INTRODUCTION TO NEUROPSYCHOLOGY

The brain has evolved to play a particularly significant role in the human body, not only in
sustaining life, but also in all thought, behavior, and reasoning. It is the only organ
completely enclosed by protective bony tissue, the skull, and it is the only organ that cannot
be transplanted and still maintain the person’s self. Neuropsychology as a scientific
discipline is a young field, although the earliest attempts to relate mental functions to the
brain may be traced back to classical Greece, and the Roman Empire (Pagel, 1958; Finger,
1994). Neuropsychology became an independent discipline only in the second half of the 19th
century, as an amalgam of several fields: neurology, psychology, neuroanatomy,
neurophysiology, neuropharmacology, neurochemistry (Benton, 1988). Neuropsychology
seeks to understand the relationship between the brain and behavior, i.e. it attempts to explain
the way in which the activity of the brain is expressed in observable behavior. Some refer to
this field as biopsychology, psychobiology, behavioral biology, or behavioral neuroscience.

Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system concerning the biological basis of
consciousness, perception, memory and learning. Neuroscience links our observations about
cognitive behavior with the actual physical processes that support such behavior. It is an
umbrella term and consists of several subdisciplines. One of them is neuropsychology or
biopsychology which is derived from two separate fields, biology and psychology.
Psychology is the study of behavior; specifically, it seeks to describe, explain, modify, and
predict human and animal behavior. Neuropsychology or biopsychology, a subspecialty of
psychology, is basically the scientific study of the biology of behavior. Here, psychology is at
the center of this discipline. Hence, neuropsychology is the study of how complex properties
of the brain allow behavior to occur. It is not only a field of study. It is also a point of view. It
holds that the proper way to understand the behavior is in terms of how it evolved and how
the functioning of the brain and other organs controls behavior. We think and act as we do
because we have certain brain mechanisms, and we evolved those brain mechanisms because
ancient animals with these mechanisms survived and reproduced better than animals with
other mechanisms. Biopsychology also has a tendency to frame its understanding of
cognition and behavior within the principles derived from cognitive psychology. In other
words, it tries to provide a biological/neuroscientific explanation for our psychological
explanation of the human mind, rather than a more ‘bottom-up’ process starting with brain
mechanisms to determine their function and then try to relate to psychology.

Fig 1: Biopsychology and a few of the disciplines of neuroscience that are particularly
relevant to it.

The knowledge base of biopsychology is also dependent upon other allied scientific
endeavours, including the study of cognitive psychology and other areas that may be loosely
described as neurobiological. Biopsychology can be defined by its relation to other
neuroscientific disciplines. This includes neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, neuropharmacology,
neurochemistry, neuropathology, and neuroendocrinology.

● Neuroanatomy: Neuroanatomy is the study of the structures and relationships among

the various parts of the nervous system. It is the description of the parts of the nervous
system encompassing the brain, spinal cord, peripheral nervous system and nerves.
 Hence, by understanding the structure of the entire nervous system, we can get to
know about how the entire system and its parts influence our activities and behavior.
● Neurophysiology: Neurophysiology is the study of the functions and activities of the
nervous system. Whereas neuropsychology deals with the relationship between the
brain and mental functions such as language, memory and perception. Hence, all the
behavioral and psychological features depend on the functions of the nervous system
and so these two subdisciplines are interrelated to each other.
● Neuropharmacology: Neuropharmacology is the study of the effects of drugs on
neural activity. This includes the effects of therapeutic drugs as well as recreational
drugs and toxins. This is really important to understand the range of behaviors,
activities and emotions that human beings exhibit.
● Neuropathology: Neuropathology is the study of nervous system disorders. It is the
study of the diseases of the brain, spinal cord, and nerves. The brain and spinal cord
can develop a whole host of disorders including disorders which are unique to the
nervous system such as neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s disease and
Huntington’s disease. By getting to know about such disorders, we can definitely
understand the relationship between brain functions and behavior.
● Neurochemistry: Neurochemistry is the study of the chemical bases of neural
activity. It is the branch of neuroscience that deals with the roles of atoms, molecules,
and ions in the functioning of nervous systems. With the help of this, the activities of
neurotransmitters, drugs and other molecules in the nervous system and how they
influence the psychological processes can be understood.
● Neuroendocrinology: Neuroendocrinology is the study of the interactions between
the nervous system and endocrine system. Some cells within the nervous system
release hormones which are called neuroendocrine cells. The interrelationship of
neuropsychology and neuroendocrinology explains how hormones affect the brain
activities and behavior, in turn, allowing the human to act and react in a certain way.
Neuropsychology and Overview

Neuropsychology was defined as concerning the relationships between “cerebral structures”

and “higher mental functions” (Hécaen, 1972), the “neural mechanisms underlying human
behavior” (Hécaen & Albert, 1978), “the interrelations of the brain with behavior” (Benton,
1988), “the relationships between mind, brain, and behavior” (Berlucchi, 2009). It was
defined by Meier (1974) as “the scientific study of brain-behavior relationships”.
Neuropsychology is then placed at the intersection between the neurosciences (neurology,
neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, neurochemistry, neuroimaging), and the behavioral sciences
(psychology, linguistics), including cognitive and emotional-motivational processes (Hécaen
& Albert, 1978).

