Historical and Conceptual Issues in Psychology by M. Brysbaert and K. Rastle (second edition) – Book Summary
- 1678 reads
Ancient Egyptian physicians knew the importance of the brain in behaviour as was shown by the Edwin Smith Papyrus. Plato believed the soul consisted of three parts and the brain was the most important part.
Aristotle, on the other hand, believed that thought was located in the heart because of the heart’s central location (1), its importance for emotion (2) and because all living organisms have a heart (3). According to Aristotle, the function of the brain was to cool the heat of the heart.
Galenus discovered a function of the nerve pathways and established the role of the brain as the hub of behaviour. He believed the brain communicated with the body through ventricles (1), animal spirits (2) and nerves (3). Vesalius created a functional division for the ventricles; common sense and fantasy (1), thoughts (2) and memory (3).
Descartes introduced mechanical ideas and viewed other organisms as automatons. His mechanical theory of reflex states that a sensory sensation travels through the nerves (1), this is bounced back like a mirror (2) and this leads to involuntary behaviour (3). According to Descartes, the soul remained spiritual in nature and the body and the soul interact in the pineal gland.
Gall founded two different subdisciplines:
Spurzheim formulated phrenology. Willis proposed that higher brain structures existed for more complex organisms and allowed for more complex functions and that the lower structures allowed for elementary functions. This means that a more complex animal has more brain structures and a less complex animal only has the lower brain structures.
In the 19th century, there are five breakthroughs which altered the model of brain functioning:
The reflex arc refers to the mechanism involved in involuntary movement elicited by sensory stimuli. This led to the notion that higher complex mental functions (e.g. inhibition) are a neuronal reflex.
The localisation theory was held back by the notion that the mind exists independent from the body. Reticularism refers to the idea that the brain is a continuous network and was supported by Golgi.
The equipotentiality theory states that the cortex is a functional whole and that if one part stops working, other parts will compensate for this. Flourens believed that localisation of function occurred in the brainstem but not in the cortex.
Jackson has several important characteristics:
According to Jackson, the failure of a brain area to work properly due to brain damage leads to a loss of the function. Fritz and Hitzig confirm Jackson experimentally and they find that localization occurs in the cortex. Bartholow experimentally confirms Fritz and Hitzig on a human.
During the enlightenment, the body was seen as a mechanism and empirical research increases. The reflex arc is discovered but the cortex remains poorly understood. Spencer states that in evolution there is survival of the fittest (1) and that all structures evolve from undifferentiated and homogeneous to differentiated and heterogeneous (2). This assumes that organisms become more complex.
James proposed that emotion is a bodily response and that conscious awareness comes later. Later came the idea that the thalamus might be the emotion area in the brain. The hypothalamus took over this position and was later expanded to include the amygdala.
There was a differentiation between the hypothalamus and the cortex:
The visceral brain (later: limbic system) was believed to be responsible for aggression, oral and sexual behaviour and was not involved in linguistics. This was used in Freud’s psychoanalysis.
Hebb believed that the brain was a dynamic network and believed that the more a connection between two neurons is used, the stronger this connection becomes, leading to the notion of long-term potentiation. Long-term potentiation allows for the idea of the brain as an evolving network as a function of input from other parts of the brain and the environment. McCulloch and Pitt also believed that the brain consisted of a neural network.
The insights of Hebb, McCulloch and Pitts led to the idea of neural networks and these networks could be tested in computer programmes. The networks appeared to respond to stimulus-response sequences and reinforcement when learning elementary tasks, showing the potential of behaviourism in neuroscience. However, testing models in computer programmes was held back by the limitations of the computers as every extra layer made the model more complex.
Luria employed Romantic science, doing comprehensive case studies on soldiers during and after the second world war. He formulated three laws:
There are several methods of brain imaging:
In EEG, there are slow, regular waves – alpha waves – and fast, irregular waves, beta waves. The waves are large if the neurons fire at a slow pace in synchrony. The waves are small if the neurons fire rapidly and independently. ERP allows researchers to investigate differences in the signal as a function of characteristics of the stimulus. MEG has a high temporal and spatial resolution.
A limitation of fMRI is that oxygen can only be registered a few times per second and, therefore, more detailed processes cannot be measured. It has a high spatial resolution and a low temporal resolution. TMS allows for causal research.
Premature acceptance of biological explanations (e.g. serotonin deficiency causes depression) as a result of neuroscience (e.g. brain imaging) is risky and might lead to modern phrenology. This might be because all brain imaging techniques (except TMS) only give a correlation.
Nowadays, there is functional specialization in the brain although it is believed that most mental processes depend on multiple functional areas and that most areas contribute to different functions and the brain is seen as dynamic. There appears to be a hierarchy in terms of integration and abstraction but not in terms of importance.
Criticism of cognitive neuroscience refers to the fact that it might not be possible to define how the brain computes and encodes psychological processes and it is only possible to localize cognitive functions. However, there are several arguments in defence of cognitive neuroscience:
Join with a free account for more service, or become a member for full access to exclusives and extra support of WorldSupporter >>
This bundle describes a summary of the book "Historical and Conceptual Issues in Psychology by M. Brysbaert and K. Rastle (second edition)". The following chapters are used:
- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13
This bundle contains everything you need to know for the first interim exam of Fundamentals of Psychology for the University of Amsterdam. It uses the book "Historical and Conceptual Issues in Psychology by M. Brysbaert and K. Rastle (second edition)". The bundle
...There are several ways to navigate the large amount of summaries, study notes en practice exams on JoHo WorldSupporter.
Do you want to share your summaries with JoHo WorldSupporter and its visitors?
Main summaries home pages:
Main study fields:
Business organization and economics, Communication & Marketing, Education & Pedagogic Sciences, International Relations and Politics, IT and Technology, Law & Administration, Medicine & Health Care, Nature & Environmental Sciences, Psychology and behavioral sciences, Science and academic Research, Society & Culture, Tourisme & Sports
Main study fields NL:
JoHo can really use your help! Check out the various student jobs here that match your studies, improve your competencies, strengthen your CV and contribute to a more tolerant world
2144 |
Add new contribution