled observation. SAT, GRE, “Bayley Box”, etc.

25 Observational Research cont’d Clinical: Here the researcher is a skilled clinician who interacts with the subject and records what transpires. Some think the contribution of this kind of research is unreliable because different clinicians come up with different results. Proponents think discoveries can be made when a clinician interacts and responds to what a subject says or does and bases further interaction on what has already transpired. (e.g., Piaget’s studies of children to see how they view the world). Surveys and Polling: This is a controlled kind of research that captures data from a very large population of subjects, which is its main virtue. The main goal of this kind of research is to discover the characteristics of a large population on the basis of a small, but (ideally) representative sample.

26 Observational Research cont’d Interviews: This combines the structured/controlled approach to data collection associated with surveys and polls, but in one-on-one interviews where greater depth and detail of questions and answers can be achieved. All interviewees are asked the same questions. Microanalysis: detailed analysis of brief events (e.g., “mother/baby dance”).

27 Correlation and Prediction The data of observational research is called correlation data because what the researcher is looking for are patterns in the phenomena observed, and these patterns must necessarily be co-relational (things occurring together), at least at first. What is good about seeking out correlations: you can discover that the values of one variable can be used to predict the values of another (people whose parents committed suicide are N times more likely to commit suicide themselves, for example). JP: Multiple regression analysis is a statistical method for trying to detect correlations between independent and dependent variables in an observational study.

28 Correlation and Prediction cont’d Correlations come in degrees: cfCorrelation and Prediction cont’d Correlations come in degrees: cf. drinking and school performance. When a correlation is strong, you can predict the dependent variable (performance in school) by knowing the value of the independent variable (drinks per week). Negative correlation: The value of one variable goes up as the other goes down, or vice versa (again, drinking goes up, school performance goes down).

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30 Correlation is not Causation

31 Correlation is not Causation

32 Correlation is not Causation

33 Why it is Hard to Show Correlation is Causation Consider the correlation between heavy drinking and poor school performance mentioned earlier. This could be explained in any of the following ways, each of which suggests a cause that is not yet in evidence in the correlation study: Perhaps (1) alcohol makes people stupid, or (2) higher-achieving students are more likely to lie and say they do not drink even if they do, or (3) the students who tend to drink tend to be poorer students to begin with, or (4) people who are hung-over from a drinking binge tend to skip class, or (5) students in academic trouble drink in order to drown their sorrows after receiving bad grades.

34 Predictions Based on the Actuarial Method Actuarial Method = correlations drawn from very large bodies of data [aka “data mining”] (Paul Meehl first championed this method). Meehl showed that correlations derived from “data mining” could outpredict trained experts (e.g., therapists trying to estimate the likelihood of patient relapse). Cautionary Note: Not all phenomena lend themselves to prediction. Systems that have a high degree of built-in chaos (e.g., weather) are not good candidates for this approach to prediction. Cohen’s Folly: tried to use her expertise to figure out which variables would predict likely dropouts in a small drug treatment program. Finally gave up and just fed the considerable dataset containing values on 60 variables into a multiple regression analysis routine and out popped numerous factors that proved predictive of failure in any given individual.

35 Questionnaires, Surveys and Polls All are types of Survey ResearchQuestionnaires, Surveys and Polls All are types of Survey Research. First, some definitions: Target population: the population you mean to learn about. Sample: the specific group of individuals you actually survey/poll/question. Random Sample: A method for selecting members of a large population that will prove representative of the target population, while only being a sample of that population. Randomizing, properly done, is known on the basis of the laws of probability to minimize the chance the sample population is unrepresentative of the target population.

36 Questionnaires, Surveys and Polls cont’d Large N’s = More-Successful Surveys/Polls/Questionnaires Why? Because of the “Law of Large Numbers”. The large the number of people in the sample group, the more likely the average of that group on all measures will closely resemble the average on all measures of the target population.