Physiological Psychology: Physiological psychology is the division of biopsychology that

studies the neural mechanisms of behavior through the direct manipulation and recording of
the brain in controlled experiments- surgical and electrical methods are the common ones. As
such there is a tendency for this approach to rely on laboratory animals rather than human
subjects due to the explorative and invasive nature of this research. For example, Anand &
Brobeck (1951) performed bilateral electrolytic lesions to the lateral hypothalamus of rats and
cats and observed that the animals stopped eating.
Psychopharmacology: Psychopharmacology investigates the effects of drugs on
physiological activity, behavior and experience (Coull, 1998; Meyer & Quenzer, 2004;
Vitiello, 2007). The purpose of many psychopharmacological experiments is to develop
therapeutic drugs or to reduce drug abuse.
Psychophysiology: Psychophysiology investigates the correspondence between
physiological activity, behavior and experience in human subjects. The procedures tend to be
significantly less invasive than those used in physiological psychology such as EEG, ECG,
EMG, EOG, etc. The research focuses on understanding the physiology of psychological
processes such as attention, emotions, information processing, etc.
Cognitive neuroscience: It focuses on studying the neural bases of cognition, i.e. higher
intellectual processes such as memory, attention, etc. Research involves human subjects and
the methods tend to be non-invasive such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI),
etc.
Comparative psychology: Comparative psychology is concerned with the general biology of
behavior and performs comparisons across different species in order to understand the
evolution, genetics, and adaptiveness of behavior (Dewsbury, 1990). Some of the research is
ethological in nature, i.e. the study of animal behavior in its natural environment.

NEUROPSYCHOLOGY: Neuropsychology is the study of the psychological effects of

brain damage in human patients. Researchers in neuropsychology attempt to identify how
cerebral structures contribute towards cognitive processing by studying what happens when
the cerebral region has been damaged. In other words, it attempts to identify how cerebral
structures influence both normal and impaired functioning. Neuropsychology deals almost
exclusively with case studies and quasi experimental studies of patients with brain damage
resulting from disease, accident, or neurosurgery.
The term neuropsychology refers broadly to the study of behavior, the mind, and their
relationship with the central nervous system, particularly the two cerebral hemispheres and
related subcortical structures. Neuropsychology was defined as concerning the relationships
between “cerebral structures” and “higher mental functions” (Hécaen, 1972), the “neural
mechanisms underlying human behavior” (Hécaen & Albert, 1978), “the interrelations of the
brain with behavior” (Benton, 1988), “the relationships between mind, brain, and behavior”
(Berlucchi, 2009). It was defined by Meier (1974) as “the scientific study of brain-behavior
relationships”. Neuropsychology is then placed at the intersection between the neurosciences
(neurology, neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, neurochemistry, neuroimaging), and the
behavioral sciences (psychology, linguistics), including cognitive and emotional-motivational
processes (Hécaen & Albert, 1978).
History of Neuropsychology

Neuropsychology is a relatively new field of study with a history dating back to the
beginning of the 20th century. The term neuropsychology was first used by Sir William Osler
on April 16, 1913, in an address entitled “Specialism in the General Hospital” given at the
opening ceremony for the Phipps Psychiatric Clinic at Johns Hopkins Hospital (Osler, 1913).
Donald Hebb (1949) used the term as the subtitle of his 1949 book The Organization of
Behavior: A Neuropsychological Theory. During that time period neuropsychology
represented the combined interests of many disciplines including psychologists, neurologists,
psychiatrists, speech pathologists, and others interested in the relationship between brain and
behavior. As time passed the term became widely used and appeared in the title of Lashley’s
writings, The Neuropsychology of Lashley published in 1960 after his death in 1958 (Beach,
1961). The official birth of neuropsychology as an independent scientific discipline can be
dated to 1963, when an international specialty journal titled Neuropsychologia started its
publication on the initiative of a small group of neurologists, psychologists, and psychiatrists
partaking in an informal discussion forum called the International Neuropsychology
Symposium. The major use of the term neuropsychology was ultimately related to the study
of the relationship between the brain and behavior. Most of the subjects for the early studies
were animals.

