What Is Biopsychology, Anyway?

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Chapter 1 Biopsychology as a Neuroscience

• What Is Biopsychology, Anyway?

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Four Major Themes

• 1. Thinking creatively about biopsychology
• Base thinking on the evidence presented
• But also think outside the box
• 2. Clinical implications
• Study of diseased or damaged brains leads to new
  knowledge
• New knowledge leads to new treatments

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Four Major Themes Continued

• 3. The evolutionary perspective
• Consideration of environmental pressures on human
  evolution
• May use a comparative approach
• 4. Neuroplasticity
• The brain is plastic, not static

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What Is Biopsychology?

• The scientific study of the biology of behavior
  (psychology)
• Psychology the scientific study of behavior
• Also called psychobiology, behavioral biology,
  behavioral neuroscience
• Biopsychology emerged as a discipline in the late
  1940s

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What Is Biopsychology? Continued

• Hebb (1949) proposed that psychological phenomena
  might be produced by brain activity
• Hebbs work helped discredit the notion that
  psychological functions were too complex to be
  derived from physiological activities

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Biopsychology and Other Disciplines of
Neuroscience

• Biopsychology utilizes the knowledge and tools of
  other disciplines of neuroscience
• Each discipline studies a different aspect of the
  nervous system that informs our understanding of
  what produces and controls behavior

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Other Disciplines of Neuroscience

• Neuroanatomy
• Structure of the nervous system
• Neurochemistry
• Chemical bases of neural activity
• Neuroendocrinology
• Interactions between the nervous system and the
  endocrine system

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Other Disciplines of Neuroscience Continued

• Neuropathology
• Nervous system disorders
• Neuropharmacology
• Effects of drugs on neural activity
• Neurophysiology
• Functions and activities of the nervous system

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Biopsychological Research

• Human and nonhuman subjects
• Experiments and nonexperiments
• Pure and applied research

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Human and Nonhuman Subjects

• Many questions about the biology of behavior are
  addressed using human subjects
• However, much can be learned from studying the
  brains of other species
• Species differences are often more quantitative
  than qualitative

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Human and Nonhuman Subjects Continued

• Why use nonhumans?
• Simpler brains makes it more likely that
  brain-behavior interactions will be revealed
• Comparative approach gain insight by making
  comparisons with other species
• Fewer ethical restrictions for nonhumans than
  with humans
• although nonhuman research also requires
  extensive ethical oversight
• Why use humans?
• They can follow instructions
• They make subjective reports
• They are often cheaper to work with

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Experiments and Nonexperiments

• Experiments involve the manipulation of variables
• In nonexperiments, the researcher does not
  control the variables of interest
• Quasiexperimental studies
• Case studies

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Experiments and Nonexperiments Continued

• Experiments involving living subjects require
  that subjects be placed in various conditions
• Between-subjects design Different group of
  subjects tested under each condition
• Within-subjects design Same group of subjects
  tested under each condition

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Experiments and Nonexperiments Continued

• The difference between the conditions is the
  independent variable
• The effect of the independent variable is the
  dependent variable
• A confounded variable is a variable that affects
  the dependent variable but is not controlled for

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Experiments and Nonexperiments Continued

• Control of confounded variables example the
  Coolidge effect
• Coolidge effect had been demonstrated in
  malesbut does it occur in females?
• The confounded variables A female hamster may be
  more receptive to a new partner due to novelty or
  to his vigor (compared to the fatigued former
  partner)

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• FIGURE 1.3 The experimental design and results of
  Lester and Gorzalka (1988). On the third test,
  the female hamsters were more sexually receptive
  to an unfamiliar male than they were to the male
  with which they had copulated on the first test.

