The Biological Level of Analysis

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The Biological Level of Analysis
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Levels of Analysis
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BIO LOA First lessons

• Familiarize yourselves with the IB syllabus
  outline for this section
• Gain an overview of how the biological LOA has
  developed
• Outline the principles that define the biological
  level of analysis
• Explain the effects of neurotransmitters on human
  behavior
• Discuss how the biological LOA can be seen as
  reductionist

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The IB syllabus
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Questions to check your understanding

1. Why could the biological LOA be called the most
   basic LOA?
2. Name two discoveries that demonstrate that all
   that is psychological is first physical
3. What has the development of brain imaging
   technologies allowed biological psychologists to
   do?
4. What has advancements in pharmacology allowed the
   medical profession to do?
5. What is the human genome project? What will it
   allow biological psychologists to do?
6. What do behavioral geneticists study?

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The IB syllabus
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Topics

• The background, principles of the Biological LOA
  reductionism
• Neurons Neurotransmission
• Localization of function in the brain
• The stress response system (effects of hormones
  on behavior, environmental effects on
  physiological processes the interaction between
  cognition physiology)
• Genetics behavior the influence of genetic
  inheritance, evolutionary explanations ethical
  considerations

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Looking for the mind.

• One of the most perplexing issues in psychology
  is the relationship between mind and the body
• What is the basis of the mind?
• Think about this question and write some
  responses below
• The mind is
• The body is
• Are the mind and body separate or are they united?

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Looking for the mind.

• One of the most perplexing issues in psychology
  is the relationship between mind and the body
• What is the basis of the mind?
• Think about this question and write some
  responses below
• The mind is inner subjective experience of
  awareness
• The body is a physical being including what
  many people feel is the basis of the mind the
  brain
• Are the mind and body separate or are they united?

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The man who mistook his wife for a hat

• Visual agnosia
• Cant name, but can describe objects
• Cant make sense of what he his seeing
• Able to adapt and compensate
• Mind and brain interlinked

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The man who mistook his wife for a hat (Sacks,
1985)

• P, a music teacher, whose associates have
  questioned his perception, is referred by his
  ophthalmologist to the neurologist Oliver Sacks.
  During the first office visit, Sacks notices that
  P. faces him with his ears, not his eyes. His
  gaze seems unnatural, darting and fixating on the
  doctor's features one at a time. At the end of
  the interview, at which his wife is present, P.
  appears to grasp his wife's head and try to lift
  it off and put it on his own head. "He had . . .
  mistaken his wife for a hat!" She gave no sign
  that anything odd had happened.
• During the second interview, at P.'s home,
  P. is unable to recognize the rose in Sacks'
  lapel, describing it as "a convoluted red form
  with a linear green attachment." He is encouraged
  to speculate on what it might be, and guesses it
  could be a flower. When he smells it, he comes to
  life and knows it. The wife explains that P.
  functions by making little songs about what he is
  doing--dressing, washing or eating. If the song
  is interrupted he simply stops, till he finds a
  sensory clue on how to proceed. This singing
  method of compensating allows P. to function
  undetected in his professional and personal life.
  He remains unaware that he has a problem.
  Sacks chooses not to disturb his ignorant
  bliss with a diagnosis. Though his disease (never
  diagnosed but hypothesized as a tumor or
  degeneration of the visual cortex) advances, P.
  lives and works in apparent normalcy to the end
  of his days.

Explain the mans condition, how is our awareness
related to what our senses tell us?
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Clive Wearing Anterograde Amnesia

• Clive Wearing has a neurological disorder called
  Anterograde Amnesia (a complicated infection
  caused brain damage) which is a condition that
  doesn't allow new memories to transfer from short
  term memory into long-term memory.
• This means that he will never remember anything
  since his incident, similarly to the movie
  Memento.
• Clive was an accomplished pianist in the 80s',
  and fortunately can still play the piano
  flawlessly. He only remembers his wife, and
  anything else to him is new information, even if
  it was presented to him once before.
• In a diary provided by his caretakers, Clive was
  encouraged to record his thoughts. Page after
  page is filled with entries similar to the
  following
• 831 AM Now I am really, completely awake.906
  AM Now I am perfectly, overwhelmingly
  awake.934 AM Now I am superlatively, actually
  awake.
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vwDNDRDJy-vo

