Origins of Behavioral Neuroscience

Understanding Human Consciousness: A Physiological Approach
1. Split Brains Operation
  1. helps how that parts of the brain involved in verbal behavior may be responsible for consciousness
  2. mainly performed on humans w/ severe epilepsy that cannot be controlled by drugs
  3. cutting the corpus callosum greatly reduced the # of epileptic seizures
  4. After the operation, the 2 cerebral hemispheres are disconnected and operate independently; the 2 sides no longer exchange info
    1. corpus callosum connects the 2 cerebral hemispheres and allows them to exchange info; the cerebral hemispheres receive sensory info from OPPOSITE sides of the body
      1. left cerebral hemisphere = controls speech; right hemisphere = can understand verbal instructions; usually harder to detect
      2. ppl who speak with a person w/ a split brain, are ONLY conversing w/ the left hemisphere
      3. olfactory system is the exception to the crossed representation of sensory info
        left nostril = smell is acknowledged &&& right nostril = no smell is acknowledged
        EXP: right nostril smells odor --> left hand picks object that represents odor smelled, but right hand fails
        CONCLUSION: left hand works b/c it's connected to right nostril &&& this shows that right nostril does perceive smell and can identify it
2. Consciousness = humans are aware of – and can tell others about – our thoughts, perceptions, memories, and feelings
  1. consciousness may have stemmed from our ability to communicate
3. effects of cutting the corpus callosum reinforces that we become conscious of something only if info reaches parts of the brain responsible for verbal communication (located in left hemisphere)
Nature of Behavioral Nueroscience
1. Goals of Research
  1. Goal of All Scientists: explain phenomena they study
    1. 2 Forms of Scientific Explanation:
      1. generalization = explain certain behaviors using basic/general LAWS; proven by experiments
      2. reduction = explain phenomena in terms of more elementary processes that underlie it
  2. behavioral neuroscientists must use both generalization & reduction
2. Biological Roots of Behavioral Nueroscience
  1. ***LOOK AT MY CH. 1 NOTES
Natural Selection & Evolution
1. Functionalism & Inheritance of Traits
  1. functionalism = belief that characteristics of living organisms perform useful functions
    1. to understand physiological basis of behaviors, must understand what these behaviors accomplish & the natural history of the species being studied
    2. Exp: Owl Butterflies use spots that resemble eyes on back to scare away predators
  2. behaviors are NOT inherited, but the brain that causes the behaviors to occur is inherited
  3. natural selection = process in which animals w/ traits that increase their survival will more likely reproduce and those traits become more prevalant in the population
  4. evolution = gradual change in structure & physiology of plants and animals--> produces more complex organism; result of natural selection
    1. chromosomes are altered --> new organism
    2. mutation = accidental changes in the chromosomes of sperms or eggs that join together and develop into a new organism
      1. most mutations kill the animal; some offer selective advantages or offer no advantages at all (but are still inherited)
      2. effects of mutations are seen in an animal's behavior
  5. environment changes --> species must adapt (& have offspring survive and reproduce) or die
2. Evolution of the Human Brain
  1. ***LOOK AT MY CH. 1 NOTES
Ethical Issues in Research w/ Animals
1. ***LOOK AT MY CH. 1 NOTES
Careers in Neuroscience
1. ***LOOK AT MY CH. 1 NOTES

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Origins of Behavioral Neuroscience

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	Created by mhn94 almost 11 years ago