Biological Psychology Mind-Brain Relationship PDF

 Biopsychology is an interdisciplinary branch of psychology that analyzes how the brain, neurotransmitters, and other aspects of our biology influence our behaviors, thoughts, and feelings. This field of psychology is also sometimes known as physiological psychology, behavioral neuroscience,...

 Biopsychology is an interdisciplinary branch of psychology that analyzes how the brain, neurotransmitters, and other aspects of our biology influence our behaviors, thoughts, and feelings. This field of psychology is also sometimes known as physiological psychology, behavioral neuroscience, or psychobiology.  Biopsychologists often examine how biological processes interact with emotions, cognitions, and other mental functions. Biopsychology, sometimes known as behavioral neuroscience, studies how the brain and nervous system influence mental processes and behavior. Biopsychology can give you greater insight into the complex interactions between biology and psychology, including how physiological processes influence thoughts, emotions, and actions.  The term biological psychology emphasizes that the goal is to relate biology to issues of psychology. Neuroscience includes much that is relevant to behavior but also includes more detail about anatomy and chemistry.  Biological psychology deals mostly with brain activity. Figure Intro.2 offers a view of the human brain from the top (what anatomists call a dorsal view) and from the bottom (a ventral view). The labels point to a few important areas. While biopsychology might seem like a fairly recent development thanks to the introduction of advanced tools and technology for examining the brain, the roots of the field date back thousands of years to the time of the early philosophers. While we now consider the mind and brain synonymous, philosophers and psychologists long debated what was known as the mind/body problem. Philosophers and other thinkers wondered what the relationship was between the mental world and the physical world. This is not just a historical debate, however. The question remains an important topic in psychology and neuroscience today. It questions how the subjective experiences of the mind, including emotions and thoughts, interact or arise from the brain and body's physical processes.  One important thing to remember is that it is only fairly recently in human history that people have come to understand the actual location of the mind.  Aristotle, for example, taught that our thoughts and feelings arose from the heart. Greek thinkers such as Hippocrates and later Plato suggested that the brain was where the mind resides and that it served as the source of all thought and action.  Later thinkers such as Rene Descartes and Leonardo da Vinci introduced theories about how the nervous system operated. While these early theories were later proven wrong, they did establish the important idea that external stimulation could lead to muscle responses.  It was Descartes who introduced the concept of the reflex, although later researchers demonstrated it was the spinal cord that played a critical role in these muscle responses.  Commonsense explanations of behavior often refer to intentional goals such as, “He did this because he was trying to...” or “She did that because she wanted to....” But often, we have no reason to assume intentions. A 4-month-old bird migrating south for the first time presumably does not know why. The next spring, when she lays an egg, sits on it, and defends it from predators, again she doesn’t know why. Even humans don’t always know the reasons for their own behaviors. Yawning and laughter are two examples. You do them, but can you explain what they accomplish? Intentions are, at best, a weak form of explanation.  The Mind-Brain Relationship Are the mind and brain identical?  Biological explanations of behavior raise the issue of the relationship between the mind and the brain also known as the “mind-body” or “mind-brain”  And it has a variety of explanations below: Dualism is the belief that there are different kinds of substance exist independently. - Defended by the French philosopher Rene Descartes. - Most common belief among nonscientist. - Rejected by most neuroscientists. Monism is the belief that the universe is only comprised of one type of substance. - Forms of monism include: 1) Materialism – everything that exists is physical by nature 2) Mentalism – only mind truly existx. 3) Identity position – mental processes and some brain processes are the same but described in different terms. Biological explanations of  An Ontogenetic explanation a. The term ontogenetic comes from behavior fall into four Greek roots meaning the origin (or categories: genesis) of being.  Physiological b. describes how a structure or  Ontogenetic behavior develops, including the  evolutionary, and influences of genes, nutrition,  Functional experiences, and their interactions. c. For example, males and females  A physiological explanation differ on average in several ways. a) relates a behavior to the activity of d. Some of those differences can be the brain and other organs. traced to the effects of genes or b) It deals with the machinery of the prenatal hormones, some relate to body—for example, the chemical cultural influences, many relate reactions that enable hormones to partly to both, and some await influence brain activity and the further research. routes by which brain activity controls muscle contractions  An Evolutionary explanation a. Reconstructs the evolutionary history of a structure or behavior. b. Evolutionary explanations call attention to behavioral similarities among related species. c. The characteristic features of an animal are almost always modifications of something found in ancestral species. d. For example, bat wings are modified arms, and porcupine quills are modified hairs.  