Psych 10 Holyoak Lec

8/3/2019 Psych 10 Holyoak Lec

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Psychology 10: Holyoak 9/22/11

What is Psychology? How did it arise?

Psychology: The scientific study of the causes of thoughts, feelings,

and behavior.

o Uses the scientific method to find causes

o Why the interest in causes?

Why do people do what they do (good, bad, or weird)?

If we know causes, we can change behavior

Treatment

Therapy

Causes: Levels of explanation

o Genetic mechanism: behavior genetics

o Neural mechanism: neuroscience

o

Behavioral processes: learning, cognitive

, developmental , social

o Evolutionary function: comparative , evolutionary

o Each level has different ways of explaining the nature of

something.

E.g. Observation: I want to go to In-n-Out. What caused that

behavior?

o How long has it been since I ate? (Learning)

o Stomach Load/Hormonal Signals (Neuroscience) Temporary

o I want to talk to friends (Social) Influences

o Im a human not a termite (Behavior genetics, comparative)

o Eating gives us energy to reproduce (evolutionary)


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o Im too old for a bottle and too young for gourmet food

(developmental) PI

o I ate at In-n-Out in the past and it was good (learning,

cognitive)

o When I ate at In-n-Out in the past, my brain releaseddopamine (neuroscience)

o I ate McDonalds in the past and got ill (learning)

Three kinds of influences:

o Temporary: brain and glands respond to current state

(Motivation, Emotion, & Mood)

o Permanent/Persistent: experience changes behavior, brain

responds differently (Learning & Memory)

o Heredity: gene expression (Genes: DNA)

E.g. When a experiencing a trauma:

o Short-term changes in behavior: Changes in hormonal

responses, brain chemistry, environmental cues, genetic

make-up

o Learning/Memory Formation, Gene Expression

o Which both can lead to long-term changes in behavior: Bad

memories, inability to deal with new stress

o Which can ultimately lead to Post-traumatic stress disorder

(PTSD)o From there: Clinical

Methods of Psychology

Opinion

o Nonscientific view

o Not based on observation

o Not systematic

o Two conflicting opinions can be valid

Fact


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o Verifiable

o Two people can agree that a certain event happened a certain

way

o Can get blurred but in science must make sure that facts are

recorded the way they areo One bit of information

o One objective observation

Hypothesis

o Based on what is observed

o Leads to prediction

o Can be changed

o A testable idea or proposal (leads to a prediction about a fact)

o E.g. the chicken and the egg theory

Theory

o Gives explanation

o Generates more hypothesis

o Leads to new facts

o A set of interrelated assumptions

o Organizes a set of facts giving them a common explanation

o Generates hypotheses and predicts new facts

o Judged by their usefulness, generality, and parsimony

o E.g. simple theory explains a lot Example:


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o Bad vs. Good driver

Find the correlation (relationship) between drivers who

talk and non talking

While the data may show that good drivers are usually

those who do not talk on the phone it does not meanthat is the case for everyone. More info is needed.

o Experiment

Independent variable

Avoid confounds

To make sure that it does not prefer one group

over the other.

Dependent variable

Objective

Reliable

Valid make a reasonable inference

Selection of subjects/participants

Random (representative sample)

Although it may seem that random is

unorganized, it is to make sure that the sample

group is representative of all group types.

o Theory

Complex activities require attention (cant attend toeverything at once)

Attention is limited

Divided attention (less focus) compromises performance

Psychologists have found that memory encoding is

especially compromised by multitasking (multitasking

have consequences)

How did Psychology get to where it is now?

Everyone thinks they are psychologists that they know the causes

of their behavior.


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o Intuitive approach (not scientific method)

o We do what we do according to our own free will. (We decide

what to do based on reflecting on past performances).

o Dualism: mind and body separate and independent. (We

think we are our consciousness.) Rationalism: We do what we do base on our ability to reason.

