Lecture 1 Tuesday March 29
What is behavioral neuroscience? : Scientific study of the biological basis of behavior and experience Biopsychology's early roots . Brain was thought to be a cooling mechanism throughout history Phrenology: bumps on the skull tells people what they're personality was like Development of different technology to analyze the brain has changed our perspective on the brain's relationship to behavior (empirical research) Five theoretical perspectives of behavior neuroscience: 1. Systematic description of behavior: step by step description of a process or system of a behavior and what it looks like. Point by point description or moment by moment 2. Mechanistic perspective: how that behavior happens. Like what systems were involved,
3. Evolutionary perspective: how a structure or a function has evolved over time (across different species) 4. Developmental perspective: how you got to where you are. How do humans develop through their lifespan 5. Application perspective: takes what is known and applies to life In an experiment: independent variable: what is getting manipulated dependent variable: variable that is being measured
Lecture 2 Wed March 30, 2022:
What are the characteristics of an experiment? Manipulation and measurement of variables o Independent variable o Dependent variable Control over groups: experimental (manipulation) and control group (no manipulation) The change in the independent variable causes the changes in the dependent variable What is a correlation study? : Measures the relationship between two variables. o Positive correlation: as one variable increases the other increases as well o negative correlation: as on varia Ir goes up the other goes down CORRELATION NEVER DETERMINES CAUSATION
Neuroscience Techniques:
Genetic enaineerina: Knockouts o Extracting a particular gene so that it isn't expressed... in order to see what it looks like if an individual doesn't have serotonin for ex. Drug studies: activations and inactivations o Drugs that turn on and turn off certain systems is studies Activity recordings: Electroencephalography (EEG: lets us stick probes on the outside of someone's scalp and measures the brain waves of the cortex) and electrophysiology
(Inerting probes into the brain to measure cellular activity or a cluster of cells to see how the cells are communicating with each other) o We can record activity in the brain Brain Imaging: CT scans, MRI, fMRI, PET scan o CT scans: pictures taken using x rays to take a number of pictures throughout the brain to put together a 3D version of a brain by taking sequential pictures Ischemic stroke (bleeding in the brain) MRIs: snapshot that gives us higher resolution. (don't rely on radiation) fMRI: PET Scan: measures the activity and use of glucose in the brain to see which areas of the brain are most active Megnatalectrophography??: gives a refined picture of activity Animal us in biopsychological research: studies that cannot be done on humans 0 Governed by field-specific regulations (APA: american psychological association) Goal is to: keep animals safe Supervised by IACUC (onsight watching)and USDA Funding and publication are dependent on approval by IACUC and USDA Inspectors and veterinarians oversee