This document contains all the lectures in the course of neuropsychology. It provides a clear overview of all the material you need to learn before the exam. The document contains all slides including important additions that were discussed during the lectures.
- Neuropsychologie -
Weblecture 1 – Evolution & Function of the nervous system
Evolution & Historical perspectives on mind and brain
Why is the brain so important?
The brain’s primary function is to produce behavior. To do so, it must:
• Receive information about the world (door kijken, voelen enz.)
• Integrate information to create a sensory reality
• Make a constant stream of predictions about what to expect
Bv. Toen er electrische fietsen kwamen, ging je er eerst niet vanuit dat deze zo snel gingen.
• Produce commands to control the movement of muscles
To make up the nervous system altogether allows the brain to do so.
→ the brain doesn’t work alone, but together with all the nervous systems.
What is behavior?
• Relatively fixed behaviors
- Dependent on heredity
- → Is er op het moment dat ze geboren worden, je kan het gewoon doen
• Relatively flexible behaviors
- Dependent on learning
- → Je moet leren om het te doen
• Complexity of behavior varies considerably in different species depending on complexity of
nervous system
Hoe complexer het nervous-system is, hoe meer complex het brein is en hoe meer complex
gedrag het dier kan laten zien.
Snel overzicht van de geschiedenis van het brein
Philosophy of brain and behavior: Aristotle and Mentalism
Mentalism
• An explanation of behavior as a function of the nonmaterial mind
→ we kunnen het zien, het leiden ons maar het was niet observeer baar. Het was er nog
steeds na de dood.
• Ancient Greece: Aristotle
- Psyche or soul: Synonym for mind; an entity once proposed to be the source of human
behavior, that lives after death
Philosophy of brain and behavior: Descartes and Dualism
Dualism
• Both a nonmaterial mind and the material body contribute to behavior
• Mind directs rational behavior
• Body and brain direct all other behavior via mechanical and physical principles
- Examples: sensation, movement, and digestion
• Mind is connected to the body through the pineal gland of the brain
• Mind-body problem
- Difficult/impossible to explain a nonmaterial mind in command of a material body
- Moeilijk om de interactie tussen nonmaterial en body uit te leggen.
Toen kwamen we op het materialism…. Hier zijn we nog steeds op dit moment:
,Materialism
• Behavior can be explained as a function of the nervous system without considering the mind
as a separate substance
• Related to evolutionary theory of Charles Darwin
→
Darwin’s concept of natural selection:
• Differential success in the reproduction (i.e., passing on your genes) of different
characteristics/behavior (phenotypes) results from the interaction of organisms with their
environment! → als je je beter kan aanpassen aan de omgeving, zijn de kansen op het
overleven hoger.
• Traits/behavior that increase reproductive success and chances of survival will be passed on to
offspring
• Competition is a key concept
Evolution of Animals Having Nervous Systems
Ze gaan van heel simple nervous systems naar complexere nervous systes →
De nervous systems hebben ze aangepast aan de omgeving en op deze manier is de nervous system
en het brein meer complex geworden over de tijd.
The higher the rate between your
body weight and your brain weight,
hoe groter de rate → hoe meer
complex het gedrag is dat je kan
laten zien. Wij hebben relatief het
grootste brein.
Neuroplasticity → brain can continue to develop during life.
• The brain is plastic:
- Neural tissue has the capacity to adapt to the world by changing how its functions are
organized
- Because the brain can adapt to the world, different species (soorten) could develop
- Neuroplasticity is seen both in the developing brain and in adaptions of brain structure
following injury
,Epigenetics
• Study of differences in gene expression related to environment and experience
• Epigenetic factors do not change your genes, but they do influence how your genes operate
(niet alles in je DNA komt tot expressie in je leven, dit wordt bepaald door je omgeving).
• Epigenetic changes can persist throughout a lifetime, and the cumulative effects can make
dramatic differences in how your genes work and how likely a spieces is to pass on its genes
→ evolution
Plastic patterns of neural organization: phenotypic plasticity
An individual’s genotype (genetic makeup) interacts with the environment to elicit a specific
phenotype from a large repertoire of possibilities.
Hetzelfde DNA, in een verschillende omgeving kan resulteren in een verschillend fenotype.
Studying Brain and Behavior in modern humans
The brain – and especially the cortex – is highly flexible
- That means that humans can live VERY different lifestyles in VERY different environments,
with equal skill and success. That also means that individual differences in brain
organization are huge! The average brain does not exist!
- Er is niet zoiets als een normaal brein, het brein verschilt bij iedereen.
Anatomical & functional divisions of the nervous system
Overview of the structure of the brain → we gaan ze hierna ze één voor één bespreken
• Forebrain: major structure of the brain, consisting of two almost identical hemispheres (Left
and right). Prominent in mammals and birds, responsible for most higher order conscious
behaviors.
• Cerebellum: “little brain” – involved in the coordination of motor and cognitive processes.
• Brainstem: central structures of the brain, including the hindbrain, midbrain, thalamus &
hypothalamus. Source of behavior in simpler animals, responsible for most of our unconscious
behaviors
• Spinal cord: consists of nerves that carry incoming and outgoing messages between the brain
and the rest of the body including reflexes
, Dit is alles wat je moet weten! → Central Nerve-system
Van boven naar beneden → van higher order functions naar simpelere…. Different layers of
complexity.
Forebrain: Cerebral/Neo cortex
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