A Functional explanation a. Describes why a structure or behavior evolved as it did. b. Within a small, isolated population, a gene can spread by accident through a process called genetic drift. c. For example, a dominant male with many offspring spreads all his genes, including some that may have been irrelevant to his success or even disadvantageous Researchers utilize several different tests to study the human brain and nervous system. Brain imaging techniques can be categorized into two main categories: techniques that study the electrical activity in the brain and techniques that study changes in blood flow in areas of the brain associated with brain activity. Two that are commonly used are:  fMRI Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) involves scanning the brain to measure blood flow by examining blood oxygenation and flow. Higher blood flow and oxygenation in an area of the brain indicate higher activity levels.  EEG An electroencephalogram (EEG) is used to measure electrical currents on the surface of the brain. It can be used to monitor activity levels and detect changes in consciousness. Using an EEG, researchers can observe event-related potential (ERPs), which are spikes in activity related to specific stimuli or thoughts. These brain imaging techniques are often used to observe brain activity as people engage in different kinds of motor, cognitive, and perceptual tasks. If you want to consider a career related to biological psychology, you have a range of options relating to research and therapy. Table Intro.1 describes some of the major fields. The underlying mechanisms of behavior are similar across species and sometimes easier to study in a nonhuman species. If you want to understand a complex machine, you might begin by examining a simpler machine. We also learn about brain behavior relationships by starting with simpler cases. For example, much research has been conducted on squid nerves, which are thicker than human nerves and therefore easier to study. The roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans has only 302 neurons, the same for all individuals, enabling researchers to map all the cells and all their inter connections. The brains and behavior of nonhuman vertebrates resemble those of humans in their chemistry and anatomy but are smaller and easier to study. We are interested in animals for their own sake. Humans are naturally curious. We would love to know about life, if any, elsewhere in the universe, regardless of whether that knowledge might be useful. Similarly, we would like to understand how bats chase insects in the dark, how migratory birds find their way over unfamiliar territory, and how schools of fish manage to swim in unison. What we learn about animal’s sheds light on human evolution. How did we come to be the way we are? How do we resemble chimpanzees and other primates, and how do we differ from them? Why and how did primates evolve larger brains than other species? Researchers approach such questions by comparing species. Legal or ethical restrictions prevent certain kinds of research on humans. For example, investigators insert electrodes into the brains of rats and other animals to determine the relationship between brain activity and behavior. They also inject chemicals, extract brain chemicals, and study the effects of brain damage. Such experiments answer questions that investigators cannot address in any other way, including some questions that are critical for medical progress. They also raise an ethical issue: If the research is unacceptable with humans, is it acceptable with other species? If so, under what circumstances?  Researchers study animals because the mechanisms are sometimes easier to study in nonhumans, because they are interested in animal behavior for its own sake, because they want to understand the evolution of behavior, and because certain kinds of experiments are difficult or impossible with humans.  Using animals in research is ethically controversial. Some research does inflict stress or pain on animals. However, many research questions can be investigated only through animal research.  Animal research today is conducted under legal and ethical controls that attempt to minimize animal distress.  “Minimalists” tolerate certain types of animal refinement (modifying the procedures research but wish to limit or prohibit others to reduce pain and discomfort) depending on the probable value of the research, the amount of distress to the animal, “Abolitionists” see no room for compromise. and the type of animal. They favor firm Abolitionists maintain that all animals have the regulations on research. Researchers agree in same rights as humans. They regard killing an principle, although they often differ in where animal as murder, regardless of whether the they draw the line between acceptable and intention is to eat it, use its fur, or gain scientific unacceptable research. knowledge. Keeping an animal in a cage The legal standard emphasizes “the three R’s”: (presumably even a pet) is, in their view, reduction of animal numbers (using slavery. Because animals cannot give informed fewer animals), consent to research, abolitionists insist it is wrong replacement (using computer models or to use them in any way, regardless of the other substitutes for animals, when circumstances. possible), and  Polarization and Decision-Making in Neuroscience Research  The expression of complicated perspectives is made difficult by the extreme opposition in neuroscience.  Certain neuroscientists express apprehension regarding animals; however, acknowledging uncertainties can be daunting.  The open-minded consideration of complex issues can be hindered by extreme polarization.  In some instances, researchers are faced with the challenge of balancing the risk of inflicting distress under controlled conditions with the risk of ignorance and disease. 1.How does an evolutionary explanation differ from a functional explanation? 2.What are the “three R’s” in the legal standards for animal research? 3.How does the “minimalist” position differ from the “abolitionist” position?