37 Questionnaires, Surveys and Polls cont’d Biased Samples in Questionnaire Research “Bias” is NOT the same as “Based on an Intention to CHEAT” A good, unbiased sample: Use a random number generator to select 50 names from a complete list with the names of all the members of the target population those that will receive questionnaires. A bad, biased sample: Go where you hear many of the members of the target population pass by and pick out 50 at random. (JP: Why? Answer: It will be a “convenience sample” and these are known to be unrepresentative. Classic example: Internet polls that rely on self- selection for the sample population)

38 Questionnaires, Surveys and Polls cont’d Sampling Error: This is a known value based on the size of the sample population as a percentage of the target population. Laws of probability allow us to say with a certain degree of certainty how likely it is that, on a given sample population size, that population is representative. Also called margin of error. Often expressed this way: “The poll states that 43% of voters polled will vote for Jimmy John, with a margin of error of 3%”. This means that given the sample size, the actual number of voters likely to vote for Jimmy John could be as low as 40% and as high as 46%.

39 Experimental Research and its Pitfalls Definitions: Experimental Research = Research in which there is a Manipulation. Manipulation = The Experimenter introduces a change into the system. Experiment = Change something in a controlled system and see what happens. Value: useful because properly designed experiments allow for the discovery of cause-effect relationships in a phenomenon. Independent Variable = the suspected cause of the phenomenon. This is the variable the experimenter manipulates. Dependent Variable = all other variables detectable in the phenomenon (at least some or one of which is the hoped-for effect of the dependent variables causal power).

40 Experimental Research and its Pitfalls cont’d Subject Variables = variables that are neither manipulated by the experimenter nor measured to detect any changes resulting from changes in the independent variable. (e.g., the religious affiliation, sex, weight, height of subjects, depending on the point of the study). Two-Group Studies = where two groups are compared, with the control group getting no experimental intervention/treatment, and the experimental group getting the intervention/treatment. Also called between-subjects design, the purpose is to discern whether the experimental intervention applied to the experimental group produces any detectible change in the members of that group, as compared with those not received the intervention. Within-Subjects Design = a study that watches changes in the subjects of the study over time under changing conditions (with/without exercise, for example).

41 Experimental Research and its Pitfalls cont’d The Problem of Confounding Variables = in a between-subjects design, the hope is that the only difference between the control and the experimental groups is the intervention applied to the latter. But this is seldom achieved, and the variables that differ between the two groups that are not associated directly with the intervening variable are called confounding variables (because they confound/interfere with the attempt to isolate the effective causes of the results in the experimental group).

42 Experimental Controls Experimental control = in one sense, it is to remove a confounding variable by controlling it. But experimental control is just a kind of methodological control I which a variable is controlled in an experiment so it cannot interfere with the results. Placebo Effect = any situation in which a person’s belief in a treatment contributes to the effect of the treatment. Placebo effects are not imaginary, it is just that the cause of the effect seems to lie in something produced by the fact that the person believe the effect will result. Use of Placebo in Psychological Experiments = In Two-Group studies, giving the Control Group a placebo guarantees that the study can separate whatever the effect of the intervention applied to the Experimental Group from the expected Placebo Effect, which should apply to both groups.

43 Experimental Controls cont’d How do you control the Placebo EffectExperimental Controls cont’d How do you control the Placebo Effect? Answer: you give the Control Group a placebo (or alternatively, you create a placebo effect in the control group, which comes to the same thing). Single-Blind Experiments = Two-Group studies where neither group knows which has received the ‘active intervention’ and which the placebo, but the experiment does know. Double-Blind Experiments = Two-Group studies where neither the control group, experimental group, nor the experimenter know which group got the intervention, which the placebo. (e.g., the subliminal tapes study) Why do a Double-Blind Experiment? (Answer: experimenters can affect the outcome of the study by unconscious behaviors that affect the two groups differently)

44 Two Powers of Science Prediction and Control Some dislike the idea of “controlling” the phenomena studied by a science. This led to Dewey to revise his twin powers of science as follows: Prediction and Understanding: Prediction Science can give us advance warning of phenomena. Through observational research, we can detect correlations and make predictions. Understanding Science can help us gain knowledge about systems so we understand how they operate. Having analyzed components of a system and how they work together, we can interact more skillfully with the system. We can nurture it or repair it, such as ecologists who repair a damaged ecosystem, or mechanics who fix a car.

