Summary of the literature for EXAM 1 of the course Brain and Behavior (Utrecht University, year 1 psychology). In English, supplemented with Dutch lecture notes.
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Samenvatting Literatuur
deeltentamen 1: Hersenen en
gedrag.
Schooljaar 2023-2024. Universiteit Utrecht.
Inhoud
Brain and Behavior, 4th customized edition 2023 (Kalat, Cacioppo, Freberg, & Cacioppo) ............ 1
Cacioppo H1: The Science of the Mind ................................................................................ 1
Kalat H1: The cellular foundations of behavior ..................................................................... 2
Kalat H2: Synapses ....................................................................................................... 10
Kalat H3: Anatomy and Research methods ....................................................................... 14
Kalat H4: Genetics, evolution, development and plasticity .................................................. 19
Kalat H7: Movement ...................................................................................................... 27
Kalat H14: Psychopathology............................................................................................ 32
Brain and Behavior, 4th customized edition 2023 (Kalat, Cacioppo,
Freberg, & Cacioppo)
Cacioppo H1: The Science of the Mind
Pagina 3-32
What is psychology?
Psychology = the scientific study of the mind, which includes thought, emotion, and behavior.
Early efforts to study mental processes were generally unsatisfactory because they relied
on the use of introspection, or the personal observation of your own thoughts, feelings and
behavior. Too subjective.
Where did psychology originate?
The psychology family is a hybrid with two major roots: philosophy and the natural sciences.
How did the science of psychology begin?
Gestalt psychology
The structuralists’ effort to break behavior into its essential elements was rejected by a group of
German psychologists, who founded gestalt psychology.
William James and Functionalism
Functionalism explores why behavior and mental processes work the way they do.
Clinical Roots: Freud and the humanistic psychologists
Between the 17th and the 19th centuries, supernatural explanations for psychological disorders
began to give way to two scientific approaches:
• Medical model → emphasizes physical causes of abnormal behavior and medical treatments.
• Psychological model → suggests that abnormal behavior can result from traumatic life
experiences.
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939):
Freud’s (founder of psychoanalysis) theories do not always lend themselves to experimentation.
Humanistic psychology
Humanistic psychology → people are innately good, treatment: client-centered therapy.
,Saskia Ensel (2023)
The behaviorists and the cognitive revolution
Law of effect (Thorndike): behaviors followed by pleasant or helpful outcomes would be more
likely to occur in the future, whereas behaviors followed by unpleasant or harmful outcomes would
be less likely to occur.
Foundation of psychology Things to remember
Structuralism (Wilhelm Wundt Behavior can be broken down to its components.
1832-1920)
Gestalt psychology (Max Breaking behavior into components loses meaning.
Wertheimer 1880-1943)
Functionalism (William James Behavior is purposeful and contributes to survival.
1842-1910)
Psychodynamic theory Ideas about the unconscious mind, the role of experience in
(Sigmund Freud 1856-1939) abnormal behavior, and new approaches to therapy laid a
foundation for later study in personality and therapy.
Humanistic psychology People are naturally good and are motivated to improve.
(Abraham Maslow 1908-1970)
Behaviorism (Ivan Petrovich Experience is the primary source of behavior.
Pavlov 1849-1936)
Cognitive revolution (Ulric Private mental processing can be studied scientifically.
Neisser 1928-2012)
What are psychological perspectives?
What are the five perspectives of psychology?
1. Biological psychology → focuses on the reciprocal relationship between mind and behavior
and their underlying biological processes, including genetics, biochemistry, anatomy and
physiology.
2. Evolutionary psychologist (branch of the biological perspective) → attempts to answer the
question of how our physical structure and behavior have been shaped by their contributions
to our species’ survival.
3. Cognitive psychology → focuses on the processing of information.
4. Developmental psychology → explores the normal changes in behavior thar occur across
the life span.
5. Social and personality psychology → describes the effects of the social environment,
including social and cultural diversity, and individual differences on the behavior of individuals.
6. Clinical psychology → seeks to explain, define, and treat psychological disorders.
Verschillende manieren van gedrag meten:
• Hemholtz → mat reactietijden, iemand reageerde sneller op heup-stimulatie dan op teen-
stimulatie. Onderliggend mechanisme was: langere reactietijd door langere afstand van prikkel
tot het lichaamsdeel.
• Donders → reactietijden zijn langer wanneer F, Q, T (drie letters) werden laten zien dan bij X
of Q (maar twee).
Leren
• Klassiek conditioneren → er ontstaat een relatie tussen een stimulus en de daaropvolgende
response.
• Operationeel/instrumenteel conditioneren → Reinforcement zorgt voor herhaling van
gedrag (Wet van Thorndike).
Kalat H1: The cellular foundations of behavior
H1.1 The biological approach to behavior
The biological approach to behavior
Mind-brain problem or mind-body problem: the question of how mind relates to brain activity.