Neolithic Period or Stone Age

The earliest neuropsychological investigations recognized how diseases and blows to the
brain affect behavior. Trephination was an early procedure that involved boring, cutting,
scraping, or chiselling a piece of bone from the afflicted individual’s skull. The procedure is
believed to have developed as a way to relieve the pressure caused by brain swelling.
Trephining is estimated to have first occurred approximately 7,000 years ago during the
Neolithic Period or Stone Age. Many accounts of trephining relate the procedure to the
release of evil spirits which were thought to reside within the individual’s head (brain).
Modern surgeons use two procedures, viz. drilling a hole in the skull area, and draining
internal bleeding after a blow to the head.

The Egyptians

The next indication of how early people conceptualized the brain came from the Egyptians as
early as the Third Dynasty (2650-2575 BC). The Egyptians’ lack of brain knowledge is
shown through examining early Egyptian burial practices. The process of mummification
used to take almost 70 days to complete. In this, the brain was discarded and the heart was
never removed because it was considered the seat of the mind and soul (Leca, 1981). One of
the earliest documents describing the effects of brain damage on function dates from the 17th
century BC. This ancient manuscript, called the Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus describes
48 observations of brain and spinal injury and its treatment. It is an extraordinary document
in that it contains the first description of various brain parts and is the first scientific
document to use the word ‘brain’. The Eber Papyrus (1555 BC), contains many early
prescriptions. It is often thought to contain more magical or superstitious forms of healing
than the Edwin Smith Papyrus (Sarton, 1927). Herophilus (335-280 BC) and Erasistratus
(304-250 BC) were the first to propose the brain as the center of reason. During the same
period there arose a theory of brain functioning, called the ventricular localization
hypothesis, which continued into the middle Ages. The theory stated that the fluid-filled
compartments of the brain (ventricles) were responsible for higher mental as well as spiritual
processes. Later the theory was termed the cell doctrine.

Ancient Greeks

The classical Greeks were interested in accounts of brain-behavior relationships. Heraclitus

(540-480 BC), a philosopher of the 6th century BC, called the mind an enormous space whose
boundaries we could never reach (Kirk, Raven, & Schofield, 1995). Pythagoras (582-507
BC), a mathematician, was the first to suggest that the brain was the organ responsible for
human thought. With the assistance of other writers these ideas are described in what is now
called the brain hypothesis, the idea that the brain is the source of all behavior (Edelstein,
1967).

● Hippocrates (460-377 BC), considered to be the founder of modern medicine, further

expanded the understanding of the brain. He believed, as a central tenet, that the brain
controlled all sensing and movements. He was the first to indicate that damage to one
side of the brain affected the other side of the body. The modern way of expressing
this principle is contralateral control. He suggested that pleasure, laughter as well as
grief, pain, all arise from the brain (Haeger, 1988). He argued that epilepsy is no more
divine or sacred but has specific characteristics and has a medical cause. According to
him, the patient was to be treated as a whole, not an assemblage of parts. Borrowing
 somewhat from the Pythagoreans came the idea of balance between the humors:
blood, yellow bile, phlegm, and black bile.
● Plato (420-347 BC) thought that the soul was divided into three functions: appetite,
reason, and temper, which resided within the brain. He chose the brain because the
brain was closest to the heavens. He also discussed the mind-body question which
discusses the essence of the mind. He took this concept further by describing physical
health as the harmony between the mind and body. In addition, historians credit Plato
with some of the earliest references to mental health (Finger, 2000). The concept
introduced by him suggested that a balance between all parts of life would lead to
good mental health.
● Aristotle (384-322 BC), a student of Plato, believed the heart rather than the brain to
be the main organ of rational thought. The heart was the organ that was warm, active,
and the center of the soul. The brain was bloodless, according to him, and functioned
to cool hot blood as it came from the heart. He was the designer of the cardiac
hypothesis, which stated that the heart was the originator of numerous emotions
(Karenberg & Hort, 1998). An equally important idea emphasized by Aristotle was
that direct observation of the subject was critical.

The Cell Doctrine

This theory postulated that mental and spiritual processes/functions were localized in the
ventricles (called Cells) of the brain. The theory was proposed by Nemesius and Saint
Augustine in approximately 130-200 A.D. It was strongly influenced by the anatomical
studies of Galen in the second century, in which he described the ventricles in detail and
developed his own theory of “psychic gasses and humors” that flowed through the body and
ventricles (thus, the ventricular localisation hypothesis”), giving rise to mental functions. (He
also characterized the brain as a “large clot of phlegm”.)

