Lecture 6: A short history of brains, behaviour and emotions

Question 1

wat waren de tekortkomingen van brysbaert en rastle

Answer 1

– Very much focused on cognition in (healthy) adults
– Less focused on:
* Development (phylogenetic and ontogenetic)
* Neuropharmacology
* Emotion
* Sex, sleep, food, agression, altruism, etc.

Question 2

waar dachten plato en aristotle dat denken gebeurde

Answer 2

plato - head
aristotle - heart

Question 3

wat dacht aristotle over het hart

Answer 3

heart is thinking organ,
- because it is affected by emotions.
- located at the central point.
- all living creatures have a heart, but not all living creatures have a brain.

the brain cools the heart:
- because the brain does not seem to be affected by emotions.

Question 4

wat dacht galen

Answer 4

the brain is a hub:
– The Greek Roman Galenus discovered in the 2nd century A.D. a function of the nerve pathways:
– Cutting the nerves in a pig’s throat prevents the pig from making any noise
– So the ‘voice’ comes from the brain, not the heart
– Through ventricles, animal spirits and nerves, the soul had contact with the body
– The role of the brain as a hub was established

Question 5

the ventricles of Vesalius

Answer 5

functional division:
- vesalius saw 3 ventricles in the brain
- were given various functions: 1=common sense & fantasy, 2=thoughts, 3=memory

Question 6

descartes over het brein

Answer 6

descartes introduced mechanical thoughts about the body and behaviour.
used a clock as metaphor, and bird migration (is an example of clock drived mechanical behaviour)

Question 7

descartes’ mechanical theory of the reflex

Answer 7

• sensory experience through the nerves
• it bounces back through the same nerves (soort van als een spiegel)
• leads to involuntary behaviour

Question 8

(descartes) the soul remained spiritual in nature:

Answer 8

– Neoplatonian substance dualism:
* (divisible) res extensa
* (indivisible) res cogitans

– Own neuroanatomical research

– Body and soul meet in pineal gland

Question 9

wat dacht thomas willis over het brein

Answer 9

functional organization in brain matter

Question 10

wat bedoelde willis met functional organization of brain matter, en wat was hier toen bijzonder aan

Answer 10

dat vanaf de ventricles tot de grey matter -> dus langzaamaan meer focus op de gevulde delen ipv de ventricles.

• Higher brain structures for more advanced organisms, more complex functions (memory, volition)
• Lower structures for more elementary functions (heartbeat, respiration)

Question 11

wat had Gall bedacht

Answer 11

organology & cranioscopy

Question 12

organology=

Answer 12

differences in predisposition can be seen in cortical development: well-developed function, larger cortical area

Question 13

who invented the 0

Answer 13

Braghmagupta! in india

Question 14

wie maakte de cranioscopy van gall populair

Answer 14

zijn student (wat voor personaliteit heeft … etc)

Question 15

Flourens’ (anti)localization experiments:

Answer 15

hij hield zijn dieren langer in leven.

localiseerde sommige functies in de brainstem, cortex was still regarded as a functional whole.

Question 16

Flourens’ equipotentiality theory =

Answer 16

psychological functions are indivisible properties of the cortex as a whole

-> de cortex werkt samen, kan functies opvangen

Question 17

wanneer kwam er momentum voor cortical localization

Answer 17

The localization hypothesis triumphs of Broca (1861) and Wernicke (1874):
– People with damage to Broca’s area say sensible things in bad sentences
– People with damage to Wernicke’s area say
nonsensical things in good sentences

Question 18

Gustav Fritz & Eduard Hitzig (1870)

Answer 18

– Challenged Flourens
– Cortex could be stimulated and there were several (motor) areas!

Question 19

Robert Bartholow (1874)

Answer 19

– Human confirmation of experiments Fritsch & Hitzig
– Electrical room
– 30-year-old Mary Rafferty first human who was electrically stimulated in the brain
– She died during the experiments

Question 20

wat zei Sechenov

Answer 20

inhibition is a neuronal reflex (instead of being due to the soul). ze waren toen victorian, dus iedereen ging uit van dualisme en je mocht geen impulsen inhiberen want freud zei dat dat slecht was.