So far, no one has offered a convincing explanation of consciousness. Chalmers and Rensch
proposed that we regard consciousness as a fundamental property of matter. A fundamental
property is one that cannot be reduced to something else. But, consciousness isn’t like other
fundamental properties. Matter has mass all the time, and protons and electrons have charge all
the time. So far as we can tell, consciousness occurs only in certain parts of a nervous system.
,Saskia Ensel (2023)
The field of biological psychology
Biological psychology is the study of the physiological, evolutionary, and developmental
mechanisms of behavior and
experience. Biological psychology
deals mostly with brain activity.
At microscopic level we find two
kinds of cells in the brain: the
neurons and the glia. Neurons,
which convey messages to one
another and to muscles and
glands, vary enormously in size,
shape, and functions. The glia,
generally smaller than neurons,
have many functions but do not
convey information over great
distances.
Three main points to remember from this book
1. Perception occurs in your brain
2. Mental activity and certain types of brain activity are, so far as we can tell, inseparable. This
position known as monism, the idea that the universe consists of only one type of being and
that the mind is made of the same substance as the rest of the universe (opposite from
dualism). According to monism, your thoughts or experiences are the same thing as brain
activity.
3. We should be cautious about what is an explanation and what is not.
Biological explanations of behavior
Biological explanations of behavior often fall into four categories:
1. Psychological explanation → relates behavior to activity of the brain and organs.
2. Ontogenetic explanation → describes how a structure or behavior develops.
3. Evolutionary explanation → call attention to behavioral similarities to related species (what
evolved from what).
4. Functional explanation → describes why a structure of behavior evolves as it did (why it was
advantageous). Within a small, isolated population, a gene can spread by accident through a
process called genetic drift.
The use of animals in research
Given that most biological psychologists and neuroscientists are primarily interested in the human
brain and human behavior, why do they study nonhumans?:
1. The underlying mechanisms of behavior are similar across species and sometimes easier to
study in a nonhuman species.
2. We are interested in animals for their own sake. Humans are naturally curious.
3. What we learn about animals sheds light on human evolution.
4. Legal or ethical restrictions prevent certain kinds of research on humans.
Opposition to animal research ranges considerably in degree. “Minimalists” tolerate certain types
of animal research but wish to limit or prohibit others depending on the probable value of the
research, the amount of distress to the animal and the type of animal.
The legal standard emphasized “the three R’s”: reduction of animal numbers, replacement
(for example, using computers) and refinement (modifying the procedures to reduce pain and
discomfort).
In contrast to minimalists, the “abolitionists” see no room for compromise. Abolitionists
maintain that all animals have the same rights as humans.
H1.2 Neurons and other cells
Pagina 46-55
, Saskia Ensel (2023)
Neurons
The nervous system consists of two kinds of cells, neurons and glia. Neurons receive information
and transmit it to other cells.
Santiago Ramón y Cajal, a pioneer of neuroscience
Cajal came with the idea that the brain, like the rest
of the body, consists of individual cells.
The structures of an animal cell
Neurons have much in common with the rest of the
body’s cells:
• Membrane → surface of the cell, separates the
inside of the cell with the outside environment.
Most chemicals cannot cross the membrane, but
protein channels in the membrane permit a
controlled flow of water, oxygen, sodium,
potassium, calcium, chloride and other important
chemicals.
• Nucleus → the structure that contains the
chromosomes.
• Ribosomes → structures that synthesize new protein molecules. Some ribosomes float freely
within the cell, others attach to the endoplasmic reticulum (= a network of thin tubes that
transport newly synthesized proteins to other locations).
• Mitochondrion → performs metabolic activities providing the energy that the cell uses.
Mitochondria have their own genes. They are inherited in the cytoplasm of the egg cell.
o Because brain activity requires more energy than the activity of any other organ, the
brain is especially dependent on good mitochondrial functioning. Mitochondria can be
less active than average because of genes within the mitochondria or because of toxic
chemicals, stress or illnesses that produce inflammation. Decreased mitochondrial
function means high probability of depression. Impairments of mitochondria have also
been linked to increased severity of epilepsy, Alzheimer's, Parkinson’s and
Huntington’s.
The structure of neurons
A motor neuron, with its soma in the spinal cord, receives excitation through its dendrites and
conducts impulses along its axon to a muscle.
A sensory neuron is specialized at one end to be highly sensitive to a particular type of
stimulation, such as touch.
Dendrites are branching fibers that get narrower near their ends. Their surface is lined with
specialized synaptic receptors, at which the dendrite receives information from other neurons.
Many dendrites contain dendritic spines, short outgrowths that increase the surface area
available for synapses.
The soma contains the nucleus, ribosomes, and mitochondria.
The axon is a thin fiber of constant diameter. The axon conveys an impulse to other neurons, an
organ, or a muscle. Some axons extend more than a meter.
Many vertebrate axons (not invertebrate!) are covered with an insulating material called a myelin
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