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Understanding the physiological basis of behavior

• One of the most perplexing issues in psychology
  is understanding the relationship between the
  mind and the brain.
• We are all have conscious awareness of our
  surroundings, and also of ourselves this is the
  experience normally described as the mind
• But what is the basis of the mind? Is it the
  expression of a non-physical soul, or is it a
  product of physical processes within our body?
• Psychologists and philosophers have been
  pondering this for centuries
• William James regarded explaining the nature of
  consciousness as one of the most challenging
  questions for psychology to answer. Today more
  than 100 years later, the challenge still exists
• Key question for biological psychologists
• What is the relationship between structure and
  function?
• What influence do genes have on human behavior
  and thought?

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Quick Quiz

1. What was the name of the condition that Clive
   Wearing was suffering from?
2. What caused his condition?
3. How did his condition influence his behavior?
4. What does the case of Clive Wearing tell us about
   human brain
5. The Biological LOA proposed that all that is
   .. is first ..
6. What has the development of brain imaging
   technologies allowed biological psychologists to
   do?
7. Do you feel that the mind and the brain are
   the same? How do you think biological
   psychologists view this question?
8. Name a practical application that has come from
   research in the biological perspective?
9. What is the nature - nurture debate?
10. Some biological psychologists study the
    structure function of the human brain what
    does this mean?

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The Principles that define the biological LOA
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Weekly Lesson Objectives

• Develop an understanding of the development of
  the Biological LOA
• Examine two case studies from the biological LOA
• Consider the free will vs. determinism debate
  the reductionist approach in psychology

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The Principles that define the biological LOA

• 1) Cognitions, emotions and behaviours are
  products of the anatomy and physiology of our
  nervous and endocrine systems
• All behavior that is psychological is at first
  physiological since the mind appears to reside
  in the brain, all thoughts, feelings and
  behaviors ultimately have a physical/biological
  cause (there is a biological basis to behavior).
  However, this relationship can be seen as
  bi-directional i.e. biology can affect cognition
  and cognition can affect biology. There is a
  localization of function specific functions are
  associated with specific areas of the brain.
  There are also biological correlates of
  behavior which suggests that its possible to
  find a link between a specific biological factor
  (e.g. a hormone) and a behavior.
• 2) Patterns of behaviour can be inherited
• Human genes have evolved over millions of years
  to adapt physiology and behavior to the
  environment. Therefore much behavior will have a
  genetic basis. (This is reflected in the
  structure of the brain we share a number of
  behaviors with lower organisms e.g. the
  primitive brain or limbic system regulates
  behavior associated with hunger, thirst, sex and
  other basic drives, and some psychological
  disorders appear to have a genetic basis)
• 3) Animal research may inform our understanding
  of human behaviour
• Psychology should investigate the brain, nervous
  system, endocrine system, neurochemistry and
  genes and it is also useful to study why human
  behavior has evolved the way it has this is
  evolutionary psychology. We can also learn about
  human behavior from studying animals, since we
  are evolutionary related to them.

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The principles of the biological LOA

• - Write three bullet points on each of the key
  principles of the Biological LOA

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The background of the Biological LOA

• Carousal activity
• Each group will be assigned a section to research
  in 4 groups
• Once you are done, you will then move on to the
  next group, and collect info from there
• The objective is to get a complete set of notes
  on the background of the biological LOA

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The development of the biological LOA Questions
to check your understanding

• Activity read the article and answer the
  following questions to check your understanding
• A) History of brain studies
• What did Hippocrates emphasize and who was the
  first experimental physiologist
• Outline the radical view of the human body was
  proposed by Descartes? (animal machine that can
  be understood scientifically- we respond to our
  environment)
• Write a bullet point on the findings of
  Helmholtz, Sherrington and Cajal
• What did Hebb (1948) study and what equipment did
  he use?
• What do neuroscientists seek to do, what
  techniques are they using now?
• B) Interventions in the brain
• What did early case studies tell us about the
  structures of the brain?
• What later unethical research was carried out,
  and what did Sperry discover from his work with
  epilepsy patients?
• Outline the findings of Hess work using direct
  electrical stimulation of the brain
• What two methods of treating mental illness were
  developed from this approach?
• C) Technology and the brain
• Outline how the CAT, EEG, PET and MRI have
  developed our understanding of the biological
  basis of behavior
• D) The psycho pharmaceutical Explosion
• Give a timeline with three dates and the drugs
  that were developed then
• E) Genes and the human genome
• Who was the first to identify factors that
  influence the physical characteristics of
  organisms?
• What groundbreaking discovery was made by Watson
  Craik (1953)?