Inhibition (and other ‘higher’ mental functions) as a neuronal reflex instead of God-given ability

Question 21

wat zei survival of the fittest over het brein

Answer 21

All structures - from societies to brain structures - evolve from undifferentiated and homogeneous to differentiated and heterogeneous (more complexity)

Question 22

John Hughlings Jackson;

Answer 22

– Central nervous system has different levels of sensori-motor units
– The evolutionary oldest are at the bottom of the brain
– The evolutionary newest (more complex, more differentiated and more flexible) areas are at the top of
– Higher areas integrate input from lower areas
– Higher mental processes (‘Will, Memory, Reason, and Emotion’) found their origin in ‘sensori-motor nervous arrangements’.
– Complete disenchantment of the brain

Question 23

Dus John Hughlings Jackson:

– Higher areas control the lower areas
– Clinical basic assumption: if area fails
due to damage, the function also fails

But: sometimes damage resulted in
new behavior…

Answer 23

– ‘Release from control’: Cortical areas could no longer control, lower areas were given free play
– Dissolution: opposite of evolution
– Neurological & psychiatric disorders, drunkenness

Question 24

Camillo Golgi

Answer 24

– The quality of microscopes increased
rapidly in the 19th century and it was
seen that the brain consists of small
parts (‘globules’)
– Golgi discovered that you could make
these globules visible with silver nitrate
– Supporter of reticularism: the brain is a
continuous network

Question 25

Ramón y Cajal:

Answer 25

– With Golgi staining technique: Globules are separate cells
– Waldeyer (1891): ‘neuron’
– In 1906, Golgi and Ramón y Cajal were awarded the Nobel Prize
– New question: How do neurons communicate?

Question 26

the war of the soups and the sparks =

Answer 26

tells the saga of the dispute between the pharmacologists, who had uncovered the first evidence that nerves communicate by releasing chemicals, and the neurophysiologists, experts on the nervous system, who dismissed the evidence and remained committed to electrical explanations.

Question 27

wat gebeurde er in de 19e eeuw

Answer 27

• Lab and clinic: evidence for cortical localization
• Evolutionary layered organ
  – Cortex: ratio, control
  – Subcortex: drives, emotions, pathology
• Dualism has given way to materialistic sensorimotor reflex thinking
• Building blocks discovered: separate neurons

Question 28

wat dacht james over emotie

Answer 28

bodily sensation -> becoming aware -> emotion

want see a bear -> run away -> fear

Question 29

wat dacht Cannon

Answer 29

dat de thalamus de emotion area was

Question 30

wat dacht Bard

Answer 30

de hypothalamus is the emotion area

Question 31

wat dachten ze in 1930-1950 over de hypothalamus en de cortex

Answer 31

hypothalamus: emotion, drives, irrationality, unconsciousness
cortex: ratio, control, consciousness

Question 32

paul maclean:

Answer 32

the triune brain: consists of the reptilian complex (basal ganglia), the paleomammalian complex (limbic system), and the neomammalian complex (neocortex), viewed each as independently conscious, and as structures sequentially added to the forebrain in the course of evolution.

visceral brain (later limbic system!)

hij had dit ontdekt doordat neurotics bleven ‘haken’ in the genital phase, but could still use words, en psychosomatics konden het juist niet meer zeggen. therefore these functions were separated.

dus de limbic system heeft daarmee een psychoanalytic achtergrond.

Question 33

Psychoanalysis and the visceral brain
– Visceral brain: oral and sexual behavior, aggression, not linguistic -> id
– Cortex: ‘word brain’

Answer 33

oke

Question 34

waarom klopte the triune brain van maclean niet

Answer 34

het was te simpel, je kan het brein niet op die manier indelen.

Question 35

wat gebeurde er rond 2000 over de plek waar emoties zouden zijn

Answer 35

amygdala!
nu weten wet dat de amygdala ook een hoop andere dingen doet, en dus niet alleen voor emoties is.