The idea that the ventricles were merely a sewer system through which bodily fluids passed,
led to the theory of the importance of “humors” which has persisted for 1000 years. Mental
functions derived from the descriptions of Aristotle, such as memory, attention, fantasy and
reason, were assigned locations within the ventricles. These images depict the connections
between the senses (vision, hearing etc.) and the “Common Sense”, located in the first
ventricle. Cognitive functions were then arrayed from front to back in the ventricles. This
Doctrine was proven to be totally false, as we now know that the ventricles are the site
through which cerebrospinal fluid passes. From this period, many important discoveries and
theories were noted. Dissections of condemned criminals (who, at that time, were at the
disposal of scientists and physicians) led to the knowledge that specific parts of the brain
control specific behaviors (discussed later as localisation). As well, the discovery of
ascending (sensory) and descending (motor) nerves occurred. Galen (circa 200 BC) was a
prominent ancient Greek physician, who also served as a physician in a gladiator school.
During this time he gained much experience with treating trauma and especially wounds,
which he later called “windows into the body”. He performed many operations, including
brain and eye surgeries, and also “vivisections” of numerous animals to study the function of
the kidneys and the spinal cord. From these studies, Galen hypothesized that the mind
controlled fluids known as pneuma (animal spirits): the brain was the reservoir of pneuma,
which were stored in the ventricles. Pneuma traveled through nerves, which Galen believed
were tubes, throughout the body - sent out from the brain to the muscles (i.e., controlled by
the mind, causing the body to move) and sent back to the brain due to sensory stimulation.
Physical functioning was dictated by the balance of four bodily fluids or humors: Blood,
Mucus, Yellow bile, Black bile, which were related to the four elements - air, water, fire, and
earth. Galen also showed that pressing on the heart in human subjects did not lead to loss of
consciousness or loss of sensation but severing the spinal cord in animals abolished sensory
responses after brain stimulation.

The First Anatomical Studies: Vesalius (1514-1564) was the first to conduct careful
observations of brain anatomy and qualify the teachings of the cell doctrine in which he was
trained. He represents the beginning of a period in which careful observations and empirical
science began to triumph over the ideas that had been handed down since the time of
Aristotle and Galen. Vesalius introduced the anatomical theater in which students and doctors
could watch dissections from above. Vesalius made careful diagrams of human anatomy.

Mind-Body Dualism: Descartes (1596-1650) introduced the concept of a separate mind and
body. He believed that all mental functions were located in the pineal gland, a small
centrally-located brain structure which is now believed to play a role in sleep/wake and
dark/light cycles. The dualist philosophy suggested a complete split between mental and
bodily processes, and explained automatic bodily reflexes (body) while purposeful behaviors
were a product of free-will (mind). Descartes did subscribe to some of Galen’s theories (that
the brain was a reservoir of fluid), as demonstrated by one of his illustrations, in which the
fire displaces the skin, which pulls a tiny thread, which opens a pore in the ventricle (F)
allowing the “animal spirit” to flow through a hollow tube, which inflates the muscle of the
leg, causing the foot to withdraw. This would now be described as a reflex, for which
Descartes is credited. Popular culture has many references to dualism.

The Middle Ages (500-1400)

During the Middle Ages, there was a return to superstitious beliefs regarding the causes of
many of the difficulties people exhibited. During the later part of the Middle Ages, the works
of Aristotle were rediscovered and translated (between 1200 and 1225), and made available
to an expanded audience. The initial move away from the ventricular localization theory
started in the 13th century. Albertus Magnus (1206-1280) theorized that behavior resulted
from a combination of brain structures including the cortex, the midbrain, and the cerebellum.

Renaissance Europe (1400-1600)

In the late 15th century, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) conducted several hundred human
dissections on cadavers in secret due to religious prohibition against autopsies. In 1543,
Andreas Vesalius (1514-156) published the first accurate book on human anatomy entitled On
the Workings of the Human Body. During the 17th century, scientists were looking for a single
site for the functioning of the mind. The philosopher Rene Descartes (1596-1630) believed
in dualism, i.e. the mind and body are completely separate. He speculated that the mental
processes resided within the pineal gland because it lies in the center of the brain; it is the
only structure not composed of two symmetric halves, and it is also close to the ventricular
system.

Modern Neuropsychology
The first neuropsychology laboratory in the United States was founded in 1935 by Ward
Halstead at the University of Chicago. Together with Ralph Reitan, Halstead later developed
the popular Halstead- Reitan Neuropsychological battery, an empirical approach to
assessing brain damage (Halstead, 1947; Reitan & Wolfson, 1993). Henry Hécaen (1912)
founded the journal Neuropsychologia. One of his discoveries was his demonstration of the
functional properties of the right hemisphere. Hécaen and his coworkers generated an
irrefutable mass of evidence that the right hemisphere played a crucial role in mediating
visuoperceptual and visuoconstructional processes. Much of Hécaen’s work was not
translated into English from French until the 1970s.