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The development of the biological LOA Questions
to check your understanding

• Activity read the article and answer the
  following questions to check your understanding
• A) History of brain studies
• What did Hippocrates emphasize and who was the
  first experimental physiologist
• Outline the radical view of the human body was
  proposed by Descartes? (animal machine that can
  be understood scientifically- we respond to our
  environment)
• Write a bullet point on the findings of
  Helmholtz, Sherrington and Cajal
• What did Hebb (1948) study and what equipment did
  he use?
• What do neuroscientists seek to do, what
  techniques are they using now?
• B) Interventions in the brain
• What did early case studies tell us about the
  structures of the brain?
• What later unethical research was carried out,
  and what did Sperry discover from his work with
  epilepsy patients?
• Outline the findings of Hess work using direct
  electrical stimulation of the brain
• What two methods of treating mental illness were
  developed from this approach?
• C) Technology and the brain
• Outline how the CAT, EEG, PET and MRI have
  developed our understanding of the biological
  basis of behavior
• D) The psycho pharmaceutical Explosion
• Give a timeline with three dates and the drugs
  that were developed then
• E) Genes and the human genome
• Who was the first to identify factors that
  influence the physical characteristics of
  organisms?
• What groundbreaking discovery was made by Watson
  Craik (1953)?

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Hist Cult answers

• Activity read the article and answer the
  following questions to check your understanding
• History of brain studies
• What did Hippocrates emphasize and who was the
  first experimental physiologist (brain organ of
  intellect, Galen)
• Outline the radical view of the human body was
  proposed by Descartes? (animal machine that can
  be understood scientifically- we respond to our
  environment)
• Write a bullet point on the findings of
  Helmholtz, Sherrington and Cajal (conduction of
  nerves, reflexes composed of direct connections,
  gaps between neurons and info flows from one to
  the next)
• What did Hebb (1948) study and what equipment did
  he use? (electron microscope brain not a mass
  of tissues but a highly integrated series of
  structures)
• What do neuroscientists seek to do, what
  techniques are they using now? (understand how
  the brain works- using brain scanning techniques)
• Interventions in the brain
• What did early case studies tell us about the
  structures of the brain (specific structures
  linked to functions)
• What later unethical research was carried out,
  and what did Sperry discover from his work with
  epilepsy patients (localized injuries on animals
  brains, differences between left and right
  hemispheres)
• Outline the findings of Hess work using Direct
  electrical stimulation of the brain (cats
  localization of function)
• What two methods of treating mental illness were
  developed from this approach? (ECT and lobotomy)
• Technology and the brain
• Outline how the CAT, EEG, PET and MRI have
  developed our understanding of the biological
  basis of behavior (CAT-3d pictures, PET
  activity of brain areas, MRI magnetic resonance
  imaging can visualize structure now fMRI has
  been developed)
• The psycho pharmaceutical Explosion
• Give a timeline with three dates and the drugs
  that were developed then
• Genes and the human genome
• Who was the first to identify factors that
  influence the physical characteristics of
  organisms? (Mendel)
• What groundbreaking discovery was made by Watson
  Craik (1953)? (DNA)

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Two philosophical traditions of thought Dualism
and Materialism

• Dualism
• Dualists claim that mind and matter are two
  separate categories. In particular, mind-body
  dualism claims that neither the mind nor matter
  can be reduced to each other in any way.
• Materialism
• The philosophy of materialism holds that the
  only thing that can be truly proven to exist is
  matter. Fundamentally, all things are composed of
  material and all phenomena (including
  consciousness) are the result of material
  interactions therefore, matter is the only
  substance.
• Monism
• Views mind and matter as being ultimately the
  same kind of thing.
• Which school of thought do you think that
  psychologists from the biological LOA come from?
  Explain your answer

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Questions to review your learning

