Week 5

Question 1

What is Behavioural Neuroscience?

Answer 1

Neuroscience = study of the function and structures of the nervous system (e.g. brain, neurons, synapses etc)

Question 2

Define behaviour in psychology

Answer 2

Behaviour = relates to the observable actions of humans, animals (or artificial systems). In psychology there is a history of using behaviour as an indicator of internal mental processes, thoughts, emotions desires (“behaviourism”).

Question 3

Behavioural Neuroscience is an interaction between Brain, Behaviour and Mind

True or False?

Answer 3

True

From the perspective of Human Psychological Sciences, Behavioural Neuroscience = Biological Psychology = Physiological Psychology

Behavioural Neuroscience is the most common term used to describe research in this field involving animals, but all are interested in how the activity of the brain impacts both mental processes and behaviour

Question 4

What are the factors that limit us from creating changes of our understandings of the brain

Answer 4

• Religious or moral views
• Methodological limitations
• Serendipity - reliance on chance discoveries
• Scientific conservatism

Question 5

What showed the first concept of linking the mind to the brain?

Answer 5

A papyrus scroll from Egypt dating
back to ~1600BCE, represents first
link between brain damage & mental
symptoms

Question 6

What did many ancient cultures believe before the study of behavioural neuroscience

Answer 6

Many ancient cultures (Egyptian,
Indian, Chinese) believed heart
to be seat of the mind

Question 7

Describe Hippocrates

Answer 7

Hippocrates, Ancient Greece (370-460 BCE)

• Considered the father of modern medicine
• First to propose brain controls the body
• Argued that our brain is the command centre of the body (not the heart)
• Noted the behaviour effects of brain damage
• He discovered this through observing anatomy through open wounds after a traumatic head injury of soldiers and gladiators (Dissection was not allowed in Greece)

Question 8

Who was the first to propose the brain controls the body?

Answer 8

Hippocrates

Question 9

What did Hippocreates propose? How did Hippocrates explore his theory?

Answer 9

• First to propose brain controls the body
• Argued that our brain is the command centre of the body (not the heart)
• He discovered this through observing anatomy through open wounds after a traumatic head injury of soldiers and gladiators (Dissection was not allowed in Greece)

Question 10

Who was René Descartes

Answer 10

René Descartes, 1596-1650

French philosopher formulated the mind-body problem

• Was the first to discuss interactions between mental and physical
• Considered humans and animals like machines
• Interested in involuntary reflexes and believed behaviour was driven by a system of fluid and pistons

Question 11

Who was the first to discuss interactions between mental and physical

Answer 11

René Descartes, 1596-1650

Question 12

Who was Luigi Galvani?

Answer 12

• First to suggest nerve signals are
  electrical (not fluid)
• Rejected the idea of animal spirits
  flowing through hollow nerves
• Made a chance discovery that an
  electrical charge applied to a frog’s
  leg made the muscle contract
• Suggested that nerves must be
  coated in fat to prevent electricity
  from leaking out
• Inspired books like ‘Frankenstein

Question 13

Who was the first to suggest nerve signals are
electrical (not fluid)?

Answer 13

Luigi Galvani

Question 14

What allowed Luigi Galvani’s discoveries

Answer 14

Serendipity and advances in science allowed
Galvani’s discoveries

Question 15

Who was Franz Joseph Gall?

Answer 15

Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828)

Moving beyond “Mind” and “Brain,” Gall
was first to propose idea of a modular
brain

• Was interested in relationship between
  brain and personality
• Influenced by physiognomy, the art of ascribing personality characteristics to facial features

Question 16

What did Franz Joseph Gall propose?

Answer 16

Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828)

Proposed that the brain is composed of
several distinct ‘organs of thought’ or
faculties

• reflected by characteristic patterns of bumps
  on the skull
• skull maps could be used to “read” a person’s
  character

He compared animal and human skulls as
well as people from “extremes” of society
such as criminals or famous artists

Gall’s method was termed phrenology. It is
flawed, but Gall introduced the important notion of “cortical localisation of function”
- Modular organisation

Question 17

Who is Paul Broca?