45 Chapter 2: The Human Nervous SystemPart One: The Brain Russell A. Dewey

46 The Brain Most complex piece of matter in the universeThe Brain Most complex piece of matter in the universe. Surface is convoluted which increases the surface area of the cortex. Consists of: neurons, surrounded by glial cells. Human Nervous System = Two parts, Central Nervous System (CNS) and Peripheral Nervous System (PNS) CNS has three parts: forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain. Convolutions lead to: fissures (deep folds) caused by the more rapid growth of the different layers of brain cells, and lobes (regions of the cortex created by the deeper fissures as development proceeds). Opposite of a fissure = gyrus (top of a folded area of the cortex, like a hilltop). Top of brain = Cerebrum (includes outermost layer, i.e., Cerebral Cortex [3.2 mm thick])

47 The Brain cont’d Cortex = any outer layer of any brain structureThe Brain cont’d Cortex = any outer layer of any brain structure. There is a cortex for the thalamus and cerebellum, not just the cerebrum. Gray Matter = the cortical layer of any part of the brain, gray because it contains densely packed cell bodies. White Matter = the cells in the noncortical areas of the brain. These contain axons which are communication links between cortical layers and other parts of the brain, white because covered with myelin sheath, which is a fatty substance. Brain plasticity (adaptability): one sign of this is that people can develop normal mental functions even with severely reduced brains (hydrocephalics, babies with ½ of the cerebral cortex missing, etc.)

48 The Brain cont’d Lobes of the Brain: Occipital (back) deals with vision, location of primary visual cortex; Parietal (middle) in right hemisphere deals with spatial processing; Temporal (side below the Sylvia fissure), handles secondary visual processing + some hearing + some complex information processing [stimulation of upper region can produce déjà vu, and other areas can produce religious ecstatic states]; Frontal (front) is largest of any animal; Prefrontal handle executive functions; Frontal lobe seems to be involved in planning, creative activities. Fissure of Rolando: separates the sensory cortex which lies behind the fissure and the motor cortex which lies in front of it (disputed by modern neuroscientists who say sensory and motor functions lie front and back equally).

49 The Brain cont’d The Homunculus: a line from the top of the head down to the ear along the Fissure of Rolando. Contains sensory links to specific areas of the body’s surface, some areas getting much more cortical area (lips, hands, face) than others (elbow, wrist, trunk). “Homunculus” means “Little Man”. Use it or Lose it: stroke patients were forced to use arm that had become less responsive/controllable after the stroke. Results were marked improvement for all, and some (30%) regained all former function in the ‘bad’ arm.

50 Hemispheric Specialization Brain has two halves or hemispheres, and they seem to evince a bilateral symmetry. Most creatures have bilateral symmetry indicated in the structure of their bodies. (Exceptions: starfish, jellyfish, who have radial symmetry). Hemispheres have contralateral organization: left side controls right side of body, right side the left. Handedness: dominance of one side of body over motor activity. 13% left, 87% right (% of ambilaterality?) Wada Test: Patients being prepared for brain surgery have each side of their brain put to sleep to measure the functionality of the side that is left awake. Results: most people’s reactions show that the left hemisphere governs “approach” tendencies, the right governs “avoidance” tendencies. Those with left brain asleep get anxious and worried. Those with right brain asleep are happy and unconcerned. This confirms lateralization of brain functions.

51 The “Me vs. It” Girl: someone who could control which side of the brain was active was tested to see which functions go with each hemisphere. Results: Left Brain goes with logic and speech, planning, writing, arithmetic, reading for information, confronting new people and situations. Right Brain goes with gardening personality, relaxation, comfortable, sexual moods, greater ability in: drawing, sports, playing music, map reading, socializing. Only General Hemispheric Lateralization Result for Sure: 95% of righthanders have language on the left side of their brains. Right brain results established: emotional expression and spatial processing. ALL OTHER standard associations between LEFT and RIGHT Brain and various mental capacities and functions are NOT supported. Final Word about Lateralization: “The truth is that the brain is full of specialized areas that are activated by particular tasks. In normal thinking, including intuition and artistic activity, multiple areas in both hemispheres contribute to the activity.”