• 1) Before Darwins seminal work The origin of the
  species (1859) how did people view the
  differences between humans and animals?
• 2) According to the biological LOA, what is the
  basis of the mind?
• 5) In your opinion, are mind and body separate or
  are they united? Explain your answer.
• 6) Do you believe that the mind resides inside
  the brain? Is your view the same or different to
  biological psychologists?
• 7) Explain the key principle of the biological
  LOA that all behavior that is psychological is
  first physiological
• 8) Explain the principle of localization of
  function
• 9) What does the biological LOA assume about the
  role of genes in determining behavior?
• 10) What does the biological LOA assume should be
  studied by psychologists?
• 11) What research methodologies are used by
  researchers from the biological LOA?

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The History of brain studies
Activity Go through your homework questions,
check answer the questions as we go along

• Hippocrates, the Greek philosopher emphasized
  that the brain was the organ of
  _________________. The first Experimental
  physiologist was _______in (2nd century BC) He
  concluded that the frontal lobes were the seat of
  the soul.
• Descartes proposed a radical view of the human
  body, He proposed that it could be seen as an
  __________machine that can be understood
  scientifically by studying how we respond to
  stimuli in the environment. He argued that human
  action is a mechanical reflex that responds to
  the environment
• In the 1800 Helmholtz measured the speed of
  ________ nerves, Sherrington discovered that
  reflexes composed of direct connections and
  Cajal detected the physical ____ between neurons
  and information flows from one neuron the next.
  Sherrington called this gap the _______.
• Hebb (1948) used the electron microscope brain
  not a mass of tissues but a highly integrated
  series of structures or ___________ which
  perform specific functions.
• Neuroscientists seek to ________________,without
  removing it from its owner. The development of
  _________ scanning techniques well as surgical,
  technological and pharmacological advancements in
  the 20th century have enabled them to do this.

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Interventions in the brain

• Early case studies of the brain tell us that
  specific structures of the brain are linked to
  specific _________ such as the case Phineas gage
  and the discovery of Brocas area .
• This was followed by unethical research was
  carried out by producing _______localized
  injuries on animals brains. Sperry discovers from
  his work with _______ patients who had their
  __________ severed, that there are differences
  between left and right hemispheres of the brain.
• Hess used ____________ of the brain to examine
  localization of function with cats he found
  that the location of an electrode could provoke
  sleep, terror, at the flick of a switch.)
• ECT and _________ (cutting the connections to and
  from the prefrontal cortex) were two methods of
  treating mental illness were developed from the
  biological LOA

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Technology and the brain

• CAT, EEG, PET and MRI have developed our
  understanding of the biological basis of behavior
  

Activity spider diagram
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• EEG (Electroencephalogram) records the minute
  electrical impulses of the larger neurons on the
  surface of the cortex

Structure or function?
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• CAT (Computer assisted tomography)
• Type of X ray enables the examination of the
  structure of the brain

Structure or function?
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• PET (Positron Emission Tomography) enables the
  analysis of the activity of brain areas
• Examines radioactive
• glucose injected into
• the human brain

Structure or function?
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• MRI Magnetic Resonance Imaging can visualize
  structure now fMRI (functional magnetic
  resonance imaging) has been developed
• Examines
• blood flow to
• different areas
• of the brain

fMRI
Structure or function?
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The psycho pharmaceutical Explosion

• Key dates in the psycho pharmaceutical explosion
• Psychopharmacology the study of the
  psychoactive effects of drugs on the brain
• 1949- Lithium lessened the manic aspect of
  manic depression
• 1974 Prozac an antidepressant of the
  selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI)
  class
• 1990s- Neuoleptics (antipsychotic drugs) such as
  Clozapine addresses problems such as
  schizophrenia

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Genes and the human genome

• The Monk ___________ was the first to identify
  factors later to be called genes that
  influence the physical characteristics of
  organisms (he found this out through his study of
  peas)
• In Watson Craik (1953) made the groundbreaking
  discovery of the ____molecule that contains the
  genetic instructions used in the development and
  functioning of all known living organisms
• The goal of the _____________ is to map the
  human genes and their function)
• The benefits of knowing our genetic makeup are
  ____________.

