Task 8

Question 1

What were the beliefs in ancient egypt?

Answer 1

• cardio centric view -> heart was seat of soul

but: Edwin Smith Papyrus contained short descriptions of symptoms and treatment of different forms of brain injury.

Question 2

What was Plato’s view of the soul?

Answer 2

1. Responsible for reasoning, immortal, separated from body and controls body  Situated in brain.
2. Deals with sensation, mortal  Situated in heart.
3. Deals with appetite  Situated in liver.

Question 3

What was Aristotle’s view?

Answer 3

He was convinced that heart was the seat of soul and function of brain was to counterbalance heat of heart.

Question 4

What did Galen’s experiment establish?

Answer 4

The primacy of brain and nerves, rather than heart and veins, for control movement
-> thought soul was located in solid parts of brain and commanded animal spirits in ventricles

Question 5

What were the developments in the Renaissance?

Answer 5

Galen’s views stayed the norm until somewhen in 18th century, when Andreas Vesalius resumed dissections and extended them to humans.
-> Versalius view of three ventricles with different functions

Question 6

What were the three ventricles with different functions according to Galen?

Answer 6

1. Assumed to receive information from senses, it also included fantasy and imagination. Called ‘common sense’.
2. Located in middle of head comprised thought and judgement.
3. Located in back of head and contained memory.

Question 7

What are the developments in the 17th and 18th centuries?

Answer 7

• attention to different between grey and white matter

- growing interest in reflex (descartes: automatic,reflexive functions& Prochaska: reflexes involves spinal cord)

Question 8

What were the five breakthroughs of 19th century?

Answer 8

1. Discovery of cerebrospinal axis (Prochaska)
2. Process in CNS were reflexes that did not need voluntary initiation (M. Hall)
3. Localization of brain functions
4. Discovery of nerve cell (Golgi)
5. Disentangling communication in nervous system (Golgi& Ramon y Cajal)

Question 9

What did M. Hall discover?

Answer 9

The relfex arc

Question 10

Brain equipotentiality theory/ Holism

Answer 10

Theory stating that all parts of brain have equal significance and are involved in each task.

• First thought to apply to complete brain but since 19th century, it is limited to cerebral hemispheres.
• Defenders – Marie Flourens and Johannes Müller.

Question 11

Localization theory/ Localism

Answer 11

Theory stating that brain processes are localized, meaning that mental functions are localized in specific parts of brain. It was proposed by Gall and Spurzheim.

Question 12

Discovery of nerve cell

Answer 12

• Finding that brain consists of network of neurons that communicate together. It required good microscopes and techniques to stain neurons.
  a. Better microscopes – Before 19th century, magnification was not strong enough, however, there was increase of quality.
  b. Techniques to stain brain tissue – Camillo Golgi (1873) used silver to color brain tissue, making neurons stand out against surrounding cells and revealing that they not only consist of cell bodies, but also comprise interconnected network of branches.

Question 13

Disentangling communication in nervous system

Answer 13

It was found that network in our brain was composed of neurons – Individual cells that communicate with each other without being attached. (Separate cells)
X Ramon y Cajal (neuron doctrine) and Golgi (staining technique) are two important names for this development.
Then it was discovered that neurons store and transfer information by means of electro-chemical signals – Galvani and Bois-Reymond.
X Electrical information mainly involved in intra-cell communication – Chemical information transfer important for communication between neurons.

Question 14

What is Neuropsychology?

Answer 14

Neuropsychology – Branch of psychological research and practice that looks at relationship between brain and behavior. Practice aimed at assessing behavioral and mental consequences of injury and administering rehabilitation program.
X It was presented as new link between psychologists and medical world – Assessment and treatment of effects of brain damage became joint enterprise of physicians and psychologists.

Question 15

What different delusions are there?

Answer 15

• Persecutory delusions (51%) – Someone is trying to harm me;
• Body/Mind control delusions (27%) – My thoughts are controlled by alien;
• Grandiose control delusions (23%) – I have achieved something, but nobody realizes it;
• Religious delusions (18%) – I am in direct contact with important religious figure.

Question 16

What is the Capgras delusion?

Answer 16

-Capgras delusion – Refers to situation in which person still recognizes close relatives but is convinced they have been replaced by look-alikes.
X First, explanation was that delusion resulted from discrepancy between rationally recognizing family member and no longer feeling sense of familiarity.

Question 17

What causes the Capgras delusion?

Answer 17

-> Emotion-related processing route
X There are two routes in which faces are recognized: (1) Leads to conscious recognition of person, via person identity node and (2) leads to unconscious emotional response, an affective response.
X Illusion is due to lack of emotional response, to which person responds with the illusion that family is look-alike to make sense of bodily responses