(Based on free will)

Instinct: We do things because thats how we are. (natural

born this way :P)

Humans vs. Animals?

o Social, physical, mental, religious views of how we are

different

o Challenges:

Behavioral and neural evidence

Darwins theory

Philosophical roots (and routes to) Psychology

Rene Descartes

o A duelist

o Theres the mind and the body are in parallel but still

separate parts

o Thought animals are completely different.

o Thought the pineal gland was the center Pineal gland is what makes jet lag. It can tell when it is

day or night, which is why Descartes called it the third

eye. It also produces melatonin.

o Led to the 1st experiment to see how the mind and the brain

could be connected

John Locke

o Empiricism

Tabula Rasa


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Born as an innocent baby knowing nothing at all

Gain knowledge through experience and ideas

James Mill

o Materialist

o Mind and matter are oneo Continuity of humans and other humans (said that were just

like animals)

o Were just a type of machine

Physiological roots (and routes to) Psychology

Rene Descartes

Luigi Galvani

o Physiologist

o Compared neurons/nerves with electricity

o Experiment w/ frog legs

His assistant touched the nerve of the frog legs with an

electrical current, which made the frog leg twitch.

Johannes Mller

o Different nerves/pathways (doctrine of specific nerve

energies)

o Experiment: pushed at his eye led to the conclusion of

physical and visual response

It is not the nerve but it sends current to a certain partof the brain that makes the visualization

Pierre Flourens

o Start experimental brain lesions (ablations) on animals

To investigate localizationism, i.e., whether different

parts of the brain had different functions


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Paul Broca

o How brain injuries create different responses

What a person can do or cannot do after the injury

o Brocas Area in the brain speech production

Hermann von Helmholtzo Theory of color vision

3 different kinds of cells on certain wavelengths

The First Psychologist:

The German Wave

o Muller and Helmholtz led to Wilhelm Wundt (1879)-

Heildelberg, Germany

Structuralism: Psychology = science of immediate

experience

Goal: Describe the elements of perceptual experience

o Max Wertheimer Gestalt Psychology

A theory of mind and brain positing; the operational

principle of Gestalt is that the brain is holistic, parallel,

and analog, with self-organizing tendencies

o Sigmund Freud

Unconscious causes of complex actions and personality

Therapeutic

Had minimal influence in psychology today Introduced cocaine as a medical treatment

American Revolution

o William James (1842- 1910)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holism


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Wrote Principles of Psychology

Functionalism: mental life and behavior is an

adaptation to environment

Divisions of memory

Attention Emotion

Cognitive Psychology

The Tao of Psychology (Tao: true nature of world/ doctrine/principles

Structures:

o Wundt

o Representation

o Brain areas

o Hippocampus

o Neurons

Function:

o James

o Processes

o Cognitive operations

o Memory

o Activation

Structures have some function and function have some type of

structureExamples of Introspective Report


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Wanted to understand immediate experience

Apple

o Cold, crisp, sweet

Meaning

o I see meaning as the blue-grey tip of a kind of scoop, whichhas a bit of yellow above it, and which is just digging into a

dark mass of what appears to be plastic material.

Titchener (Wundts student), of Cornell Univ.

Wundt thinks knowledge are basically mental imagery. Every

thought is closely tied with concrete images; even abstract word

meaning

Problems with Introspection

o Poor agreement between subjects

o Most mental operations outside awareness

o Process might change observed operations

o Inadequacies of language

Difficulties led to quest for more objective approaches:

Behaviorism

Might have the same visual representation but

different language

Classical Conditioning Experiment

Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936)o His laboratory study was with dogs

More objective

o Conditioning of dogs

Before dogs doesnt salivate when bell rings


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After when bell rings without food, dogs will still salivate

Association of food with an inanimate object

o Foundation for behaviorism

American Behaviorism (1913-1957)

John Watson (1878-1958)o 1930-published Behaviorism

o "Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own

specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take

any one at random and train him to become any type of

specialist I might select--doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-

chief, and, yes, even beggarman and thief, regardless of his

talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race

of his ancestors. I am going beyond my facts and I admit it,

but so have the advocates of the contrary and they have

been doing it for many thousands of years."

Think that he can take anyone and make them into

anything that he wants with training

BF Skinner (1904-1990)

o The Behavior of Organism

o Skinner box is a chamber that contains a bar or key that an

animal can press or manipulate in order to obtain food or

water as a type of reinforcement. The Skinner box also had adevice that recorded each response provided by the animal as

well as the unique schedule of reinforcement that the animal

was assigned.

Using the device researchers could carefully study

behavior in a very controlled environment.

Could be used to determine which schedule of

reinforcement led to the highest rate of response in the

study subjects.