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Experiments and Nonexperiments Continued

• Quasiexperimental studies studies of groups of
  subjects exposed to conditions in the real world
• Not real experiments as potential confounded
  variables have not been controlled for

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Experiments and Nonexperiments Continued

• Case studies focus on a single individual, such
  as Jimmie G.
• Usually more in-depth than other approaches, but
  may not be generalizable
• Often a source of a testable hypothesis
• Generalizability the degree to which results
  can be applied to other cases

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Pure and Applied Research

• Pure research conducted for the purpose of
  acquiring knowledge
• Applied research intended to bring about some
  direct benefit to humankind
• Often research projects have elements of both

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Divisions of Biopsychology

• Six major divisions
• Physiological psychology
• Psychopharmacology
• Neuropsychology
• Psychophysiology
• Cognitive neuroscience
• Comparative psychology
• Each has a different approach, but there is much
  overlap

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Divisions of Biopsychology Continued

• Physiological psychology
• Neural mechanisms of behavior
• Controlled experiments with direct manipulation
  of the brain
• Psychopharmacology
• Controlled experiments of the effects of drugs on
  the brain and behavior
• Neuropsychology
• Psychological effects of brain damage in humans
• Usually has a clinical emphasis

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Divisions of Biopsychology Continued

• Psychophysiology
• Relation between physiological activity and
  psychological processes
• Example visual tracking is abnormal in
  schizophrenics

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• FIGURE 1.4 Visual tracking of a pendulum by a
  normal control subject (top) and three
  schizophrenics. (Adapted from Iacono Koenig,
  1983.)

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Divisions of Biopsychology Continued

• Cognitive neuroscience
• The neural bases of cognition
• Functional brain imaging is the major method of
• cognitive neuroscience

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FIGURE 1.5 Functional brain imaging is the major
method of cognitive neuroscience. This
imagetaken from the top of the head with the
subject lying on her backreveals the locations
of high levels of neural activity at one level of
the brain as the subject views a flashing light.
The red and yellow areas indicate high levels of
activity in the visual cortex at the back of the
brain. (Courtesy of Todd Handy, Department of
Psychology, University of British Columbia.)
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Divisions of Biopsychology Continued

• Comparative psychology
• Comparing different species to understand
  evolution, genetics, and adaptiveness of behavior
• Laboratory and/or ethological research

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Converging Operations

• Using multiple approaches to address a single
  question

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Converging Operations

• Example Korsakoffs syndrome
• Korsakoffs syndrome is a condition characterized
  by severe memory loss and most commonly seen in
  alcoholics
• Is Korsakoffs the result of the toxic effects of
  alcohol on the brain?

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Converging Operations Continued

• Jimmie G. an alcoholic with Korsakoffs
  syndrome
• Korsakoffs is also seen in malnourished persons
  who had little or no alcohol
• Thiamine-deficient rats exhibit memory deficits
• Alcohol accelerates the development of brain
  damage in thiamine-deficient rats

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Converging Operations Continued

• By exploring the possible causes of Korsakoffs
  using multiple approaches, or converging
  operations, findings are more accurate
• Korsakoffs syndrome is the result of thiamine
  deficiency, but the damage is accelerated by
  alcohol

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Scientific Inference

• The empirical method that biopsychologists use to
  study the unobservable
• Scientists measure what they can observe and use
  these measures as a basis for inferring what they
  cant observe
• Example how does the brain see movement?

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FIGURE 1.6 The perception of motion under four
different conditions.
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Critical Thinking

• The ability to evaluate scientific claims by
  identifying potential omissions or weaknesses in
  the evidence

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Critical Thinking Continued

• Case 1 Delgado claims that a charging bull can
  be tamed by stimulation of its caudate nucleus
• Exciting account reported in popular press
• Many possible alternative explanations
• Morgans Canon give precedence to the simplest
  interpretation for a behavioral observation

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Critical Thinking Continued

• Case 2 Moniz wins Nobel Prize for prefrontal
  lobotomy
• Adoption for human therapy based largely on study
  of a single chimpanzee
• Inadequate postoperative evaluation of human
  patients, often by the physician who prescribed
  the surgery
• Undesirable side effects such as amorality, lack
  of foresight, emotional unresponsiveness,
  epilepsy, and urinary incontinence

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FIGURE 1.8 The prefrontal lobotomy procedure
developed by Moniz and Lima.