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• Neuropathology. The study of nervous system dysfunction.
• Neuropharmacology. The study of the effects of drugs on neural activity.
• Neurophysiology. The study of the functions and activities of the nervous system.
• Three major dimensions along which biopsychological research may vary:

  1. It can involve either human or nonhuman subjects.

  2. It can take the form of either formal experiments or nonexperimental studies.

  3. It can be either pure or applied.
• Humans have several advantages over other animals as experimental subjects of biopsychological research:

  ● They can follow instructions.

  ● They can report their subjective experiences.

  ● Their cages are easier to clean.

  ● Humans are often cheaper.

  ● Greatest advantage of humans: they have human brains.
• Why do biopsychologists bother studying nonhuman subjects?

  ● The evolutionary continuity of the brain.

  The brains of humans are similar in fundamental ways to the brains of other mammals—they differ mainly in their overall size and the extent of their cortical development (the differences are more quantitative than qualitative).
• One major difference between human and nonhuman subjects is that humans volunteer to be subjects and are more commonly referred to as participants or volunteers.
• Nonhuman animals have three advantages over humans as subjects in biopsychological research:

  1. The brains and behavior of nonhuman subjects are simpler than those of human participants. Hence, the study of nonhuman species is often more likely to reveal fundamental brain–behavior interactions.
  2. Insights frequently arise from the comparative approach
  3. It is possible to conduct research on laboratory animals that, for ethical reasons, are not possible with human participants.
• Because biopsychological research using nonhuman subjects is controversial, it first has to be approved by nonhuman animal ethics committees, a panel of individuals from a variety of backgrounds and with different world views.
• “three R’s”: Reduction, Refinement, Replacement
• Reduction - refers to efforts to reduce the numbers of animals used in research.
• Refinement - refining research studies or the way animals are cared for, so as to reduce suffering. - Providing animals with better living conditions.
• Replacement - the replacing of studies using animal subjects with alternate techniques. - Experimenting on cell cultures or using computer models (crash-test dummy in the auto industry).