52 Subcortical Structures Forebrain: Basal Ganglia (motor control); Limbic System (incl hippocampus [event memory], amygdala [emotions, fear, fight/flight], septum [pleasure], cingulate gyrus, etc.); Thalamus (relays info from eyes, ears, spinal cord to cerebral cortex; involved in sleep and attention control); Hypothalamus (basic fcts: eating, sex, temp ctrl, sleep, aggression; produces sex, growth and sex hormones). Midbrain: Tectum (4 bumps/colliculi: superior coll. = eye movement, localizing objects; inferior coll. = rel’d to sense of hearing); Tegmentum (contains part of reticular formation; control of movement) Hindbrain: Cerebellum (looks like cauliflower, separate structure; made up of specialized neurons called Purkinje Cells and Granular Cells; fine motor ctrl, motor mem, movement planning, practice-related memory and error-detection in non-motor tasks); Reticular Formation (activates thalamus and cortex); Pons (connects cerebrum to cerebellum; sleep, feeding and facial expression regulation); Medulla (beginning of spinal cord; handles autonomic regulation of heart, respiration, digestion, blood pressure)

53 Brain Stem: Is the brain’s “core”; technically, all the subcortical strctures are “brain stem”, but conventionally term refers just to part of brain that begins where the spinal cord enters the brain) Peripheral Nervous System All parts of nervous system external to the brain and spinal cord. Two main divisions: somatic and autonomic. Somatic controls skeletal muscles. Autonomic controls smooth muscles (muscles that line intestines, blood vessels, and inside glands) Subdivisions of Autonomic: Sympathetic (stimulates adrenalin flow, incr’d heart and respiration rates, moves blood to skeletal muscles; assoc’d with excited mental states; assoc’d with reduced access to complex memories [e.g., ‘blanking’ in a panic]); Parasympathetic (governs states of relaxation and rest; slows heart and respiration, skin warms, diverts blood to intestines/stomach to replenish energy stores; interesting side note: constipation during and just after travel is due to sympathetic nervous system dominance, and getting back to normal elimination is parasympathetic nervous system dominance).

54 Measuring Brain Activity Earliest Methods: EEG (measures evoked potentials [changes in electrical output on surface of skill caused by brain activity]) and Single-Cell Recording (now Multiple-Cell Recording). CT Scan: Computer Axial Tomography, 3D X-Ray of brain used to detect physical deformities in the brain. PET Scan: Positron Emission Tomography (uses radioactive substance that binds to glucose; shows which areas of the brain are burning the most glucose), real time measurement capable of showing motion. Used to detect which areas of the brain are active when a person is doing A, B or C. Less detailed than MRI.

55 Measuring Brain Activity cont’d MRI Scan: Magnetic Resonance Imaging (especially used by Psychological research in the fMRI version [where f = functional]); original MRI was problem because took long time to form image and subject had to remain motionless for a long time; solved with faster MRI machine called EPI (Echo Planar Imaging); the fMRI is even faster than EPI. Also, fMRI can show detail in a very small area. Other Technologies: R-TOI (Real-Time Optical Imaging) whose advantages are "rapid frame rates, high sensitivity, low cost, portability and lack of radiation"; DTI (Diffusion Tensor Imaging) which is used for visualizing white matter and so is useful when connections between areas of the brain are being studied.

56 Measuring Brain Activity cont’d MRI Scan: Magnetic Resonance Imaging (especially used by Psychological research in the fMRI version [where f = functional]); original MRI was problem because took long time to form image and subject had to remain motionless for a long time; solved with faster MRI machine called EPI (Echo Planar Imaging); the fMRI is even faster than EPI. Also, fMRI can show detail in a very small area. Other Technologies: R-TOI (Real-Time Optical Imaging) whose advantages are "rapid frame rates, high sensitivity, low cost, portability and lack of radiation"; DTI (Diffusion Tensor Imaging) which is used for visualizing white matter and so is useful when connections between areas of the brain are being studied.

