LEARNING OBJECTIVES
- Explain the importance of generalisation and reduction in behavioural neuroscience research
- Summarise contributions to the modern field of behavioural neuroscience made by individuals involved
in philosophy, physiology, or other disciplines
- describe the role of natural selection in the evolution of behavioural traits
- identify factors involved in the evolution of large brains in humans
- outline reasons for use of animals in behavioural neuroscience research
- discuss ethical considerations in research with human participants
- how would you define the mind
- way could we say that Donders and Ebbinghaus were cognitive psychologists, even though in the 19th
century there was no field called cognitive psychology?
- describe rise of behaviourism and how this has affected research on the mind
- what is meant by 'information-processing approach' and how is this relevant for cognitive psychology?
- why are models important in cognitive psychology? What are structural, process and resource models
and how do they relate to each other?
- describe 4 different everyday situations for which it is important to understand how we process
information and come to certain decisions
,HISTORY OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
1860: Weber/Fechner's law
- Developed psychophysics
- relationship between physical energy (of stimuli) to sensation (perceived stimulus)
1867: Hermann von Helmholtz proposes
- perception as process of unconscious inferences/interpretation about the world
1879: Wilhelm Wundt opened first psychology lab
- structuralism: overall experience is determined by combining basic elements of exp (sensations)
1885: Ebbinghaus' memory research
1914: John B Watson's 'behaviourist manifesto'
- exclusively focused on behaviour; stimulus - response psychology
- dominant paradigms were classical (Pavlov) and operant (Skinner) conditioning
Physiological chronometry (timing of processes)
1850s: Johannes Muller
- nerve conduction velocity is infinitely fast
1850s: Von Helmholtz
- nerve conduction velocity = 30m/s (frogs) and 60m/s or 90 feet/s (humans)
Donder's subtraction method
Goal: estimate duration of a postulated mental process, X
Method: - create 2 identical tasks, except for
involvement of X
- Measure reaction time (RT) in both
tasks
- subtract RTs = duration of X
Issues: - Dependant on assumptions about stages
- Dependant on assumption about stages being independent
Ebbinghaus' memory research
Method: - learns list of nonsense syllables to perfection,
register time taken
- wait a certain time (minutes, days, several
days)
- register how long it takes to relearn list
- calculate percentage of savings
GOALS OF RESEARCH
1. Generalisation: explanations as examples of general laws, which are revealed through experiments
2. Reduction: explanations of complex phenomena in terms of simpler ones
Ideas for experiments are stimulated by investigator's knowledge of both psychological generalisations
about behaviour and of physiological mechanisms
,BIOLOGICAL ROOTS OF BEHAVIOURAL NEUROSCIENCE
1600s: Rene Descartes' believed the interaction of mind and body (although he was a dualist)
- mind controlled body through pineal body
1600s: Luigi Galvani found electrical stimulation of frog's nerve cause contraction of muscle attached to it
19th century: Johannes Muller found the doctrine of specific nerve energies
- although all nerves carry same basic message (electrical impulse), we perceive messages of
different nerves differently
19th century: Pierre Flourens carried out experimental ablation
- removed various parts of animal brains and observed behaviour
1861: Paul Broca carried out experimental ablation on humans
- autopsy on stroke patient led to conclusion that a portion of cerebral cortex on front part of
left side performs speech function (Broca's area)
1870: Gustav Fritsch and Eduard Hitzig used electrical stimulation and observed its effects
19th century: Hermann von Helmholtz
- devised mathematical formulation of law of conservation of energy
- invented ophthalmoscope (examination of retina)
- devised theory of colour Vision and colour blindness
- studied audition, music, and physiological processes
19th century: Jan Purkinje studied the CNS and PNS
- Discovered Purkinje fibers; neurons terminating on cardiac cells responsible for controlling
heart contractions
- investigated brain neurons and conducted studies on visual system
Late 19th century: Santiago y Cajal proposed that nervous system consisted of billions of discrete,
individuals neurons
, NATURAL SELECTION AND EVOLUTION
Functionalism: belief that characteristics of living organisms perform useful functions (Charles Darwin)
Darwin's theory of evolution
Evolution: gradual change in structure and physiology of plant and animal species as a result of natural
selection
Principle of natural selection: natural environment shapes process of evolution
Selective advantage: more likely than other members of species to live long enough to reproduce and pass
on its chromosomes to its offspring
Mutations: accidental changes in chromosomes of sperm or eggs that join together and develop into new
organisms
- most mutations are deleterious: fails to survive or survive with a defect
- physical traits altered that causes effects on behaviour
COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
1948: Tolman's cognitive map
Rat's initial experience of the maze led to development of a cognitive map: conception within the mind of
the map's layout
- dismisses pure stimulus-response connections
- stimulus - operant - response
Information-processing approach: traces sequences of mental operations involved in cognition
- human as information processor
- input - processing - output (eg seeing - STM - motor action)
1958: Broadbent's flow-chart filter model of attention
- people do not process unattended stimuli beyond analysis of basic physical properties (rej)
- Explain the importance of generalisation and reduction in behavioural neuroscience research
- Summarise contributions to the modern field of behavioural neuroscience made by individuals involved
in philosophy, physiology, or other disciplines
- describe the role of natural selection in the evolution of behavioural traits
- identify factors involved in the evolution of large brains in humans
- outline reasons for use of animals in behavioural neuroscience research
- discuss ethical considerations in research with human participants
- how would you define the mind
- way could we say that Donders and Ebbinghaus were cognitive psychologists, even though in the 19th
century there was no field called cognitive psychology?