Answer 17

Paul Broca (1824-1880)

Provided first solid evidence of brain
modularity

Question 18

What was the first solid evidence of brain
modularity?

Answer 18

First described in patient named Leborgne

The patient was:
- Unable to speak after damage to left frontal lobe
- Normal chewing & language comprehension
- Similar patients subsequently seen with damage in the same area

Broca’s Aphasia is caused by damage to the Broca’s area

Question 19

Before brain scans, how were brain deficits found?

Answer 19

before brain scans, unusual deficits described patients required subsequent investigation through autopsy – supported views of “localisationists.”

Question 20

Who was Carl Wernicke?

Answer 20

Carl Wernicke (1848-1905)

Soon after Boca’s discovery, Wernicke
described patient with
- Unable to comprehend speech
- Normal hearing & language production
- Similar patients subsequently seen with damage to
posterior part of the superior gyrus

Question 21

How much does the Adult brain weigh?

Answer 21

1400 grams

Question 22

What percentage of one’s body weight is the brain?

Answer 22

3% of body weight

Question 23

How many neurons does the brain have

Answer 23

Around 100 billion neurons

Question 24

How many synapses are there?

Answer 24

1,000,000 billion synapses

Question 25

How many possible circuits in the brain?

Answer 25

10 to the power of 1,000,000 possible circuits

Question 26

How much energy does the brain consume?

Answer 26

consumes 20% of energy resources of entire body

Question 27

The brain is energy efficient. True or False?

Answer 27

Is also remarkably energy efficient running on 20Watts (equivalent to simple light globe)

Question 28

Information processing within the human brain is much more efficient than equivalent processing by computer systems True or false?

Answer 28

Behavioural Neuroscience, Behavioural Physiology, Physiological psychology and Biological psychology is synonymous True or False?

Question 29

What does Neuropsychology entail?

Answer 29

- Research and clinical speciality - links brain damage (lesions) with psychological processes - assess risk (before surgery), - assess impairments and improvements (after damage) - behavioural and neuroimaging measures

Question 30

What does Psychopharmacology entail?

Answer 30

- the role of neurochemistry in mind and behaviour - natural = neurotransmitters & Hormones - artificial = drugs

Question 31

What does comparative neuroanatomy and psychology entail?

Answer 31

Brain evolution - origin (and purpose) of behaviours - commonalities across species - links between brain regions and behaviour

Question 32

What does Cognitive neuroscience entail?

Answer 32

neural basis of cognition (memory, language, perception, decision making etc) - functional connectivity (how multiple brain regions work together to support complex functions) - functional brain imaging (fMRI) a common tool

Question 33

What does psychophysiology enatil?

Answer 33

- links electrical activity within the brain to cognitive functioning - Electroencephalography (EEG) a common tool - Today typically included within Cognitive Neuroscience. - Has a longer history and includes more basic responses such as “startle”

Question 34

What does Neuromorphic computing entail?

Answer 34

Began in 1980’s with the goal of using electronic circuits to emulate neural structures in the human brain

Question 35

What does cognitive computational neuroscience

Answer 35

attempts to characterise the neural computations that underlie complex behaviour (first CCN conference held in 2017)

Question 36

What is Silico Neuroscience

Answer 36

Another term related to the two areas of Neuromorphic computing and Cognitive computational neuroscience. In silico refers to silicon in computer chips but is now used broadly to refer to use of computer modelling or computer simulations

Question 37

What is Comparative Neuroanatomy?

Answer 37

Comparing brain structures across species

Question 38

What are some important findings from comparative anatomy that have directly informed the field of behavioural neuroscience

Answer 38

Size doesn’t matter! - It is very clear that an animal’s intelligence is not proportional to the size of the brain. Brain size typically scales with the size of the animal’s body. Numbers count - The more neurons within the brain, and the greater number of synaptic connections between neurons the greater the complexity of function that the brain can support. Brains support functional specialisation – Animals that have particular types of skills or requirements have relatively larger brain areas dedicated to that particular function.