57 Part Two: Neuropsychology

58 Neuropsychology Chief source of information about brain functions come from brain injuries. Causes of brain injury: accidents, penetrating wounds, tumors, strokes (caused by emboli; treatable if caught quickly with plasminogen activator [tPA or PLAT]), TIAs (Transient Ischemic Attacks), or anything that cuts off oxygen to any part of the brain. Phineas Gage: most famous brain injured person. Railroad worker setting up a black powder charge when it blew prematurely, sending iron bar through his skull. He regained consciousness immediately but “Gage was no longer Gage” according to those who knew him. Brain area damaged was the prefrontal cortex. Main change was in his personality: from easy-going/friendly to irritable/suspicious.

59 Two Lessons from Gage: 1) Brain is quite resilient, and 2) Prefrontal damage affects personality and ‘forward thinking’. General Effects of Prefrontal Lobe Damage: reduction in capacity for rational decisions in personal and social matters, and alteration in processing of emotion also compromised. Aphasias: The first-recognized of many different brain damage syndromes (collection of features that identify a distinct condition of the brain). Most famous types of Aphasia: Broca’s Aphasia (able to understand but not express with words; aware of their problems with language expression) and Wernicke’s Aphasia (patients able to produce lots of speech, but it makes little or no sense and comprehension of speech heard is lacking; not aware of their linguistic difficulties). Both involve parts of the Left Hemisphere that control language processing. Speech NOT impaired by speech aphasias: swearing and song lyrics (probably because these are not actually stored as semantic markers, but simply as sounds).

60 Lobotomies Prefrontal Lobotomy: intentional brain damage to prefrontal cortex. Originated by Portuguese psychiatrist Egas Moniz in to calm agitated patients. Picked up by Walter Freeman, notoriously, in the USA. Effects of Lobotomies: Inability to plan, loss of focus, stimulus- bound (react to whatever is in front of them, but not to imaginary situations, the future, or rules). Cannot hold something in mind. Probably all a result of loss of available circuitry for processing. Anterior Cingulate Gyrus: location of the ‘executive’ function. Activated when person is engaged in active, intentional processing of any type (seems to be involved in allocating attention, whether in thinking, in perception, movement, etc.).

61 Brain Injury Effects Prosopagnosia: inability to recognize faces (Oliver Sacks had this condition). JP: Do Oliver Sacks on The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. Play video describing the eponymous short story from that collection. Discuss. Mention the moderately retarded man who could not understand grammar, but could play anything he heard on the piano. JP: Then do Sacks on Hallucinations (first 8 minutes, when Sacks explains what causes these hallucinations: those who lose hearing or sight have auditory and visual cortical tissues used to being stimulated, and lacking stimulation, they start producing their own ‘inputs’. Cf. sensory deprivation tanks and their effects).

62 Brain Injury Effects cont’d Parietal Syndrome: problems with spatial orientation. In acute phase, get lost easily. Patients often experience recovery of function after a period of time when there is damage to the Parietal Lobe. This is thought to be due to brain plasticity (unused areas of the brain take over the function of the damaged areas). Split-Brain Operation: Corpus Callosum (where the two hemispheres of the brain make contact with each other) is cut, originally to stop life-threatening seizure activity. Now rare, thanks to drug-based strategies for reducing seizure activity. Results of Split-Brain Operations: some patients seemed to have different personalities depending on which hemisphere was activated.

63 Dual Consciousness in Split-Brain Patients: Shown split-screen images with different items in each screen, and then shown repetitions of the image in a single image and asked to point to items in each, the left hand would point to the item ‘seen’ by the left eye (right-brain activation), and the right hand would point to the item ‘seen’ by the right eye (left-brain activation). Suggests distinct content of consciousness in split-brain patients. Two persons?!?!?! Multiple Types of Intelligence Howard Gardner’s research: based on brain injury data that revealed which areas of the brain govern which cognitive skills/abilities, Gardener identified seven kinds of ‘intelligence’: linguistic, logical- mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal (social), intrapersonal. Gardener later added sophisticated pattern recognition to the separable cognitive skills/abilities.