- describe rise of behaviourism and how this has affected research on the mind
- what is meant by 'information-processing approach' and how is this relevant for cognitive psychology?
- why are models important in cognitive psychology? What are structural, process and resource models
and how do they relate to each other?
- describe 4 different everyday situations for which it is important to understand how we process
information and come to certain decisions
,HISTORY OF COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
1860: Weber/Fechner's law
- Developed psychophysics
- relationship between physical energy (of stimuli) to sensation (perceived stimulus)
1867: Hermann von Helmholtz proposes
- perception as process of unconscious inferences/interpretation about the world
1879: Wilhelm Wundt opened first psychology lab
- structuralism: overall experience is determined by combining basic elements of exp (sensations)
1885: Ebbinghaus' memory research
1914: John B Watson's 'behaviourist manifesto'
- exclusively focused on behaviour; stimulus - response psychology
- dominant paradigms were classical (Pavlov) and operant (Skinner) conditioning
Physiological chronometry (timing of processes)
1850s: Johannes Muller
- nerve conduction velocity is infinitely fast
1850s: Von Helmholtz
- nerve conduction velocity = 30m/s (frogs) and 60m/s or 90 feet/s (humans)
Donder's subtraction method
Goal: estimate duration of a postulated mental process, X
Method: - create 2 identical tasks, except for
involvement of X
- Measure reaction time (RT) in both
tasks
- subtract RTs = duration of X
Issues: - Dependant on assumptions about stages
- Dependant on assumption about stages being independent
Ebbinghaus' memory research
Method: - learns list of nonsense syllables to perfection,
register time taken
- wait a certain time (minutes, days, several
days)
- register how long it takes to relearn list
- calculate percentage of savings
GOALS OF RESEARCH
1. Generalisation: explanations as examples of general laws, which are revealed through experiments
2. Reduction: explanations of complex phenomena in terms of simpler ones
Ideas for experiments are stimulated by investigator's knowledge of both psychological generalisations
about behaviour and of physiological mechanisms
,BIOLOGICAL ROOTS OF BEHAVIOURAL NEUROSCIENCE
1600s: Rene Descartes' believed the interaction of mind and body (although he was a dualist)
- mind controlled body through pineal body
1600s: Luigi Galvani found electrical stimulation of frog's nerve cause contraction of muscle attached to it
19th century: Johannes Muller found the doctrine of specific nerve energies
- although all nerves carry same basic message (electrical impulse), we perceive messages of
different nerves differently
19th century: Pierre Flourens carried out experimental ablation
- removed various parts of animal brains and observed behaviour
1861: Paul Broca carried out experimental ablation on humans
- autopsy on stroke patient led to conclusion that a portion of cerebral cortex on front part of
left side performs speech function (Broca's area)
1870: Gustav Fritsch and Eduard Hitzig used electrical stimulation and observed its effects
19th century: Hermann von Helmholtz
- devised mathematical formulation of law of conservation of energy
- invented ophthalmoscope (examination of retina)
- devised theory of colour Vision and colour blindness
- studied audition, music, and physiological processes
19th century: Jan Purkinje studied the CNS and PNS
- Discovered Purkinje fibers; neurons terminating on cardiac cells responsible for controlling
heart contractions
- investigated brain neurons and conducted studies on visual system
Late 19th century: Santiago y Cajal proposed that nervous system consisted of billions of discrete,
individuals neurons
, NATURAL SELECTION AND EVOLUTION
Functionalism: belief that characteristics of living organisms perform useful functions (Charles Darwin)
Darwin's theory of evolution
Evolution: gradual change in structure and physiology of plant and animal species as a result of natural
selection
Principle of natural selection: natural environment shapes process of evolution
Selective advantage: more likely than other members of species to live long enough to reproduce and pass
on its chromosomes to its offspring
Mutations: accidental changes in chromosomes of sperm or eggs that join together and develop into new
organisms
- most mutations are deleterious: fails to survive or survive with a defect
- physical traits altered that causes effects on behaviour
COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY
1948: Tolman's cognitive map
Rat's initial experience of the maze led to development of a cognitive map: conception within the mind of
the map's layout
- dismisses pure stimulus-response connections
- stimulus - operant - response
Information-processing approach: traces sequences of mental operations involved in cognition
- human as information processor
- input - processing - output (eg seeing - STM - motor action)
1958: Broadbent's flow-chart filter model of attention
- people do not process unattended stimuli beyond analysis of basic physical properties (rej)
