Biopsych Chapter 1

What is a prefrontal lobotomy and why is this an example of bad science?

A prefrontal lobotomy is when surgeons cut the connections between prefrontal lobes and the rest of the brain. Dr. Egas Moniz heard that a chimpanzee was easier to handle after her prefrontal lobes were destroyed, so he conducted an experiment on 6 psychiatric patients. After it was "successful" (patients were easier to manage) the practice spread all across the world. It is an example of bad science because the surgery was based on the observation of one non-human primate, he didn't even "study" the 6 patients, Moniz was not able to be an objective evaluator of the technique they had developed, no controlled studies were performed, and Moniz was a doctor, not a researcher.

Define the concept of "converging operations"

Converging operations involves using methods from the six divisions of psychology to solve biopsychology puzzles. Takes knowledge from different approaches, combines that knowledge. Example: the case of Jimmie G.

Psychopharmacology

(applied research) manipulates neural activity and behavior pharmacologically (with drugs), focuses on how drugs change behavior

Neuropsychology

(applied) focuses on behavioral deficits of brain damage and how it affects psychological tests, behavior, etc, case studies, human subjects

Physiological psychology

(pure research) direct manipulation and recording of brain activity in a controlled laboratory setting either by lesions (removal of areas of the brain) or electrical stimulation (what is the impact on behavior?) non-human subjects

Biopsychology research involves what kind of subjects?

Human, non-human

How is biopsychology a part of neuroscience?

It focuses on how the nervous system influences behavior

What is the difference between pure research and applied research, and where does translational research fit in?

Pure research is for the purpose of acquiring knowledge, whereas applied research has a direct benefit to humans. Translational takes knowledge from peer research and translates it into practical ways for the average human to utilize.

What is an example of bad science?

The prefrontal lobotomy

How are non-human subjects better than human subjects?

They can perform unethical experiments, brains are much simpler, faster life cycle

How are human subjects better than non-human?

They can report on their subjective experience, more generalizable to humans, less expensive

What is the method that scientists use to study the unobservable?

They use scientific inference to observe the effects of unobservable processes, which allows us to infer something about the actual process itself. They carefully measure key events and then use these measures as a basis for logically inferring the nature of events they cannot observe.

What is scientific inference used for?

Used to infer the nature of unobservable processes by observing their effects

Psychophysiology

focuses on the relationship between psychological processes (emotion, attention) and physiological activity (brain activity, heart rate, blood pressure, eye movement), often human subjects Example: what happens to your heart rate (physiological) when you are angry (psychological)?

Comparative Psychology

the biology of behavior (not necessarily neural mechanisms) comparing animals and humans, across species, subjects are usually laboratory animals and animals in their natural environments Example: observing animals and comparing them to human's social hierarchy and how we live

Cognitive Neuroscience

the goal of understanding the neural basis of cognition (higher intellectual processes, like thinking and memory), noninvasive functional brain imaging methods capture brain activity while engaging in cognitive processes, subjects are humans Example: fMRI scanner, having participants do tasks that get increasingly harder

Biopsychology

the scientific study of the biology of behavior (one discipline of neuroscience) young discipline (1949) characterized by an eclectic approach (use research from many areas to describe, understand, predict behavior)

What is neuroscience?

the study of the brain and the nervous system

What is converging operations?

the use of several research approaches to solve a single problem

Biopsych research methods can include what?

1. Human and non-human subjects 2. experiments and non-experiments (quasi-experimental studies, case studies) 3. Pure, applied, and translational research

Six divisions of biopsychology

1. Physiological Psychology - direct manipulation/recording of brain activity 2. Psychopharmacology - manipulates neural activity/behavior with drugs 3. Neuropsychology - study of behavioral deficits of brain damage 4. Psychophysiology - relation between psychological and physiological processes in humans 5. Cognitive Neuroscience - study of neural basis of cognition 6 Comparative Psychology - biology of behavior across species

What is an experiment?

An experiment has an independent variable (the variable that participants differ on) and a dependent variable (output of interest)

What is a non-experiment?

Non-experiments typically compare groups of people who already have one variable present in their lives (researchers don't subject them to the variable) Quasi-experimental studies: comparing two different groups of people who differ on one variable Example: doing an experiment on people who have drank alcohol heavily for 30-40 years and comparing them to people who rarely drink. It is unethical to force a group to drink heavily, so they study people who naturally did it Case studies: an in-depth study of one person, limited by generalizability