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Two philosophical traditions of thought Dualism
and Materialism

• Dualism
• Dualists claim that mind and matter are two
  separate categories. In particular, mind-body
  dualism claims that neither the mind nor matter
  can be reduced to each other in any way.
• Materialism
• The philosophy of materialism holds that the only
  thing that can be truly proven to exist is
  matter. Fundamentally, all things are composed of
  material and all phenomena (including
  consciousness) are the result of material
  interactions therefore, matter is the only
  substance.
• Monism
• Views mind and matter as being ultimately the
  same kind of thing.
• What tradition do you think most biological
  psychologists come from? Why?

Activity Under your notes on the Assumptions
write a brief paragraph about the Dualism,
materialism, monism and the biological
perspective
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Studying mind and brain The use of case studies

• Some of the earliest methods used to explore the
  workings of the brain was the detailed analysis
  of clinical patients who had suffered physical
  trauma
• These case studies have led to remarkable insight
  they have provided the historical beginnings of
  the study of the biological basis of behavior.

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Brocas area

• Broca's area is a section of the human brain that
  is involved in language processing, speech or
  production, and comprehension. Broca's area is
  named after the 19th-century physician Paul
  Broca.
• He arrived at this discovery by studying the
  brains of aphasic (speechless) patients. His
  first patient in the Bicêtre Hospital nicknamed
  "Tan" due to his inability to clearly speak any
  words other than "tan".
• In 1861, through post-mortem autopsy, Broca
  determined that Tan had a lesion caused by
  syphilis in the left cerebral hemisphere.
• This lesion was determined to cover the area of
  the brain important for speech production.

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The case of Phineas Gage
A controversial case much debate ad many
different interpretations often inaccurate and
exaggerated
Harlow (1868)
"the American crowbar case"

• One of the best known clinical cases involved the
  dramatic injury to an unfortunate railroad
  worker.
• Whilst placing an explosive charge, a spark of
  metal on a rock set off the charge, sending a
  long tamping rod flying upwards.
• The rod entered Gages head just below the left
  eye and exited from the top of his scull (1848).
• Remarkably Gage survived and his behavior
  apparently changed dramatically he used to be
  likeable and responsible, then he was prone to
  terrible fits of temper.
• Sadly he spent his remaining years wondering
  around the US, displaying the hole in his scull
  that had brought him such grief
• although recent images show him proudly holding
  the tamping iron which inflicted the
  controversial injury - consistent with the
  social recovery hypothesis (Macmillan, 1998)
  perhaps the severest mental changes where
  short-lived evidence of neural plasticity
• His story has been a source of endless
  fascination it appears that the rod extensively
  damaged the association areas (which produce a
  meaningful perceptual experience of the world)
  of the left frontal lobe
• Activity Write a few sentences to reflect on
  the video (cog neuro 4.15) and explain how these
  case study may indicate that behavior and thought
  have a physiological basis.

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Phineas Gage and his tamping iron,his "constant
companion during the remainder of his life."
Damasio (1994)
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Weekly Lesson Objectives

• Review key principles that define the biological
  level of analysis
• Review early case studies from the biological
  level of analysis
• Go over what Reductionism, free will
  Determinism are
• Complete the quiz (medium tomorrow)
• Work on wikis (Tuesday Thursdays class)
• Clive wearing anterograde amnesia

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Introduction to the LOA

• Read the article and answer the following
  questions
• Describe and Name the following illnesses
• Name
  Symptoms
• Sheila Allen
• George Gershwin
• Woody Guthrie
• What important lessons do these studies
  illustrate?
• 1)
• 2)
• 3)

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Introduction to the LOA

• Answers
• Describe and Name the following illnesses
• Sheila Allen loss of strength, bizarre
  behavior, looseness of thought, depression had
  myasthenia gravis which weakens the muscles
• George Gershwin headaches and depression
  brain tumor, not repressed hatred towards his
  mother
• Woody Guthrie alcoholic Huntington's disease
  a genetic condition - involuntary spasms,
  twitching, paranoia and depression
• What important lessons do these studies
  illustrate?
• 1) physical conditions should not be mistaken
  with psychological ones
• 2) must not over psychologize but the
  biological research shows otherwise
• 3) To understand human behavior, we need to
  understand genes, hormones, neurotransmitters,
  sensory organs and neurons.

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