Oversimplified Biopsychology

Chapter 1: Introduction to Biopsychology

What is Biopsychology?

- It is the scientific study of physiological basis of behavior

- The scientific study of all overt activities of the organism as well as all the internal processes that are presumed to underlie them (e.g., learning, memory, motivation, perception, and emotion).

The Basis of behavior is the BRAIN.

The BRAIN is responsible for:

1. Learning and Memory

2. Sensing and Perceiving

3. Emotion

4. Personality

5. Planning

6. Attention and Arousal

7. Motivation

5 perspective of Behavior.

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RELATIONSHIP OF BIOPSYCHOLOGY TO OTHER DISCIPLINES OF NEUROSCIENCE

Biopsychology is an integrative discipline. Biopsychologists draw together knowledge from the other neuroscientific disciplines and apply it to the study of behavior.

The following are a few of the disciplines of neuroscience that are particularly relevant to biopsychology:

Neuroanatomy. The study of the structure of the nervous system.

Neurochemistry. The study of the chemical bases of neural activity.

Neuroendocrinology. The study of interactions between the nervous system and the endocrine system.

Neuropathology. The study of nervous system disorders.

Neuropharmacology. The study of the effects of drugs on neural activity.

Neurophysiology. The study of the functions and activities of the nervous system.

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DIVISONS OF BIOPSYCHOLOGY

The particular approaches to biopsychology that have flourished and grown have gained wide recognition as separate divisions of biopsychological research. The purpose of this section of the chapter is to give you a clearer sense of biopsychology and its diversity by describing six of its major divisions: (1) physiological psychology, (2) psychopharmacology, (3) neuropsychology,

(4) psychophysiology, (5) cognitive neuroscience, and (6) comparative psychology. For simplicity, they are presented as distinct approaches; but there is much overlap among them, and many biopsychologists regularly follow more than one approach.

Physiological psychology is the division of biopsychology that studies the neural mechanisms of behavior through the direct manipulation of the brain in controlled experiments surgical and electrical methods of brain manipulation are most common. The subjects of physiological psychology research are almost always laboratory animals, because the focus on direct brain manipulation and controlled experiments precludes the use of human subjects in most instances. There is also a tradition of pure research in physiological psychology; the emphasis is usually on research that contributes to the development of theories of the neural control of behavior rather than on research that is of immediate practical benefit.

Psychopharmacology is similar to physiological psychology, except that it focuses on the manipulation of neural activity and behavior with drugs. In fact, many of the early psychopharmacologists were simply physiological psychologists who moved into drug research, and many of today's biopsychologists identify closely with both approaches. However, the study of the effects of drugs on the brain and behavior has become so specialized that psychopharmacology is regarded as a separate discipline. A substantial portion of psychopharmacological research is applied. Although drugs are sometimes used by psychopharmacologists to study the basic principles of brain behavior interaction, the purpose of many psychopharmacological experiments is to develop therapeutic drugs or to reduce drug abuse. Psychopharmacologists study the effects of drugs on laboratory species and on humans, if the ethics of the situation permits it.

Neuropsychology is the study of the psychological effects of brain damage in human patients. Obviously, human subjects cannot ethically be exposed to experimental treatments that endanger normal brain function.Consequently, neuropsychology deals almost exclusively with case studies and quasiexperimental studies of patients with brain damage resulting from disease, accident, or neurosurgery. The outer layer of the cerebral hemispheres the cerebral cortex is most likely to be damaged by accident or surgery; this is one reason why neuropsychology has focused on this important part of the human brain. Neuropsychology is the most applied of the biopsychological

subdisciplines; the neuropsychological assessment of human patients, even when part of a program of pure research, is always done with an eye toward benefiting them in some way. Neuropsychological tests facilitate diagnosis and thus help the attending physician prescribe effective treatment.

Psychophysiology is the division of biopsychology that studies the relation between physiological activity and psychological processes in human subjects. Because the subjects of psychophysiological research are human, psychophysiological recording procedures are typically noninvasive; that is, the physiological activity is recorded from the surface of the body. The usual measure of brain activity is the scalp electroencephalogram (EEG). Other common psychophysiological measures are muscle tension, eye movement, and several indicators of autonomic nervous system activity (e.g., heart rate, blood pressure, pupil dilation, and electrical conductance of the skin). The autonomic nervous system (ANS) is the division of the nervous system that regulates the body's inner environment.

Cognitive neuroscience is the youngest division of biopsychology, but it is currently among the most active and exciting. Cognitive neuroscientists study the neural bases of cognition, a term that generally refers to higher intellectual processes such as thought, memory, attention, and complex perceptual processes. Because of its focus on cognition, most cognitive neuroscience research involves human subjects; and because of its focus on human subjects, its methods tend to be noninvasive, rather than involving penetration or direct manipulation of the brain.

Comparative psychology is the division of biopsychology that deals generally with the biology of behavior, rather than specifically with the neural mechanisms of behavior. Comparative psychologists compare the behavior of different species in order to understand the evolution, genetics, and adaptiveness of behavior. Some comparative psychologists study behavior in the laboratory; others engage in ethological research ---the study of animal behavior in its natural environment. Because two important areas of biopsychological research often employ comparative analysis, I have included them as part of comparative psychology. One of these is evolutionary psychology. The other is behavioral genetics (the study of genetic influence in behavior).