64 Brain Stimulation Another way to discover which areas of the brain do what. Most common result of stimulating the brain: nothing or seizures. Interesting fact: epileptics are more responsive to mild electrical stimulation of their brains, which makes them better candidates for studies of brain function based on brain stimulation with electrical impulses. Stimulated Movement: Luigi Galvani discovered that electrical stimulation of nerves in a dissected frog leg could cause it to move. Inspiration for Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein”. Delgado’s Radio-Based/Remote Brain Stimulation: stopped bull in its tracks, made monkeys engage in complex body movements (raising an arm).

65 Stimulated Mental States: Wilder Penfield’s experiments on epileptic patients seeking relief from seizures via brain surgery. Stimulated their brains and asked them what they experienced. This worked, it seems, because epileptics are responsive to electrical stimulation, and scientists speculate that this is because their brains are used to dealing with sudden bursts of electrical impulses. Some stimulation caused vivid constructions that resembled memories. Penfield mistakenly took this as evidence that all conscious experience is recorded/stored in memory. This has been criticized and seems highly unlikely since the experiences Penfield’s patients reported could not be verified as actually having occurred. More likely: they were constructions, newly- made, from existing memories. Other Responses to Brain Stimulation: Penfield lists the following: vocalization, movement, music, auditory illusions, visual constructions, spatial illusions, odors and tastes, forced thoughts, emotions.

66 Pleasure Centers: discovered by James Olds and Peter Milner, stimulation of the hypothalamus in a rat’s brain when it approached a corner led the rat to keep going back to that corner, as if enjoying the results. Limbic System known to be associated with pleasure, including feelings of triumph, euphoria, sexual pleasure. Role of Dopamine: this brain chemical and the pathways it activates are known to be involved in all hedonic (pleasure/pain) control systems in mammals.

67 The Amygdala Found in the middle of the temporal lobes, it is responsible for activating the cerebral cortex in fight-or-flight situations. Effects of Stimulating the Amygdala: fear, anxiety, defensive, even violent behavior. (Schizophrenic patient who wanted to run away, or hit something, attack whatever was nearby). Damage to the area around the Amygdala can cause violent behavior (Charles Whitman of the Texas Campus Tower shootings had damage in this area of his brain). Function of the Amygdala: alerting the brain to external threats. So, it is a kind of alarm system.

68 The Amygdala Found in the middle of the temporal lobes, it is responsible for activating the cerebral cortex in fight-or-flight situations. Effects of Stimulating the Amygdala: fear, anxiety, defensive, even violent behavior. (Schizophrenic patient who wanted to run away, or hit something, attack whatever was nearby). Damage to the area around the Amygdala can cause violent behavior (Charles Whitman of the Texas Campus Tower shootings had damage in this area of his brain). Function of the Amygdala: alerting the brain to external threats. So, it is a kind of alarm system.

69 Déjà vu as a Brain Event: probably caused by a small discharge of energy in the limbic system and temporal lobe (areas of the brain joined by dense fiber tracts). JP: “It’s déjà vu all over again.”—Yogi Berra

70 Part Three: Neurons

71 Neurons

72 Neurons as Brain’s Building Blocks: “Chemicals found in and around neurons are known to be involved in pleasure, pain, excitement, depression, sex, hunger, and the effects of drugs. And that is only the beginning. Ultimately, neurons are involved in everything the brain does.” Components of the Neuron: first studies of neuron structure were performed on motor neurons. This became the prototypical neuron studied. (see pic). It’s parts include: dendrites/the dendritic tree (associated with neuronal success and complex brain function, numbers of neurons decreases after age 7, but dendritic complexity increases until after age 90; source of what is output through the axons); axons (carries messages to other cells, but also [recently discovered] it carries message back to the neuron); axons carry nerve impulses very quickly to synapses (areas where neuron contacts other cells, particularly other neurons, and exchanges chemical information) and like dendrites, tend to form into treelike structures; cell body (Soma) and nucleus (regulates various cell- maintenance functions)

