Study/lecture notes for first-year psychology - an introduction to neuropsychology
*Please note that the information in the document is not my own knowledge, it belongs to the Unversity of the Witwatersrand and is comprised of notes from lectures and textbooks.
INTRODUCING THE BASICS
Contents
Introducing the Basics .................................................................................................................................................... 1
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................ 2
The History of Neuropsychology ................................................................................................................................. 2
The influence of cognitive psychology on neuropsychology ................................................................................... 5
research methods in neuropsychology ................................................................................................................... 5
the qualitative and quantitative approaches to clinical neuropsychology .............................................................. 7
Biological Systems....................................................................................................................................................... 9
Meningitous ............................................................................................................................................................ 9
The nervous system .................................................................................................................................................. 11
The central nervous system .................................................................................................................................. 11
Skull and meninges ............................................................................................................................................... 12
The hindbrain............................................................................................................................................................ 13
.............................................................................................................................................................................. 13
Medulla oblonga ................................................................................................................................................... 13
The pons ............................................................................................................................................................... 14
The cerebellum ..................................................................................................................................................... 14
THE MIDBRAIN .......................................................................................................................................................... 14
Portions of the reticular formation ....................................................................................................................... 14
Substantive nigra .................................................................................................................................................. 15
Colliculi ................................................................................................................................................................. 15
THE FOREBRAIN ........................................................................................................................................................ 16
.............................................................................................................................................................................. 18
Limbic system: ...................................................................................................................................................... 18
the frontal lobes ................................................................................................................................................... 21
Cerebrum: ............................................................................................................................................................. 21
The parietal lobes ................................................................................................................................................. 22
The temporal lobes ............................................................................................................................................... 23
the occipital lobes ................................................................................................................................................. 24
LATERALISATION OF THE BRAIN ............................................................................................................................... 26
In summary ............................................................................................................................................................... 27
Moving on to the Peripheral Nervous System .............................................................................................................. 28
The peripheral nervous system................................................................................................................................. 28
It has two main parts: ........................................................................................................................................... 28
The somatic nervous system..................................................................................................................................... 29
Autonomic nervous system ...................................................................................................................................... 30
the endocrine system ............................................................................................................................................... 31
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,INTRODUCTION
Psychiatry
medical speciality in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness and emotional disorders.
▪ Historically, brain structures (neurological) were viewed separately Clinical neuropsychology
from brain functions (psychiatric). focuses on cognitive rather
▪ Neuropsychiatrists specialise in the psychiatric or functional than emotional disorders.
aspects of ‘structural’ neurological disease.
A neurologist
a medical doctor who specialises in brain and nervous system disorders, while a
neuropsychologist looks for the relationships between the mind and the brain
▪ Neuropsychology links knowledge from neurology and psychology
Neuropsychology
the branch of psychology that tries to understand how brain structure and function relate
to psychological processes.
THE HISTORY OF NEUROPSYCHOLOGY
In the 19th century (when this distinction first arose)
▪ doctors classified mental disorders that were caused by a structural change in the brain as
neurological – they could see these changes when they did an autopsy on the brain.
▪ Mental disorders that could not be seen in brain changes were classified as psychiatric and
were considered to be disorders of brain function.
▪ This was the start of the trend where brain structures were viewed separately from brain
functions.
o However, these days psychiatrists point out that many of the functional disorders (such
as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia) are due to micro-level changes (such as over-
activity or under-activity in a particular neurotransmitter system), and so they treat
them with medicines that act on these neurotransmitter pathways.
▪ Many neurological disorders (such as epilepsy and Parkinson’s disease) have a similar basis
and approach to treatment.
o This shows that the difference between structure and function is no longer clear-cut.
o These days some psychiatrists specialise in what they call neuropsychiatry; in other
words, they specialise in the psychiatric or functional aspects of ‘structural’ neurological
disease.
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,In general, neuropsychology is still concerned primarily with neurological (as opposed to
psychiatric) disorders, as it attempts to describe the mental changes that result from structural
changes in the brain.
▪ In this respect, the difference between neuropsychology and neuropsychiatry
corresponds roughly with the difference between cognition and affect (emotion). Clinical
neuropsychology focuses mainly (but by no means exclusively) on cognitive rather than
emotional disorders.
In the 1860s, Broca identified a part of the brain where language production is located.
▪ discovered that damage to a particular part of the left hemisphere of the human brain
results in loss of language.
▪ This part of the brain is now known as Broca’s area
▪ Broca’s discovery caused considerable excitement in the European scientific circles at the
time because language is a mental function (and, more specifically, a human mental function).
▪ Therefore, a part of the brain had been identified where language production was located.
This discovery led to an increase in research into the brain, but mainly focused on trying to
localise mental functions.
Wernicke localised the ability to understand speech to the frontal lobes.
▪ Carl Wernicke localised the ability to understand speech to the temporal
▪ this area is now called Wernicke’s area.
This led to the idea that all mental functions could be located in particular places in the brain.
o However, other theorists proposed that the brain functions as a holistic unit.
Luria argued that both are partially right: mental abilities are combinations of many low-level or
basic functions.
These classical localisations were made by inferring a relationship between the mental function
that was lost, and the damaged part of the brain seen when an autopsy was done. This research
led to a school of thought that argued that all mental functions could be located in particular
places in the brain.
Localisation was not completely accepted, however. In 1891, Sigmund Freud criticised the
authoritative works of Broca, Wernicke and Ludwig Lichtheim, which argued that the various
components of language – spontaneous speech, comprehension, repetition, reading and writing –
were localised in a patchwork of centres on (and just below) the surface of the left hemisphere.
3
, Other authorities also criticised the diagram makers for reducing the dynamic complexities of
the mind to simple models of nervous centres and their connections. Other theorists proposed
that the brain functioned as an integrated unit and that mental functions were holistic things that
depended on the concerted functioning of the brain as a whole.
Aleksandr Romanovich Luria
▪ argued that both these views were right to a degree.
▪ said that although a whole mental capacity cannot be reduced to the activities of a limited
zone of the cerebral cortex, it was also true that different cortical zones performed
different functions.
▪ His compromise position put forward the idea that there were groups of cortical zones
that worked together to produce each complex mental ability (like speech).
▪ argued that mental abilities were combinations of many low-level or basic functions, and
that only the low-level elements could be narrowly localised (like sound production or
awareness of sounds).
▪ The abilities themselves were made up of dynamic interactions between the components.
▪ While this meant that the abilities as a whole could not be narrowly localised, Luria argued
that the task of neuropsychology was to identify the localisable components of each
complex ability.
Luria’s idea that complex mental functions are produced by dynamic neural networks as
opposed to static centres gained rapid support and is still the standard way of thinking in
neuropsychology today.
Neuropsychology is still developing in South Africa.
▪ It is still very much a clinical discipline
▪ the impact of individual practitioners in the field is more strongly felt than in other branches
of psychology.
▪ Michael Saling devised a qualitative, Luria-based approach to neuropsychological assessment
that is suitable for the country’s diverse population.
The Professional Board for Psychology of the HSCSA has established a professional category for
neuropsychology.
▪ Certification is conducted by the South African Clinical Neuropsychological Association
(SACNA).
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