NHB (Neurobiology and Human Behaviour) Lecture
Notes: Psychology Introduction and Attention
Introduction to Psychology
Types of research
● Descriptive phenomena (classification (e.g. types of stigma),
distribution (e.g. onset of symptoms, disease), observation (of
behaviour, trends))
○ Factor analysis: find clusters of correlation, due to subfactors
instead of super factor
○ Correlation doesn’t mean causation
● Correlation (simple, complex (factor analysis)
● Experimental (mechanisms (difficult since using unobservable mental
states to explain behaviour))
Behavioural theory and mental states
● Pavlovian conditioning: CS will exhibit same normal behaviour as US
○ Explained used behavioural theory (requires no reference to
mental states, law-like relationships)
● But two meaningless stimuli can be associated together (behaviourally
silent learning), then turning one into a CS also turns the other one
into a CS
○ Needs mental states to be explained
● Mentalism: infer another person’s mental state (switches between
ages 3-4)
○ Also needs mental states to be explained
● You can make inferences about unobservable states, and use them in
mechanistic theories
○ But not all phenomena can be mechanistic (e.g. observation uses
statistics)
● However you need to combine with behaviour for functional relevance
● Sometimes need brain analysis (fMRI, EEG, lesion studies) too
Consciousness experiment
● Show CS+ and CS- of visual pattern with US of a shock to measure
response of skin galvanisation
● When CS+ and CS- are easy to differentiate, conscious awareness of
shock coming is in accordance with skin galvanisation
● But when difficult, there is no conscious awareness but there is still
skin galvanisation
● So consciousness is not needed for conditioning
Implicit bias experiment
● Names shown on screen, press left for white, right for black
● Objects shown on screen, press left for pleasant, right for aversive
● Names or object shown on screen, press left for white or pleasant,
Notes: Psychology Introduction and Attention
Introduction to Psychology
Types of research
● Descriptive phenomena (classification (e.g. types of stigma),
distribution (e.g. onset of symptoms, disease), observation (of
behaviour, trends))
○ Factor analysis: find clusters of correlation, due to subfactors
instead of super factor
○ Correlation doesn’t mean causation
● Correlation (simple, complex (factor analysis)
● Experimental (mechanisms (difficult since using unobservable mental
states to explain behaviour))
Behavioural theory and mental states
● Pavlovian conditioning: CS will exhibit same normal behaviour as US
○ Explained used behavioural theory (requires no reference to
mental states, law-like relationships)
● But two meaningless stimuli can be associated together (behaviourally
silent learning), then turning one into a CS also turns the other one
into a CS
○ Needs mental states to be explained
● Mentalism: infer another person’s mental state (switches between
ages 3-4)
○ Also needs mental states to be explained
● You can make inferences about unobservable states, and use them in
mechanistic theories
○ But not all phenomena can be mechanistic (e.g. observation uses
statistics)
● However you need to combine with behaviour for functional relevance
● Sometimes need brain analysis (fMRI, EEG, lesion studies) too
Consciousness experiment
● Show CS+ and CS- of visual pattern with US of a shock to measure
response of skin galvanisation
● When CS+ and CS- are easy to differentiate, conscious awareness of
shock coming is in accordance with skin galvanisation
● But when difficult, there is no conscious awareness but there is still
skin galvanisation
● So consciousness is not needed for conditioning
Implicit bias experiment
● Names shown on screen, press left for white, right for black
● Objects shown on screen, press left for pleasant, right for aversive
● Names or object shown on screen, press left for white or pleasant,