Question 39

What is the historical debate regarding comparative psychology?

Answer 39

Charles Darwin made a number of claims that the root of virtually all human behaviour derives from natural processes operating on ancestral species, rather than gods or angels. These claims lead to many moral and ethical debates Debates continue today regarding the similarity of psychological processes in humans and animals

Question 40

The power and potential of computational approaches can be seen in the following massive multi-year, multi-million dollar, international brain projects. What are some international brain projects?

Answer 40

- Allen Brain Institute - The Human Brain Project

Question 41

What is The Allen Brain Institute?

Answer 41

- $100million donation from Microsoft founder Paul Allen. - Creating very detailed maps/atlas with data from mouse & human brain from brain areas > neurons> genes

Question 42

What is the Human Brain project?

Answer 42

EU 10-year initiative worth over $1Billion. - Emphasis on simulating neurons for “brain inspired computing” “neuromorphic computing” (sometimes described as “brain on a chip”) - In silico neuroscience Addressing the question of “why simulate the brain?” The Human Brain Project promotional material states the following - HBP seeks to bring the bring vital software tools to neuroscience to: - reduce the need for animal experiments - study diseases in unprecedented in silico experiments - improve the validation of data and experiments with computational validation.

Question 43

Human brains show similarities in structure and function when compared with other animals. True or False?

Answer 43

True

Question 44

Animal models can be used to learn more about evolution of the human brain and to inform medical research True or False?

Answer 44

True

Question 45

What are the Main Divisions of the Nervous system?

Answer 45

Peripheral Nervous system (PNS) and Central nervous system (CNS)

Question 46

What are the subdivisions of the Peripheral nervous system?

Answer 46

- Somatic system and the Autonomic Nervous system

Question 47

What are the subdivisions of the autonomic nervous system?

Answer 47

Enteric nervous system, parasympathetic system, Sympathetic system

Question 48

What is the Central Nervous system?

Answer 48

Contains the brain (including the retinal cells within the eyeball) and the spinal cord. The brain is encased by the skull, while the spinal cord sits within the vertebrae, which allows both protection and flexibility in a moving body

Question 49

What is the Peripheral Nervous System?

Answer 49

- Refers to network of nerves that extend out from the CNS throughout the body. - PNS sends messages from the brain to control muscle movement. - The PNS also receives sensory information about body position, pain, temperature and transmits to the CNS

Question 50

What is the Somatic Nervous System?

Answer 50

- A Subdivision of the PNS. - Receives sensory information from the sensory organs & controls movement of skeletal muscle - Image shows efferent and afferent cranial nerves. - Also includes spinal nerves (sensory and motor pathways) that extend through vertebrae

Question 51

What is the Autonomic Nervous system?

Answer 51

- The autonomic (“self-governing”) system (ANS) includes the smooth muscle, cardiac muscle and glands. It mediates non-voluntary functions of the nervous system. - Consists of the Parasympathetic and Sympathetic system that regulate important bodily functions and responses through opposing influences throughout the body. - Also includes the Enteric Nervous System which supports digestion

Question 52

What is the Parasympathetic Nervous system?

Answer 52

The Parasympathetic system dominates when the body is in "rest and digest” mode.

Question 53

What is the Sympathetic Nervous System?

Answer 53

The Sympathetic System dominates during times of stress or threat. It puts the body into “Fight or Fight” mode.

Question 54

What is the Enteric Nervous system?

Answer 54

The ENS is part of the peripheral nervous system - Contains 100million neurons and is often termed the “2nd Brain” - Has its own reflexes and senses and can act independently of brain (the only part of the PNS that can act autonomously). - Nearly every neurotransmitter found in the brain is also found in the gut - Plays a major role in emotions and stress - ENS does not just help digestion. 90% of connections between the brain and gut go from the gut to the brain.