Neuropsychology: Brain Functions and Assessment

Psychology

• Psychology is the scientific study of behavior
• In some European universities, psychology was known as 'mental philosophy' until the twentieth century.
• The word ‘psychology’ comes from two Greek words, psukhe, meaning ‘breath’ or ‘soul’, and logos, meaning ‘word’ or ‘reason’.
• Psycho means mind
• -logy means science
• Psychology literally means the science of the mind

History

• Early in development, people considered the mind as an independent, free-floating spirit.
• Later, it was described as a function of the brain, whose ultimate function was to control behavior.
• The first modern scientific psychology laboratory was founded in 1878.
• The first person to call himself a psychologist was still alive in 1920.

Study area

• Psychologists study a wide variety of phenomena, including:
  • Physiological processes within the nervous system
  • Genetics
  • Environmental events
  • Personality characteristics
  • Human development
  • Mental abilities
  • Health
  • Social interactions
• Given the broad scope, it's rare for someone to be described simply as a psychologist.

Specialties

• Clinical psychologists measure and treat psychological disorders.
• Developmental psychologists study child development.
• Neuropsychologists explore the relationship between physiology and behavior.
• A biopsychologist/physiological psychologist/psychobiologist studies the brain and other bodily processes.
• Psychobiology studies the role of physiology and anatomy in the regulation and execution of behavior.
  • Topics include:
    • The role of hormones in sexual reproduction
    • The effect of glucose deprivation on hunger
    • Hormone secretion and stress
    • The effect of relaxing music on heart rate
    • Brain activation during specific tasks

Neuropsychology

• Neuropsychology studies the physiological processes of the nervous system and relates them to behavior and cognition both in normal functioning and dysfunctional processes associated with brain damage.
• Donald Hebb (1904-1985) is considered the "father of neuropsychology".
• He merged the psychological world with neuroscience, accomplished largely through his 1949 work The Organization of Behavior: A Neuropsychological Theory.

Neuropsychology vs Neuroscience

• Neuroscientists study similar processes but limit studying certain parts of the body – the brain and spinal cord.
• The brain and spinal cord form the central nervous system (CNS):
  • Occupies the central position of the body
  • Integral for maintaining and producing behavior
• Neuroscientists study the CNS of organisms, while neuropsychologists study the relationship between the brain and its function.
• A goal of neuropsychology is localization of function - the idea that parts of the brain perform specific function.
• Neuropsychology and neuroscience examine the relationship between the brain and spinal cord, and behavior
• Neuropsychology helps to shed light on the role of these structures in the following:
  • Movement, vision, hearing, taste, sleep, smell and touch
  • Emotion, thinking, language, object recognition and perception
• Neuropsychologists often study patients with brain injuries that disrupt speech production, comprehension, object recognition, or perception.
• Clinical neuropsychology involves identifying and treating problems arising from nervous system disorders and injuries.
• Clinical neuropsychologists often work in hospitals with neurologists, while some teach or work in private practice.

Modern Methods

• Modern neuropsychology relies on sophisticated brain imaging techniques:

  • PET (positron emission tomography)
  • fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging)

• These allow researchers to monitor brain activity during psychological tasks.

• The approach combines neuroscience and cognitive psychology.

• Cognitive neuroscience and behavioral neuroscience are sometimes used to describe new approaches.

• Social neuroscience explores the psychobiological processes involved in social behavior.

• Social neuroscientists examine the role of the brain in behaviors:

  • Empathy
  • Turn-taking
  • Seeing things from another person's point of view, social interaction political outlook

• Scientists have pinpointed parts of the brain that guide humans through difficult moral dilemmas.

• Brain scanning has revealed that humans respond by activating areas associated with primitive emotions, such as romantic attraction, fear, and anger, as well as abstract thought.

Psychology Subdivisions

• Psychologists specializing in physiology may focus on particular behaviors, organisms, and techniques.
• Such experts who specializes in researching the relation between the brain and body in behavior are known by different names.
• Neuropsychologists study the relationship between the brain and its function.
• Research in neuropsychology derives from the effects of brain damage on behavior, and can involve neuroimaging techniques to study functioning brains.
• Psychophysiologists study physiological processes such as heart rate, hormone secretion, brain electrical activity, and skin conductance and the reasons why these arise.
• Jerry Fodor argues modules have specific tasks just are like transistors of the brain, he presents this analogy in his famous The Modularity of Mind book(1983)
• Psychobiology and neuroscience aim to understand how individual nerve cells function and form modules.

The Brain

• The adult human brain weighs on average 1400 g with porridge and blancmange like consistency.

• The brain contains 10 to 100 billion nerve cells and similar number of supporting cells.

• Contains many different types of nerve cells, differing in shape, size, and chemical production.

• Organized in modules, these nerve cells in clusters, communicate with each other, but do not stand alone.

• The modules receive information from neural circuits, process it, and send results to other modules.

• The brain has three basic units:

  • Forebrain
  • Midbrain
  • Hindbrain

• The hindbrain is made up of the upper spinal cord, brain stem and cerebellum.

  • The lower pons and medulla which maintain involuntary functions.
  • The cerebellum controls balance.

• It controls vital functions like respiration and heart rate.

• The cerebrum, also known as the cerebral cortex, is the largest part of the human brain, associated with higher brain functions like thought and action.

• Nerve cells make up the gray surface, are a little thicker than our thumb and carry white nerve fibers.

