Neuropsychology

the study of the relationship between behaviour and brain function

the idea that the brain is the main source for behaviour.

the unit of brain structure and function is the neruon.

The brain is a network of neurons.

has two HEMISPHERES

it is filled with CEREBRAL SPINAL FLUID to cushion the brain from damage.

outer layer of the brain is called the CEREBRAL CORTEX

• --> Gyri (folds)
• --> Sulci (creases)

large Sulci are called FISSURES

• -->longitudinal separated the hemispheres
• -->lateral divides divides each hemispheres into halves

Temporal: hearing

Frontal: last to develop fully and has to do with absract thinking, memory, planning, higher executive functions.

Parietal: any senses that arent hearing and seeing as well as finding things in space (spatial layout)

Occipital: Vision

Corpus callosum is how the two halves of the brain communicate with one another.

central nervous system, composed of the brain and the spinal cord

the nervous system that runs throughout the body....

made up of the somatic and autonomic systems which then break down further into the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems.

Where Descartes believed the MIND could be found in the brain. 

not found on both halves of the brain and was close to the ventricles.

Cortex was just there for the PROTECTION of the Pineal gland.

BUT WAS REFUTED DUE TO THE FACT THAT WHEN THE PINEAL GLAND WAS DAMAGED, THERE WAS NO CHANGE TO BEHAVIOUR!!

the position that the mind and the body are separate but INTERACT with one another

Descartes

Behaviour is caused by two things

rational behaviour can be fully explained by the nervous system without having to refer to the "mind" which is NOT materialized and palpable

• Gall-phrenology
• bump on the skull meant well developed areas and places with indents meant that it was ill developed.

• specific functions being localized to certain areas of the brain, rather than others.

Language is lateralized in the left hemisphere

• Broca's area- Broca's aphasia
• Wernicke's area- wernicke's aphasia

CONDUCTION APHASIA- damage to the connection between Broca's and Wernicke's ...articuate fasciculus--> REPITION IS THE PROBLEM

• Alexia: loss of the ability to read
• Apraxia: loss of sequenced movements.

• John Hughlings-Jackson
•  nervous system was organized in a hierarchal manner

THREE LEVELS: spinal cord, brainstem, and forebrain

if damage occurs to the higher levels, regression occurs back to older versions of the brain

how is it that we process sensory aspects in different areas of the brain although we perceive the object as a whole?

can describe objects accurately but make mistakes when reaching for them. 

damage to the pathway from the occipital lobe to the temporal lobe.

neural representations of different parts of the body on the brain

HOMONCULUS

the science measuring humans mental abilities

cutting a circular hole into the skull to relieve pressure or pain.

your mental age divided by chronological age multiplied by 100

age of you brain (tested with tests) divided by your age as a human being then X by 100 

hardening of nerve fibre pathways in the spinal cord.

loss of sensory and motor function.

xrays through the head

dead cells show darker on the screen because they contain more water

injection of radioactive substances that reach the brain  which then gives off photons to be picked up by a machine.

Damaged areas use less oxygen.

detects electrical charge generated by thier movement

uses levels of oxygen to determine brain activity

the functional units that control the expression of traits

slight alterations= MUTATIONS 

a sequence of animals that represent consecutive stages in evolutionary history

hedgehogs, tree shrew bush babies, monkeys, apes 

the genetic material found in a cells nucleus.

the full set of genes of a species

changes occur due to ADAPTATION 

the ratio of actual brain size to expected brain size.

as mammals increase in body size, the size of the brain increases a little bit less.

The human brain is exceptionally large from this case.

the rate of maturation slowing down enough that some of the juvenile features of earlier mammals become adult features in the next species.

EXAMPLES: the big toe, brain size, small faces, upright posture....

these were found as primitive features in the earlier humans but now are adult features of modern day humans