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What was Platos view on where the soul is located ?

Thought the soul was divided into 3 parts, situated in the

1. Brain
--> for reasoning, immortal

2. Heart
--> for sensations, mortal

3. Liver
--> for appetite



Was a greek physician that performed various operations on humans + animals to study the functions of various body parts


What was Galens view on where the soul is located ?
(17th/18th century)

Thought the soul

1. resides in solid parts in the brain
2. produces + stores animal spirits in the ventricles


Animal spirits

Refer to spirits that travel over the nerves between the ventricles in the brain + body

--> soul communicates by means of these spirits



Refer to apertures (Öffnung) in the middle of the brain which were thought to contain perceptions + thoughts

---> contains animals spirits


Differentiation of the vesicles

1. Front vesicle receives info from senses
--> "common sense"/Perception

2. Middle vesicle comprises thought + judgment
--> reasoning

3. Back vesicle contains memory


What lead to an increased doubt in the existence of spirits in the nerves ?

Focus was turned to the solid parts of the brain, rather than the ventricles

--> led to the discovery of Grey + white matter, with grey matter involved in memory ( Thomas Willis)


Galens definition of "Reflex" , respectively explanation

He referred to the observed phenomenon as "sympathy" between the various body parts

--> one body part responds sympathetically to another distress


Descartes definition of "Reflex", respectively explanation?

Said it consisted of a sensory impression which was rushed to the brain + subsequently reflected back into a motor command (like a mirror)

--> happens unconsciously


A series of breakthrough altered the model of brain functioning + made modern neurophysiology possible.

Which were the 5 big breakthroughs in the 19th century ?

1. Discovery of the CEREBROSPINAL AXIS

2. Growing impact of REFLEX
--> Reflex arc

3. LOCALIZATION of brain functions

4. Discovery of the NEURON

5. Disentangling of COMMUNICATION between neurons


What did physicians find out abut the role of the cerebrospinal axis in the regulation of physical functions in the 19th century ?

Many bodily functions didn't require the cerebral hemispheres

--> reflexes were mediated by the spinal cord, not hemisphere


Reflex arc

Refers to the mechanisms involved in involuntary movements elicited by sensory stimuli

--> Describes the processes underlying a reflex
--> made use of recent discovery of afferent+ efferent nerves


How did the "Reflex arc" impact further research + discoveries ?

Reflex arc was extended from the spinal cord to the complete brain

--> saying it is the basis of mental functioning (Sechenov, teacher of Pavlov)


Brain equipotentiality theory
(Marie Jean Flourens + Müller)

View that the brain functions as a whole with all parts having an equal significance

--> later proved wrong + replaced by localization theory
--> Holism


Localization theory
(Gall + Spurzheim)

States that mental functions are localized in specific parts of the brain

--> replaced the brain equipotentiality theory
--> Phrenology


Jean Baptiste Bouillard provided evidence for the fact that ... ?

Language production is controlled by the front parts of the brain

--> first empirical evidence


What did Paul Broca + Wernicke discover ?

That language production + comprehension is specifically controlled by the left frontal lobe

--> Brocas area
--> Wernickes area


The availability of better microscopes + new techniques to stain brain tissues due to technical innovations in the 19th century lead to the discovery .. ?

... that the brain consists of a network of individual neurons that communicate with each other (Neuron Doctrine)

--> Golgi + Cajal


How did Galvani find out that communication in the NS resembles the transmission of electrical signals ?

Noticed that a dissected leg of a frog contracted each time the assistant touched a bare nerve with his scalpel


How did Reymond find out that nerve signals indeed involve electricity ?

By means of electric fishes + much improved techniques to measure small signals

--> in 20th century it was discovered that communication between nerve cells is achieved through neurotransmitters


What did the examination of the bullet wounds in the WWs lead to ?

Provided physicians with better/ more detailed knowledge about the BEHAVIORAL consequences of brain injuries

ex.: Prosopagnosia, partial loss of vision after gun shot to neck



Branch of psychological research, looking at the relationship between brain + behavior/mental state

--> understanding consequences of brain damage
--> increasingly took over the treatment of brain damaged patients


What caused dissent among neuropsychologists ?

1. Damage caused by brain injuries + strikes are usually widespread and not limited to one specific brain structure

2. Results of the examinations really went beyond a list of symptoms displayed by various patients


Cognitive Neuropsychology

Research dealing with the consequences of brain injury for the information processing models proposed by the cognitive psychologists

--> aimed to find correlations between symptoms + dysfunctions in the brain


Deep Dyslexia

Condition of strongly impaired reading after brain injury

--> not reading the word itself but a semantically related word

ex.: saying storm instead of thunder

=> one of the first topics to be addressed by cognitive neuropsychology


One of the first techniques used to extract info from a working brain was "single-cell recording" which was invasive.

Which non invasive + more advanced techniques were proposed later on ?

1. EEG
--> discovery of seizures, different sleep stages

2. ERP
--> allows to look for differing signals as a function of characteristics of the stimulus

3. MEG
--> better resolution

4. PET
--> invasive

5. fMRI
--> based on measurement of blood with + without oxygen
--> most popular

=> techniques show a correlation between brain activity + performance on a task

NOT: whether brain activity is necessary


Cognitive Neuroscience

Refers to the scientific study of the biological mechanisms underlying cognition, by using theories of CNP and try to find evidence for them by using brain imaging techniques

--> largely based on brain imaging techniques, TMS
--> created this new research field



Refers to a stimulation if the brain to interfere briefly with the activity of a small region go the grey matter

--> to ascertain that the brain region is crucial for performance


Cognitive neuropsychiatry

Subfield that tries to understand consequences of mental disorder in terms of breakdown within the cognitive models of normal psychological functioning

ex.: Delusions



Is a condition where one has strong beliefs that are not supported by empirical evidence