• The surface of the brain is wrinkled to increase surface area, and is a mammalian six-layered called the neocortex that is split into four lobes:

  • Frontal
  • Parietal
  • Occipital
  • Temporal

• The brain has two primary functions

  • Control Behavior
  • Body's physiological processes

• Receives outside information from sensory and acts on them

• Signals the muscles and glands of the affect behavioral and physiological processes

• The spinal cord is a thin collection of nerve cells connecting the brain to body.

  • Contains circuits of nerve cells that control some simple reflexes
  • Bundled fibers transmit info in and out the body
  • Peripheral Nervous System – nerves connect from brain to the spinal cord to the base of the brain

• Human brain has three main parts: -Brain stem -Cerebellum -Cerebral hemispheres

• If the brain is ever removed looks as if a handle or stem is removed, basic control happens like controlling functions and swallowing/breathing as well as automatic behaviors

• The brains in animals are often brain stem with a simple cerebellim

• CNS is very protected making survival exceptional well intact -Encased by skull or veretbraie, known in hollow bone -Enclosed by three layers of membranes known as the meninges protects the brain and spinal cord with fluid and clear liquid known as (CSF) Cerebrospinal fluid

• The cerebral hemispheres is covered up by the cerebral cortex that means bark or rind, the area approx 3mm thick, the thin layer contains billions of new cells

  • often referred to as grey matter, and the structure has memories, perceptions, and perceptions formulate are executed

• connected to other parts and is lined with fibres called shiny matter that coats and insulates

Function of Meninges

• To protect and support the central nervous system (CNS), in doing so it connects the brain and spine and forms a protective barrier that ensures the organs are secured Contains the blood vessels to deliver blood to tissue, and then later it produces what is that fluid
• Clear cavity surrounds the brain and is called cerebral ventricle that is important for providing cushion ad shock absored, and helps to get rid of waste in the process also circulating nutrients
• The more the brain wrinkles, the larger is animals largest cerebral cortices . Primates have wrinkled brians and thus large cortices

Lobes Functions

• Frontal Lobe – LIES UNDER FOREHEAD - ability to pay attention, plan, remember and control emotion, make movement, and can control expressions to speak etc
• Parietal Lobe located rear of the brain, controls complex behavior for vision touch, movement and orientation, manipulating objects, integrates sensory and vision , body positioning
• Occipital lobe - Is at the back of the brain, and deals with visual processing and recognition to the body.
• Temporal Lobe is located near the ears is processing to auditory stimuli, and memory/ visual
• DEEP GROOVE DIVIDES THE CEREBRUM, SIDES ARE SYMMETRICAL FUNCTION DIFFERENTY AND CALLED THE Corpus COLLUSOM. ConnectS Two BRAINS for creative and logical sides
  • Two halves are know as hemispheres, and one has the creative side known as right and the logical are the side are left .

BRAIN EVOLUTION

• Has increased neural structures of complex, and diversity function in species today -Volume has more than tripled in chimanzees of new monkey world.
• Complex brains have evolved from nine different animal lineages and mollusia has happened five times Phylogeny is evolutionary history of a group that are similar or the tree clade that has the descendent which are used

Brain Evolution Theory

• Faces new environmental challenges and evolved bigger bodies of larger and complex brains
• Storage lot process lots lots of information
• structure altered way its operated, the neocortex grew larger while reorganization its structure to different regions at once
• 1.9mill year evolution sped up significantly

Stages of Brain Evolution

• Reptilian, Brainstem, approach to avoid harm -Mammal focus on reward system
• Primate, attach to others

Brain Development

• Divided into seven stages for broad reasons -GENESIS- occurs at the beginning, and is necessary for size and completing, -Migration helps the neurons that travel help the bran -Differentiation = when the cell become specialized and acquire distinct -Maturations= neuron and functional mature and established connections -Synaptogenesis= process of allows brain connection -Cell death / pruning occurs eliminates parts unnesscary, and refine information for processing
• Myelogenis= acts as an insulator and allows or faster and more efficient

Affect on IQ

• It doesn’t exactly reflect the true ability and accounts for 16 percent

Animals of evolve brain the most

 - HOmo sapiens
 - Over 20 times has faster than all mammal

Reptilian is called lizard because

• it stems from when were all connected to a amygdala lizard .

The background evolution timeline:

• New medicine developed to be skilled at

Anxiety can be a cause to help with

• Hyperactivity
• responses to emotional and impairment and deep brain could be use to stimulate TMS can be used help target social community that help sit on the brain

-ethical principles are that it may have avenue investigations and have an better region target the TMS are

HOW IS THE HUMAN BRAIN

• 2.5 million gigabytes

THE DEVELOPMENT AGE

• is influenced by several factors, and including environmental factors that play a crucial role in a child development, and can help vital strong connections and positive energy,and vice verse
• negative energy and stimulate the neurons is not in place

10 steps to follow

• Keep learning -Grab book -Get rest -Spent the time the was a lot of learning -Affirmation use -Exercise social -Be creative

Ethical Issues

The issues have to be considerate and have the consent while avoiding the issues that could prevent it

• APA principles must be with right and wrong

RESEARCH

That is ethically correct must have the following requirements and must has an ethics approva, that protects to design

• disgueness the intellectulal and confidential right if given
• Must folllow - consnt rules and regulation
• The researchers will safeguard the following Consent
• Must be signed -Minors must ask
• The researchers will safeguard following in case on the need
• Must make it fair
• No fabrication and transparency

Explore the distinctions between neuropsychology and neuroscience, focusing on brain functions, assessment techniques (PET, fMRI), and the roles of brain areas like the temporal lobe. Understand cognitive processes, the impact of brain injuries, and the contributions of key figures like Donald Hebb.