73 Cajal’s Proof that the Neuronal Theory, not the Reticular Theory of Brain Cell Relations was Correct: Cajal’s dye injection technique, which showed that the dye did not extend from one neuron to another, showing they were not connected directly or simply parts of one large, continuous cellular structure. How Neurons Communicate: Nerves are just bundles of axons that extend outside the central nervous system. Axon bundles within the CNS are called tracts or pathways. Communication is via impulses that arrive at the synaptic cleft (where the synapse of one neuron ends and that of another begins). Chemicals (neurotransmitters) are passed across this cleft. Neurotransmitters do one of two things to the cell receiving them: excite or inhibit that neuron. The synapses are sensitive to both the spatial pattern of neurotransmitters received, as well as to the temporal pattern of their arrival. Neuron can and does usually receive both inhibitory and excitatory neurotransmitters, and how they “add up” determines whether the receiving neuron fires or doesn’t fire.

74 Neural Evolution: Neurons have built-in, preprogrammed suicide programs (called apoptosis) and will die unless they receive a survival signal. Apoptosis-induced cell death is efficient and nondisruptive: the cell is disassembled and its parts redistributed for use elsewhere. Necrotic cell death is more messy: the cell rots and causes inflammation. NGFs (Neuron Growth Factors): Neurons compete for these and those receiving them (the active neurons) grow whereas those not receiving them (less or inactive neurons) wither and eventually die.

75 The Quiet Revolution Electron Microscopic Studies of Neurons Revealed New Features of the Neuron, and this led to the quiet revolution in neuron doctrine in the 1970s. Most ideas from the classic neuron doctrine were oversimplifications of what was actually going on in the neurons. Main Content of the Revolution: discovery that all parts of the neuron can have synaptic connections to all other parts, including parts of the same type, within the same neuron. Thus the dendrite-as-input and axon-as-output model had to be abandoned. Other surprising result: sometimes a dendrite can turn into an axon. Gap Junctions: Classic doctrine treated every neuron as an On/Off switch. But 1960s research showed that some neurons effect other neurons through a weak electrical interaction of varying degrees of intensity. These interactions involve electric potentials that are much too weak to be like impulses traveling along a neuron to its synaptic junction with another neuron. Most of these are dendrite-to- dendrite local synaptic connections of which there can be thousands in a given neuron.

76 Biomolecular Transfer: Neurons can exchange more than neurotransmitters. They can exchange large molecules, including proteins and RNA. This allows a neuron to transfer much larger amounts of information than it could through synaptic transfers of neurotransmitters. More like passing a book along, instead of a single instruction. Microtubules: communication channels inside axons and dendrites that can carry the larger, more information-rich molecules. Main Upshot of the Quiet Revolution: Brain processing is not binary, like a typical computational device like a computer. Neurons are People: neurons are sufficiently complex/sophisticated, they each can stand as the basis/location for processing of the “person-like” type in that they have very specific features of a complicated variety (JP: the ‘person’ metaphor is a stretch here).

77 Transmitters Another Revolution in Neuroscience from 1980s: the discovery that inside recently-discovered vesicles (pockets found along the perimeters of synapses that contain the neurotransmitters that will be released across the synaptic cleft) whose released chemicals bind with receptor sites on the other side of the cleft. Metaphor: locks and keys. First-Discovered Neurotransmitters: acetylcholine, norephinephrine, and serotonin. Now over a thousand have been discovered. Some examples of the effects of neurotransmitters: Coffee’s caffeine makes us more wakeful because it occupies a receptor site that would normally be occupied by a chemical it strongly resembles, adenosine, which makes us sleepy. By reducing the effectiveness/availability of adenosine, caffeine makes us less inclined to sleepiness. So we WAKE UP!!

78 Other Neurotransmitters: Dopamine, Norepinephrine, Serotonin, GABA, Brain Peptides (e.g., Substance P), Nitric Oxide, Glutamate, Endorphins (endogenous opiates [but these are painkillers, not euphoria/pleasure- inducing chemicals])