Neuro Ch 1

Scientific study of disorders and disease of the nervous system

Combination of neurology, psychiatry, neuroscience

Medical speciality encompassing diseases, conditions, and infections of the NS (brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves)

medical specialty that includes the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental illness and includes addition and substance use disorders

Scientific study of the brain and nervous sytem, including:

• molecular neuroscience
• cellular neuroscience
• cognitive neuroscience
• psychophysics
• computational modeling

~300 BC--the brain is the major controlling center in the body, earlier ideas focused on the heart as the organ for perception~100 BC--Galen examined brains by vivisections (surgery on live animals).

Introduced idea of spirits circulating between the liver, heart and brain

Proposed that animal spirits produced in the lining of the ventricles of the brain flowed into nerves to produce movement and that the seat of the rational soul was the brain

• - Founded modern anatomy by dissecting humans
• - found that critical aspects of Galen's anatomy were incorrect

Proposed that spirits flowed to and fro from the pineal gland via nerves

Recognized existences of reflexes but didn't use this term

Gained knowledge of the brain from very careful dissections

Concluded that the cerebral cortex was the site of higher functions, ad actions and sensations mediated via nerves

Distinction between immortal soul (only humans) and material or coporal soul (shared by all animals).

Animals had rudimentary perception, cognition, and memory

Introduced the term neurology, and coined the term reflexion for describing rapid automatic reactions later termed reflexes

artist/architect

Drew detailed picture of the brain

Found indirect evidence for intrinsic electrical activity in the nervous system

Phrenology--observing the shape of the skull to determine functions of brain underneath

Opened door to more rigourous localization studies

Correlated pathology with behaviour

"Tan" patient with left frontal lobe damage, presented evidence for functional asymmetry of the brain

Modern Neurolgoy

Examined NS in postmortems

Classified features of many disorders

- Golgi staining

- Concept of unidirectional flow of information along nerve cells

- Behaviour can be explained by neural networks

- Complex behaviours can be broken down to simpler components

- Discovered inhibition in the NS

- Introduced the term synapse

- Motivations and drives can be largely unconscious --supported by experimental support