Oliver Zangwill (1913) founded Neuropsychology in Great Britain. Zangwill was also
among the first investigators to show that hemispheric specialization for speech in left-
handers did not conform to the then-accepted rule of right hemisphere dominance (Zangwill,
1960). He also contributed significantly to understanding of the nature of neuropsychological
deficits associated with unilateral brain disease or injury.

Norman Geschwind (1926-1984) is another important neuropsychologist who helped to

shape his profession’s focus and development. Among his contributions was his proposal that
behavioral disturbances are based on the destruction of specific brain pathways that he called
disconnections. He presented his idea in his now classic article “Disconnection Syndromes in
Animals and Man” (1965), which was largely responsible for reemphasizing the important
role of neuroanatomy in neuropsychology.

Brain Behavior Relationship

The central topic in neuropsychology is how the brain and behavior are related. In two
closely related aspects, the link between biology (brain) and psychology (behavior) is a ‘two-
way street’.

Fig 3: Links between levels of (a) the phenomena of behavior and brain and (b) the
disciplines studying them.

The brain controls behavior. In turn, behavior (e.g. social contact) influences events within
the brain. Also, there is the relationship between biologists of the brain (e.g. neuroscientists)
and psychologists. Psychologists need to look at the biological level to seek brain
mechanisms that explain mind and behavior. However, researchers concerned with the brain
can get insight into its working by looking at psychology. Knowing what the brain is doing at
a psychological level can give vital insight into how it does it and the kind of brain structures
involved. Thus, there is a regular exchange of information between biology and psychology.

Two doctrines have emerged which shaped the field of neuropsychology. The first doctrine,
vitalism, suggests that many behaviors, such as thinking, are only partially controlled by
mechanical or logical forces- they are also partially self-determined and are separate from
chemical and physical determinants. Extreme proponents of vitalism argue that spirits or
psychic phenomena account for much observable behavior. The second doctrine, materialism,
suggests that logical forces determine brain-behavior function. Materialism favors a
mechanistic view of the brain. The idea is that rational behavior can be fully explained by the
workings of the nervous system. No need to refer to a nonmaterial mind.

Biological explanations of behavior fall into four categories: physiological, ontogenetic,

evolutionary, and functional (Tinbergen, 1951). A physiological explanation relates a
behavior to the activity of the brain and other organs. It deals with the machinery of the body-
for example, the chemical reactions that enable hormones to influence brain activity and the
routes by which brain activity controls muscle contractions. An ontogenetic explanation
describes how a structure or behavior develops, including the influences of genes, nutrition,
experiences, and their interactions. For example, the ability to inhibit impulses develops
gradually from infancy through the teenage years, reflecting gradual maturation of the frontal
parts of the brain. An evolutionary explanation reconstructs the evolutionary history of a
structure or behavior. An evolutionary explanation of human goose bumps is that the
behavior evolved in our remote ancestors and we inherited the mechanism. A functional
explanation describes why a structure or behavior evolved as it did. For example, many
species have an appearance that matches their background. A functional explanation is that
camouflaged appearance makes the animal inconspicuous to predators.

Talking about brain-behavior relationship, mentalism and dualism were the two classic
theories which debated upon the brain-behavior relationship. The Greek philosopher
Aristotle (384-322 BC) was the first person to develop a formal theory of behavior. He
proposed that a nonmaterial psyche is responsible for human thoughts, perceptions, and
emotions and for such processes as imagination, opinion, desire, pleasure, pain, memory and
reason. The psyche is independent of the body but in Aristotle’s view, works through the
heart to produce action. The philosophical position that a person’s mind is responsible for
behavior is called mentalism, meaning “of the mind”. Rene Descartes (1596-1650) proposed
that the body is like the machines. It is material and thus clearly has spatial extent, and it
responds mechanically and reflexively to events that impinge on it. Described as nonmaterial
and without spatial extent, the mind, as Descartes saw it, was different from the body. The
body operated on principles similar to those of a machine, but the mind decided what
movements the machine should make. He located the site of action of the mind in the pineal
body. His choice was based on the logic that the pineal body is the only structure in the
nervous system not composed of two bilaterally symmetrical halves and moreover that it is
located close to the ventricles. Descartes’s position that mind and body are separate but can
interact is called dualism, to indicate that behavior is caused by two things.

Different theories were proposed to describe brain-behavior relationship such as localization,

lateralization, and equipotentiality. Around 1800, Franz Gall (1757-1828) proposed that the
human mind was organized in different innate faculties, which were localized in different
organs or centers of the brain, making the cerebral localization of mental functions a central
issue in the relationships between brain and mind (Lesky, 1970). He developed his
hypothesis, called localization of function, that a different, specific brain area controls each
kind of behavior. Paul Broca discovered the location of motor speech (localization of
language) in the posterior, inferior region of the left frontal lobe which came to be known as
Broca’s area and the syndrome that results from its damage is called Broca’s aphasia. Carl
Wernicke discovered the location of understanding of speech in the superior, posterior region
of temporal lobe, called Wernicke’s area and its damage resulted in Wernicke’s aphasia.
Pierre Flourens proposed that the cerebral cortex, cerebellum, and brainstem function
globally as a whole, equipotential and in conjunction with every other part.

