PSY260: - L4

Reading §

Questions §

• Equipotentiality Versus Phrenology
  • What are the main differences between the explanations of brain function proposed by Franz Joseph Gall and those ultimately proposed by Karl Lashley? What evidence did each use to support his viewpoint?

Lecture §

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• Summary
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• Functional Properties of Learning and Memory Systems
  • What Brains Do
    • PNS -> Spine -> Brain --> PNS
      • Sensory signals (produced by stimuli) are initially processed in cortical regions specialized for processing such signals, and they ultimately lead to activity in other cortical regions, such as the motor cortex, that are specialized for coordinating movements (responses).
    • Reflexes are natural, automatic responses to stimuli.
      • Sherrington and other early neuroscientists believed that all complex learning involves combining simple spinal reflexes.
  • How Remembering Changes Brain Activity
    • highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM), or hyperthymesia
  • Neurophysiology
    • Direct implantation of wires into the brain allows both recording and stimulation of single neurons
    • fMRI: use fMRI to make comparisons between HSAM vs controls
• Finding and Manipulating Memories
  • Neuropsychology: work with patients to tie together damage location and behaviour
  • What 2 “language” does Neuron speak?
    1. Neurotransmitters or NT (chemicals): dendrites receives NT signal
    2. Action potential (electrical): excitation > threshold
  • What are the 2 sides of the Synapse and what does it do
  • What are the common ways Psychopharmacology use drugs to alter the brain
    1. Mimic Neurotransmitters (agonist)
    2. Block receptors (antagonist)
    3. Change synthesis
    4. Change recycling
    • What are the pros and cons of the drugs
      • Pros: interfaces the chemical language, produce different effects
      • Cons: not selective brain region; brain can adjust (tolerance)
  • Karl Lashley’s Engram
    • Engram: physical change in the brain that is the basis of our memories (or a memory trace)
    • Proposed the theory of equipotentiality
    • Theory of equipotentiality: The theory that memories are stored globally by the brain as a whole rather than in one particular brain area
  • Synaptic Plasticity
    • Long-term potentiation (LTP) A process in which synaptic transmission becomes more effective as a result of recent activity
    • Aligned with the kinds of Associative Model by William James
    • Connect with connectionist models

Question §

• 天生“手脚不协调”和”运动员“之间 会有大脑里本质的区别吗，天生的吗？