Cognitive Revolution (1950-60s)

Noam Chomsky

o Modern linguistics

o Critique of Skinner

Herbert Simon

o One of the founder of Artificial Intelligence
http://psychology.about.com/od/behavioralpsychology/a/schedules.htmhttp://psychology.about.com/od/behavioralpsychology/a/schedules.htm


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o Human problem solving

Donald Broadbent

o Limited capacity

o Human attention

George Millero Short-term vs. long-term memory

21st Century Integrating Mind and Brain

All cognitive processes have a neural basis. Different area of brain

are active during different cognitive actions. Use different

techniques of brain imaging to localize areas in brain associated

with different cognitive functions.

Mind over body?

o Placebo effect

Influence of a substance or procedure due to receiving

it, even though substance/procedure itself has no effect

Effect is due to persons belief

Negative placebo (e.g., voodoo)

How is this possible?

If people believe something to work or they have

something their body will produce the effects as if

it is actually supposed to happen.

o How the brain responds when we do things Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

Can use virtual reality to reduce pain

How do we ever know that someone is conscious?

The limits of consciousness are hard to define satisfactorily, and

we can only infer the self-awareness of others by their appearance

and their acts. - Plum & Posner

Principle ofrevealed consciousness: Voluntary (i.e., non-

reflexive) behavior is taken torevealthe presence of

consciousness.

Conscious can be revealed because we can do things


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In other words, since we dont have access to measuring

consciousness directly, we rely on behavioral indications of

consciousness, or a principle of revealed consciousness, by which

the presence of non-reflexive behavior is taken to reveal the

presence of consciousness

Assessing consciousness in brain-injury patients

Detailed patient history (including structural MRI).

Repeated daily observation ofspontaneous and elicitedbehavior

using standardized (albeit subjective) assessments:

o i. Sustained, reproducible, purposeful, or voluntary response

to visual, auditory, tactile or noxious stimuli

o ii. Language comprehension or expression.

o iii. Awareness of self or the environment

If any evidence is found of i, ii or iii then the patient is diagnosed

MCS.

Ifno evidence is found of i, ii and iii then the patient is diagnosed

VS.

Imaging Consciousness


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If we can see the neural signature of imagining playing tennis

(motor imagery) and imagining walking around the rooms of ones

home(Spatial imagery), we can turn this into a code for yes and

no?

This would allow patients who cannot produce any behavioraloutput to:

o (1) Prove they are conscious

o (2) Communicate with their environment.

While a persons brain is working, they cant response normally.

E.g. A patient had been diagnosed VS (i.e., unconscious) for 5

years. Yet by looking into his brain he could (1) show volitional

behavior, and (2) correctly respond to 5 out of 6 autobiographical

questions.


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The Biology of the Mind 29/09/2011 15:37:00

Cortex

Is the reality check part of the brain

Connect senses

Thinking cap

Each neuron have a job Neurons make networks among cells

Neural Communications

Brain and nervous systems is incredibly complicated

The individual neurons are small simple things

o They either turn on or off

o Based on how they interact with each other

Neurons either excite or inhibit

o

If only: Excite will blow up

Inhibit shut everything down

o Must have a balance

Motor areas voluntary motion and reflexes

Sensory areas the 5 senses

Association areas sensory and memory

Nervous system is electrical

Basic neural processing is similar in humans and in other animals.


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Note similarities in the above brain regions between the rat, cat,

chimpanzee, and humans, which are all engaged in information

processing. But association areas are larger in humans.

The bodys information system is built from billions of

interconnected cells called neurons.Neurons

A nerve cell, or a neuron, consists of many different parts.

Parts of a neuron:

o Cell Body: Life support center of the neuron.

Keeps it alive

Most of our energy is used by our brain

o Dendrites: Branching extensions at the cell body. Receive

messages from other neurons.

Receiving ends, connect to the synapses

o Axon: Long single extension of a neuron, covered with myelin

[MY-uh-lin] sheath to insulate and speed up messages

through neurons.

o Terminal Branches of axon: Branched endings of an axon that

transmit messages to other neurons.

Have a threshold (basically all or nothing)

o Each neuron receives excitatory and inhibitory signals from

many neurons. When the excitatory signals minus theinhibitory signals exceed a minimum intensity (threshold) the

neuron fires an action potential.

Action Potential

o A neural impulse. A brief electrical charge that travels down

an axon and is generated by the movement of positively

charged atoms (ions) in and out of channels in the axons

membrane.

o Properties:

All-or-None Response: A strong stimulus can trigger

more neurons to fire, and to fire more often, but it does

not affect the action potentials strength or speed.