Localisation Theory

The first general theory to propose that different parts of the brain have different functions
was developed in the early 1800s by German anatomist Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828). He
postulated the most seriously proposed, although ultimately ridiculed and disregarded, theory
of localization in the nineteenth century which stated that the brain comprised a number of
separate organs, each of which controlled a separate inner faculty and each of which created
indentations in the skull. He hypothesized that the size of a given brain area is related to the
amount of skill a person has in a certain field. From Gall’s basic theory of localization, the
“science” of phrenology was born. This theory holds that if a given brain area is enlarged,
then the corresponding area of the skull will also be enlarged. Development of these organs
led to prominences or ‘bumps’ in the individual’s skull. A bump on the skull indicated a well-
developed underlying cortical gyrus and therefore a greater faculty for a particular behavior.
Conversely, a skull depression was a sign of an undeveloped gyrus and, therefore, a lack of
function.

Gall’s work, however, was severely limited by faculty psychology which held that such
abilities as reading, writing, or intelligence were independent, invisible faculties. He also
lacked statistical or methodologic theory that would have let him reliably measure the basic
skills of interest to him. His critics accused him of having made the most absurd theories
about the faculties of human understanding. Men, he suggested, have larger brain areas in the
social region, with a predominance of pride, energy, and self-reliance, compared with women,
whose brains reflect “inhabitiveness” and a lack of firmness and self-esteem. There were
cross-cultural studies too which suggested that the skulls of races and nations differ widely in
form. Erroneously, phrenologists suggested that the skulls of white people were superior,
indicating great intellectual power and strong moral sentiment. The skulls from “less
advanced races” did not fare as well, because those virtues were thought to be almost
invariably small in “savage” and “barbarous tribes” (Wells, 1869).

The French surgeon Pierre- Paul Broca, in 1861, reported a patient, named Leborgne, who
suffered from a right-sided motor deficit, and who could articulate only a single syllable that
he typically repeated twice, “tan, tan”, to any question that was asked to him. Based on this,
he discovered that motor speech was specifically located in the posterior, inferior region of
the left frontal lobe. He argued that language ability was not a property of the entire brain but
rather was localized in a restricted brain region. Because speech is thought central to human
consciousness, the left hemisphere is frequently referred to as the dominant hemisphere to
recognize its special role in language (Joynt, 1964). Broca’s landmark contribution was in
understanding the origins of aphasia. In recognition of Broca’s contribution, this speech
region of the brain is called Broca’s area, and the syndrome that results from its damage is
called Broca’s aphasia. The other singularly important discovery of the period was made by
the German neurologist Carl Wernicke (1848-1904). He had also reported an aphasic deficit,
but this time patients were unable to comprehend speech. This type of aphasia was associated
with left hemisphere damage in a location below that of Broca’s area (specifically, superior,
posterior region of temporal lobe). This condition came to be known as Wernicke’s aphasia
in the Wernicke’s area.

Sigmund Freud (1856-1938) made significant discoveries in the area of brain-behavior

relationships. In one of his influential works, An Understanding of Aphasia (1891), he
criticized the works of Broca and Wernicke. At the time of Freud’s publication, many
neurologists confronted the task of explaining the many partial and mixed varieties of
aphasias. Freud suggested that various aphasias could be explained by subcortical lesions in
less localized association pathways. He pointed out that the Broca and Wernicke centers are
nodal points and that multiple areas are responsible for such functions.

Equipotentiality Theory

One of phrenology’s fiercest critics was Marie-Jean-Pierre Flourens, a French neurologist

who argued that no functional localization occurred in the cerebrum. In a series of
experiments to determine the effects of removal of certain parts of the bird brain on function,
he found that it was not the site of the removal that was important but the quantity of tissue
removed. Sensory input at an elementary level is localized, but the process of perception
involves the whole brain. In other words, he argued that cerebral matter was equipotential:
any part of the brain could perform another function. Thus, the size of the injury, rather than
its location, determines the effects of brain injury. This was also known as the aggregate field
view of the brain. He noted this in birds and animals where recovery was possible following
ablation (removal of parts of the brain). This notion of equipotentiality was a strong and
popular one at that time.

