time when biopsychology became major neuroscientific discipline
20th century
played a key role in emergence of biopscyhology
the organization of behavior (donald hebb, 1949)
developed the first comprehensive theory of how complex psychological phenomena such as perceptions, emotions, thoughts and memories might be produced by brain activity
donald hebb
based his theory on experiments involving both human and nonhuman animals
donald hebb
structure of the nervous system
neuroanatomy
chemical bases of neural activity
neurochemistry
interactions between nervous and endocrine system
neuroendocrinology
nervous system dysfunction
neuropathology
effects of drugs on neural activity
neuropharmacology
functions and activities of the nervous system
neurophyioslogy
mice, rats, cats, dogs and primates
nonhuman subjects
can follow instructions, report subjective experiences
humans
humans volunteer to be subjects
participants or volunteers
study of biological processes by comparing to different species
comparative approach
3 advantages of nonhuman animals
brains and behavior of nonhuman subjects are simpler
comparative approach
possible to research on laboratory animals when humans are not ethically possible
used by scientists to study causation and find out what causes what
experiments
different group of subjects is tested under each condition
between-subjects design
test the same group of subjects under each condition
within-subjects design
experimenter assigns the subjects to conditions
independent variable
variable measured by the experimenter to assess the effect of IV
dependent variable
more than one difference that could affect the DV, difficult to determine whether it was IV or unintended difference, effect that is incontrolled
confoundedvariable
Fact that a copulating male who becomes incapable of continuing to copulate with one sex partner can often recommence copulating with a new sex partner
coolidge effect
Studies of groups of subjects who have been exposed to the conditions of interest in the real world, many variable + observation on the intervention
quasiexperimentalstudies
Focus on single subject or very small number of subjects, comparative analysis
casestudies
The degree to which their results can be applied to other cases
generalizability
Motivated primarily by the curiosity of the researcher
Done for the purpose of acquiring knowledge
pure research
Aims to translate the findings of pure research into useful applications for humankind
translational research
Bring about some direct benefit to humankind
applied research
Studies the neural mechanisms of behavior through the direct manipulation and recording of the brain in controlled experiments (surgical and electrical methods)
physiological psychology
Focuses on the manipulation of neural activity and behavior with drugs
psychopharmacology
Study of psychological effects of brain dysfunction in human patients
neuropsychology
Studies the relation between physiological activity and psychological processes in humans
psychophysiology
Youngest division of biopsychology
Study the neural bases of cognition
cognitive neuroscience
Refers to higher intellectual processes such as thought, memory, attention and complex perceptual processes
cognition
Major method of cognitive neuroscience
functional brain imaging
Focuses on the behavior of animals in their natural environments
Compare the behavior of different species in order to understand the evolution, genetics and adaptiveness of behavior
comparative psychology
Study of behavior in an animal’s natural environment
ethological research
Different approaches are focused on a single problem in such a way that the strengths of one approach compensate for the weakness of the others