Intensity of an action potential remains the same

throughout the length of the axon.

Synapse:


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o Synapse [SIN-aps] a junction between the axon tip of the

sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving

neuron. This tiny gap is called the synaptic gap or cleft.


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Neurotransmitter:

o Neurotransmitters (chemicals) released from the sending

neuron travel across the synapse and bind to receptor sites

on the receiving neuron, thereby influencing it to generate an

action potential.o One neurotransmitter can influence many different brain

areas

o Reuptake:

Pills such as those for depression slow the reuptake

Neurotransmitters in the synapse are reabsorbed into

the sending neurons through the process ofreuptake.

This process applies the brakes on neurotransmitter

action.

How Neurotransmitter Influence Us

Serotonin pathways are involved with mood regulation.

Dopamine Pathways

o Dopamine pathways are involved with diseases such as

schizophrenia and Parkinsons disease.

o Contribute to learning and motion

Lock and Key Mechanisms


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o Neurotransmitters bind to the receptors of the receiving

neuron in a key-lock mechanism.

o Agonists mimics neurotransmitter

o Antagonists blocks neurotransmitter

Psychoactive Drugs Agonists mimic transmitter at receptor

o Domoic acid (contaminated shellfish), nicotine, propofol

(Michael Jackson)

Antagonists block the transmitter at receptor

o botox

Modulators alter (up or down) the effect of transmitter at its

receptor

o alcohol

Re-uptake Inhibitors increase effect of transmitters


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Transmitter Function Treatment Illegal Drugs

Serotonin Sleep, mood Depression w/SSRIs such as

prozac

Lysergic aciddiethylamide

(LSD), ecstasy

Norepinephrine Blood pressure,

attention

hypertension-

propranolol,ADHD-ritalin

Apparently not

Dopamine Movement,pleasure (reward)

Parkinsons (L-Dopa),

Schizophrenia(thorazine,

haldol)

Cocaine,amphetamine

Endogenous

Opioidsendorphin,

enkephalin

Regulation of pain Pain control after

injury or disease(morphine,

vicodin)

Heroin


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Anandamide Regulation of

neurotransmission

Nausea from

chemotherapy,

inflammatorydiseases

Marijuana


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Example drug effect: ecstasy (an amphetamine) -- primarily

influences serotonin system

o Acute effects:

Heightened perceptions

Reduced appetite Stimulation

Elevated mood

o Adverse effects:

Clouded thinking

Hyperthermia

Disturbed behavior

Jaw clenching

o Life threatening effects:

Hyperthermia

Arrthymias

Renal failure

Nervous Systems

Nervous System: Consists of all the nerve cells. It is the bodys

speedy, electrochemical communication system.

Central Nervous System (CNS): the brain and spinal cord.

o The Brain and Neural Networks:

Interconnected neurons form networks in the brain.Theses networks are complex and modify with growth

and experience.

o The Spinal Cord and Reflexes:

Reflexes often only include the spinal cord so for

example a finger is getting burned, the finger will reflex

back before the info reaches the brain.

o The Endocrine System:

The Endocrine System is the bodys slow chemical

communication system. Communication is carried out

by hormones synthesized by a set of glands.

Hormones:


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Hormones are chemicals synthesized by the

endocrine glands that are secreted in the

bloodstream. Hormones affect the brain and many

other tissues of the body.

For example, epinephrine (adrenaline)increases heart rate, blood pressure, blood

sugar, and feelings of excitement during

emergency situations.

The Pituitary Gland:

Is called the master gland. The anterior pituitary

lobe releases hormones that regulate other

glands. The posterior lobe regulates water and

salt balance.

Peripheral Nervous System (PNS): the sensory and motor neurons

that connect the central nervous system (CNS) to the rest of the

body.

o Somatic Nervous System: The division of the peripheral

nervous system that controls the bodys skeletal muscles.

o Autonomic Nervous System: Part of the PNS that controls the

glands and other muscles.

Sympathetic Nervous System: Division of the ANS that

arouses the body, mobilizing its energy in stressfulsituations. (flight or fight)

Parasympathetic Nervous System: Division of the ANS

that calms the body, conserving its energy. (rest and

digest)

o The Nerves:

Nerves consist of neural cables containing many

axons. They are part of the peripheral nervous system

and connect muscles, glands, and sense organs to the

central nervous system.

The Brain

A brain lesion experimentally destroys brain tissue to study animal

behaviors after such destruction.