Flourens, however, was criticized on a number of points. He used animals with brains so
small that any ablation would invade more than one functional area. He observed only motor
behavior, i.e. behaviors such as eating or wing flapping, whereas the localizationists were
mostly interested in more complex faculties such as intellect or friendship. He also
erroneously suggested that humans use only 10% of the brain, an idea that lay people still
commonly hold today.

Different versions of equipotentiality were proposed by various researchers. Karl Lashley

(1890-1958) believed in a combination of localization and equipotentiality, or the belief that
higher cortical functions are too complex to be confined to any single area of the brain. He
also proposed the principle of mass action, which states that the extent of brain impairment is
directly proportional to the amount of tissue damage. He talked about the multipotentiality of
the brain which means that each part of the brain was responsible for more than one function.
Lashley felt more allegiance to the equipotentiality than the localizationalists. Hughlings
Jackson (1835-1911) wrote in the 1800s but was not published until the 1950s. He disagreed
with Broca, Wernicke, and others and believed in holistic brain functioning. He observed that
higher mental functions are not unitary abilities, but consist of simpler and more basic skills.
These skills are relatively localized, but because of the potential variety of complex ways in
which the skills are linked to form intelligent functions, the higher-level behavior does not
appear to be localized. He saw the brain as functioning in a hierarchical manner. Each level
higher would control more complex functioning. The three levels he often described were the
spinal cord, the brain stem, and the forebrain. The loss of a specific area of the brain causes
the loss or impairment of all higher skills dependent on that one area. Alexander Luria
(1902-1977) described each area of the central nervous system as being involved in one or
more brain functions. The first unit, defined as brainstem and associated areas, regulated the
arousal level of the brain and proper muscle tone. The second unit, defined as posterior areas
of the cortex, played a role in the reception, integration, and analysis of sensory information.
The third unit, frontal and prefrontal lobes, was involved with planning, executing, and
verifying behavior (Luria, 1966). All behavior reflects the brain operating as a whole. As
with the equipotentiality theory, Luria regards behavior as the result of interaction among
many areas of the brain. As with the localization theory, he assigns a specific role to each
area of the brain. The multifunctional role of the brain is called pluripotentiality; any given
area of the brain can be involved in relatively few or many behaviors.

Lateralization Theory

In general terms lateralization refers to placing to one side any structure or function in a
living organism. The term is usually applied to brain functions mediated asymmetrically by
either the left or right cerebral hemisphere, and is closely aligned to the terms cerebral
dominance and hemispheric specialization. Early in the 19th century, a number of papers
were published that began to link complex psychological functions to specific areas of the
brain. Marc Dax (1771-1837) was a French neurologist who discovered through clinical
practice the link between the damage to the left cerebral hemisphere and the loss of the ability
to produce speech. Dax wrote two papers in 1836 and died the following year without
publishing his findings. The discovery that language and motor abilities are lateralized to the
left hemisphere triggered a search for other lateralized functions. In effect, the discovery of
language and motor lateralization established lateralization of function as a major area of
scientific research.

In 1953, Sperry & Myers conducted a split-brain experiment on cats. In their experiment,
both the researchers trained cats to perform a simple visual discrimination task. On each trial,
each cat was confronted by two panels, one with a circle on it and one with a square on it. In
the first phase of the study, all cats learned the task with a patch on one eye. When the patch
was transferred, the performance of the experimental cats dropped immediately to baseline;
and then the cats relearned the task with no savings whatsoever, as if they had never seen it
before. Myers & Sperry concluded that the cat brain has the capacity to act as two separate
brains and that the function of the corpus callosum is to transmit information between them.

The corpus callosum is not the only medium for that. There can be indirect pathways which
connect both the hemispheres. For example, feelings of emotion appear to be readily passed
between the hemispheres of most split-brain patients. Another factor that has been shown to
contribute substantially to the hemispheric independence of split-brain patients is task
difficulty (Weissman & Banich, 2000). As tasks become more difficult, they are more likely
to involve both hemispheres of split-brain patients. The two hemispheres can also
communicate with each other by an external route, by a process called cross-cueing.
Currently, the left cerebral hemisphere, assuming right-handedness, is specialized for
language and symbolic processing. The right hemisphere is specialized for the perception
and organization of visual-spatial stimuli, certain perceptual-motor skills, and emotional
functioning.

Neural plasticity, also known as neuroplasticity or brain plasticity, can be defined as the
ability of the nervous system to change its activity in response to intrinsic or extrinsic stimuli
by reorganizing its structure, functions, or connections. A fundamental property of neurons is
their ability to modify the strength and efficacy of synaptic transmission through a diverse
number of activity-dependent mechanisms, typically referred to as synaptic plasticity. The
development of the brain and behavior is guided not only by a basic genetic blueprint but also
by a wide range of experiences that shape the emerging brain. Brains exposed to different
environmental events such as sensory stimuli, stress, injury, diet, drugs, and social
relationships show a unique developmental trajectory. Although the brain was once seen as a
rather static organ, it is now clear that the organization of brain circuitry is constantly
changing as a function of experience. These changes are referred to as brain plasticity, and
they are associated with functional changes that include phenomena such as memory,
addiction, and recovery of function.

