1. Behavioral
Neuroscience
Chapter 2
Copyright © Prentice Hall 2007 2-1

2. Behavioral Neuroscience
• Why study this in psychology?
• How can it help us understand the goals of
psychology?
• Goals
– Describe
– Understand
– Predict
– Control or modify
• Behaviors & thoughts

3. Biology and Behavior
• Behavioral neuroscience
–Studies
• Relation between biological & psychological
functions
–Can help us understand
• Nature of personality
• Causes of abnormal behavior
• Reaction to stress
• Effectiveness of therapy
Copyright © Prentice Hall 2007 2-3

4. Historical View of the Brain
• 1000 BC Egyptian Pharaohs mummification
• Brain
– Removed & discarded
• Vital to afterlife
– Heart
• Left in body
• Seen as containing perception, cognition & soul
– Intestines, liver, lungs & stomach
• Removed, wrapped & placed in canopic jars.

5. Historical View of the Brain
• Many cultures similar views of heart
• Brain interpreted in various ways
– Aristotle cooling emotions of heart
• Change began in 1500’s
• Leonardo da Vinci 1452-1519
– Head seen as holding cognition
– Ventricle system
• Holes in the brain.

6. Ventricular System
• Cavities or holes in brain holding
cerebrospinal fluid

7. Mrs. Garrison’s Theory of Evolution

8. Evolutionary Psychology
• Focuses on
–Adapted benefits of selected behaviors
• Women
–Talk
–Multi-task
» Women larger area for communication
• Men
–Quiet
–Singularly focused
» Larger area of brain for sex

9. • Why doesn’t an organism ever
achieve perfect adaption?
Evolutionary Psychology

10. • Why doesn’t an organism ever
achieve perfect adaption?
–Each adaption has:
• Costs?
• Benefits?
–Increased head size?
Evolutionary Psychology

11. Evolution Does :
• Works to improve
reproduction success
Evolution Doesn’t:
• Work to improve a
species
• Have a conscious plan
or purpose
• Work to produce
happiness or
contentment
Evolution

12. Evolutionary Psychology
– Natural selection
• Evolutionary process by which those individuals of a
species that are best adapted are the ones that survive
& reproduce
– Survivors better adapted to world than non-
survivors

13. Evolutionary Psychology
 Emphasizes importance of
 Adaptation
 Reproduction
 “Survival of the fittest”
 In shaping behavior
 Spatial skills in finding way home
 Fit
 Ability to
 Bare offspring that survive long enough to bare offspring
 Pass your genes to next generation

14. Biology and Behavior
• Scientists who study this:
–Represent several disciplines
• Psychology (especially physiological
psychologists)
• Biology
• Medicine
• Others
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15. Neurons
• Neurons
–Cells that transmit information
• Neurons are composed of:
–Dendrites
–Soma
• Cell Body
–Axon

16. Myelin Sheath
• Myelin Sheath
– Composed of glial cells
• (Greek word for “glue”)
– Coats axon of some neurons
– White matter of brain
– Functions:
• Speeds neurotransmission
• Insulates neurons from each other
• Makes neurotransmission more efficient
• Removes waste
• Occupies vacant space when neurons die
• Other purposes
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17. Copyright © Prentice Hall 2007 2-17
• Myelin
–Looks like string of sausages
–Doesn’t cover entire length of axon
–Nodes of Ranvier
• Space between “sausages”
• Nerve impulse jumps from 1 node of
Ranvier to next
• Transmission up to 100 x’s faster
–Unmeylinated axons

18. Terminal Button
1. Synthesis of
neurotransmitter (NT)
2. Storage & transport of
NT within vesicles
3. NT Release
4. Activation of
postsynaptic receptors
5. Termination of
transmitter effect (e.g.
reuptake)

19. Neurotransmitters
• Dopamine
– Controls arousal levels
– Significant role in motor movement
– Reward & punishment
• Serotonin
– Role in
• Weight regulation
• Sleep
• Depression
• Suicide
• obsessive–compulsive disorder
• Aggression
• Wide range of other disorders & behavior problems.
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20. • Acetylcholine
– Attention
– Learning
– Memory
• Norepinephrine
–Also a hormone
–Physical & mental arousal
–Heightens mood
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Neurotransmitters

21. Synapse
• Synapse
–Space between axon terminal &
adjacent dendrite or cell body
• Neurotransmitter (NT)
–Molecules released from terminal
button into synapse.

22. Neurons: Basic Cells of the
Nervous System
• Synapses
– Cleared rapidly
• So additional signals can be transmitted
• Cleared in 1 of 2 ways, depending on
neurotransmitter
– 1. breakdown
• Broken down & removed
– 2. Reuptake
• Recycled back into vesicles
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23. • SSRIs block reuptake of serotonin
• Called selective
– Primarily affect serotonin
• Changes balance of serotonin
SSRI Reuptake Inhibitor

24. SSRI Reuptake Inhibitor
• Generic names followed by brand names
–Citalopram (Celexa)
–Escitalopram (Lexapro)
–Fluoxetine (Prozac, Prozac Weekly, Sarafem)
–Paroxetine (Paxil, Paxil CR, Pexeva)
–Sertraline (Zoloft)
–Fluoxetine combined with the atypical
antipsychotic olanzapine (Symbyax)

25. Psychoactive Drugs
• Drugs work in synapse
• Agonists enhance neurotransmitter function
• Antagonists block neurotransmitter function

26. Psychoactive Drugs
• Psychoactive drugs
–Affect nervous system
• Alter mood
• Emotion
• Thought
– Act by:
• Increasing or decreasing release of
neurotransmitters
• Stimulating or blocking receptor sites

27. Opiates binding to opiate
receptors
• Increased dopamine release