Techniques to study the brain:

o Clinical observation:


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Clinical observations have shed light on a number of

brain disorders. Alterations in brain morphology due to

neurological and psychiatric diseases are catalogued.

o Electroencephalogram (EEG):

An amplified recording of the electrical waves sweepingacross the brains surface, measured by electrodes

placed on the scalp.

o PET Scan:

PET (positron emission tomography) scan is a visual

display of brain activity that detects a radioactive form

of glucose while the brain performs a given task.

o MRI Scan:

MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) uses magnetic fields

related to blood flow to produce computer-generated

images that distinguish among different types of brain

tissue. Top images show ventricular enlargement in a

schizophrenic patient. Bottom image shows brain

regions when a participants lies (functionalMRI, or

fMRI).

Older Brain Structures:

o The Brainstem is the oldest part of the brain, beginning where

the spinal cord swells and enters the skull. It is responsiblefor automatic survival functions.

The Medulla [muh-DUL-uh] is the base of the brainstem

that controls heartbeat and breathing.

The Thalamus [THAL-uh-muss] is the brains sensory

switchboard, located on top of the brainstem. It directs

messages to the sensory areas in the cortex and

transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla.

Reticular Formation is a nerve network in the brainstem

that plays an important role in controlling arousal.

o Cerebellum

The little brain attached to the rear of the brainstem.

It helps coordinate voluntary movements and balance.

o The Limbic System:


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The Limbic System is a doughnut-shaped system of

neural structures at the border of the brainstem and

cerebrum, associated with emotions such as fear,

aggression and drives for food and sex. It includes the

hippocampus, amygdala, and hypothalamus. The Amygdala [ah-MIG-dah-la] consists of two

lima bean-sized neural clusters linked to the

emotions of fear and anger.

The Hypothalamus lies below (hypo) the

thalamus. It directs several maintenance

activities like eating, drinking, body temperature,

and control of emotions. It helps govern the

endocrine system via the pituitary gland.

Reward Center:

Rats cross an electrified grid for self-stimulation

when electrodes are placed in the reward

(hypothalamus) center (top picture). When the

limbic system is manipulated, a rat will navigate

fields or climb up a tree (bottom picture).

The Cerebral Cortex:

o A big part of the brain

o The intricate fabric of interconnected neural cells that coversthe cerebral hemispheres. It is the bodys ultimate control

and information processing center.

o Structure of the Cortex:

Each brain hemisphere is divided into four lobes that

are separated by prominent fissures. These lobes are

the frontal lobe (forehead), parietal lobe (top to rear

head), occipital lobe (back head) and temporal lobe

(side of head).

o Functions of the cortex:

The Motor Cortex is the area at the rear of the frontal

lobes that control voluntary movements. The Sensory

Cortex (parietal cortex) receives information from skin

surface and sense organs.


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Visual Function: A functional MRI scan shows the

visual cortex is active as the subject looks at

faces.

Auditory Function: A functional MRI scans shows

the auditory cortex is active in patients whohallucinate.

Association Areas: More intelligent animals have

increased uncommitted or association areas of

the cortex.

o Language:

Aphasia is an impairment of language, usually caused

by left hemisphere damage either to Brocas area

(impaired speaking) or to Wernickes area (impaired

understanding).

o Specialization and Integration

Brain activity when hearing, seeing, or speaking words

o Why is it shaped the way that its shaped?

To increase surface area in a way so that a baby can be

born

Our Divided Brain

o The human brain is divided into two hemispheres.

o The left hemisphere (at least in right-handed people) isprimarily responsible reading, writing, speaking,

mathematics, and comprehension skills. It used to be termed

the dominant brain.

The Brains Plasticity

o The brain is sculpted by our genes but also by our

experiences.

o Plasticity refers to the brains ability to modify itself after

some types of injury or illness.

o Young children who lose an entire hemisphere (left or right)

may grow with near-normal cognitive abilities

o But children who lose their frontal cortex (front of the brain)

show major impairments in later life.

Splitting the Brain:


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o A procedure in which the two hemispheres of the brain are

isolated by cutting the connecting fibers (mainly those of the

corpus callosum) between them.

o Split brain patients:

With the corpus callosum severed, objects (apple)presented in the right visual field can be named.

Objects (pencil) in the left visual field cannot.


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29/09/2011 15:37:00

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Psych 10 Holyoak Lec