Question 36

mcCulloch en Pitts

Answer 36

maakten een soort neural network

Question 37

Hebb

Answer 37

cells that fire together, wire together!!

– as the connection between neuron A and
neuron B is used more often, it becomes
stronger
– The network is not static, but evolves as a function of input from other parts of the brain and the environment

(1949)

Question 38

hoe werd de theory van Hebb geaccepteerd

Answer 38

door de bevinding long term potentiation (1960)

Question 39

wat deed alexandr luria

Answer 39

• Neuropsychological examination of soldiers during and after WWII
  – Romantic science: comprehensive case studies

Question 40

3 laws van alexandr luria

Answer 40

1. law of hierarchical structure
2. law of diminishing specificity
3. law of progressive lateralization

Question 41

law of hierarchical structure =

Answer 41

Cortical areas have a dominant role in relation to secondary, lower-lying areas

Question 42

the law of diminishing specificity =

Answer 42

The further information is processed in the
brain, the less specific, global and abstract it will be

Question 43

Law of progressive lateralization:

Answer 43

in the (cortical) hemispheres more functional lateralization can be found than in lower lying areas

Question 44

hoe kwamen computer models of neurons in stand

Answer 44

combinatie van Hebb, McCulloch and Pitts

Question 45

– The combination of insights
from Hebb, McCulloch and
Pitts led to ‘neural networks’
– This is done by ‘rewarding’
good responses by
strengthening the connections
used
– With fairly simple principles,
neural networks appear to be
able to learn elementary tasks
well

Answer 45

oke

Question 46

Problem: each additional layer
quickly made model much
more complicated
– With today’s super powerful
computers, more and more
layers can be added
– Simulations are becoming
more realistic & performance
better

Answer 46

oke

Question 47

wat denken we nu over het brein

Answer 47

• (to a certain extent) functional specialization: - most mental processes depend on multiple functional areas
  – most areas contribute to different functions
• hierarchy in terms of integration and
  abstraction, but not in terms of importance!
• dynamic (both at neuronal and functional level)

Question 48

the brain as a dynamic network

Answer 48

Dynamic, hierarchical & digital

Question 49

Hans Berger

Answer 49

registration of neural electrical activity in 1929

Question 50

– In the 1990s, the MRI
machine made it
possible to observe in a
noninvasive way brain
activity
– Functional => fMRI

Answer 50

oke

Question 51

Critical historical analysis of:
– Serotonin deficiency theory of depression:
too little serotonin causes depression
– Dopamine theory of schizophrenia: too much
dopamine causes schizophrenia

Answer 51

oke

Question 52

premature acceptance of biological explanations is risky…

Answer 52

– fMRI and localization
– Psychopathology and neurochemistry
– Correlation ≠ causality
– Simplification emotion-ratio

Question 53

Brain science went through stormy technological developments in the 19th and 20th centuries
– 19th century:
* microscope, ablation & stimulation
– 20th century:
* Breakthroughs in visualization methods, electrophysiology and neurochemistry
* Important insights into cellular functioning and functional localization
* Formal modelling

Answer 53

oke

Question 54

The extent to which neuroscience actually
advances psychology is not yet clear at all levels
– On elementary process levels (perception &
motor skills) absolutely
– So far very limited at higher abstract levels
(e.g. clinical psychology)

It is the task of psychologists (and historians!) to keep a close eye on this and to weigh the evidence seriously. They’re (you) in a very good position to do that!

Answer 54

oke

Question 55

The Capgras delusion plays an important role in thinking about the
role of neuroscience in psychology. The psychoanalytic explanation
that Capgras gave for this delusion was ____ . In the neuroscientific
approach, however, this delusion is explained by damage to a brain
area that is responsible for ______ .
(a) an incestuous desire for her father; face recognition
(b) repressed feelings of aggression; sexual regulation
(c) a dream interpretation; the processing of nerve impulses

Answer 55

a