The term “neuroplasticity” was first used by Polish neuroscientist Jerzy Konorski in 1948 to
describe observed changes in neuronal structure, although it was not widely used until the
1970s. However, the idea goes back even farther (Demarin, Morović, & Béne, 2014) - the
“father of neuroscience”, Santiago Ramόn y Cajal, talked about “neuronal plasticity” in the
early 1900s (Fuchs & Flügge, 2014). In the 1960s, it was discovered that neurons could
“reorganize” after a traumatic event. Further research found that stress can change not only
the functions but also the structure of the brain itself (Fuchs & Flügge, 2014).

Broadly speaking, there are two main types of neuroplasticity. Functional plasticity involves
changes in some physiological aspect of nerve cell function, such as the frequency of nervous
impulses or the probability of release of a chemical signal- both of which act to make
synaptic connections stronger or weaker- or changes to the degree of synchronicity among
populations of cells. Structural plasticity includes volumetric changes in discrete brain
regions and the formation of new neural pathways, brought about either by the formation of
new nerve fiber branches and synapses or by the growth and addition of new cells.

Changes in the brain can occur due to a variety of stimuli. Kolb et al. (2003) state that there
are three main types of plasticity that shape the developing brain:

● Experience-independent plasticity: It is pretty much everything that happens with

the brain during the prenatal developmental phase. Neuronal connections and brain
formation are processes driven by complex genetic instructions. There is so much
going on at this stage of brain development: neurons that fire together make some
structures stronger and parts of the brain more prominent than others, whereas those
that do not sync very well together die out.
● Experience-expectant plasticity: It is independent of external factors and helps the
neurons connect to each other independent of other processes. An example is the
formation of the retinal ganglion.
● Experience-dependent plasticity: It can be seen throughout the lives. Brain changes
when different situations occur: moving to new territory, learning problems or
suffering from injury.

Factors affecting brain plasticity: Factors that are now known to affect neuronal structure
and behavior include the following: experience (both leading pre- and post-natal);
psychoactive drugs (e.g. amphetamine, morphine); gonadal hormones (e.g.estrogen,
testosterone); anti-inflammatory agents; growth factors; dietary factors (e.g. vitamin and
mineral supplements); genetic factors; disease (e.g. Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia,
epilepsy, stroke); stress; brain injury and leading disease.

There are two main perspectives on neuroplasticity:

1. Neuroplasticity is one fundamental process that describes any change in final neural
activity or behavioral response, or;
2. Neuroplasticity is an umbrella term for a vast collection of different brain change and
adaptation phenomena.

Research Methods used in Biopsychology

There are a variety of research methods which are widely used in the field of
neuropsychology. Some require human subjects and some other methods have non-human
participants. Research conducted on human participants is easy and the results are applicable
to the population. These participants are good in following instructions, and they report their
experiences in a subjective manner which is helpful in conducting research and finding
results. As far as non-human participants are concerned, there are less restrictions for using
them as subjects and it is easy to get permission for doing any research on animals. Their
brain structure is simpler than those of humans which makes it easier to understand the
phenomenon.

Neuropsychological research can be either pure or applied. Pure research is motivated

primarily by the curiosity of the researcher- it is done solely for the purpose of acquiring
knowledge. In contrast, applied research is intended to bring about some direct benefit to
humankind.

Biopsychological research involves both experiments and non-experimental studies. Two

common types of non-experimental studies are quasi experimental studies and case studies.
The experiment is the method used by scientists to study causation. The experimenter assigns
the subjects to conditions, administers the treatments, and measures the outcome in such a
way that there is only one relevant difference between the conditions being compared. It is
not possible for neuropsychologists to bring the experimental method to bear on all problems
of interest to them. In such prohibitive situations, neuropsychologists sometimes conduct
quasi experimental studies- studies of groups of subjects who have been exposed to the
conditions of interest in the real world. Studies that focus on a single case are called case
studies. They often provide a more in-depth picture than that provided by an experiment or a
quasi experimental study. However, their generalizability is a major problem.

There are other methods used by neuropsychologists. These are:

● Computed Tomography: Computed tomography (CT) is a computer-assisted x-ray

procedure that can be used to visualize the brain and other internal structures of the
living body.
● Positron emission tomography: Positron emission tomography (PET) was the first
brain-imaging technique to provide images of brain activity (functional brain images)
rather than images of brain structure (structural brain images). In one common
version, radioactive fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) is injected into the patient’s carotid
artery.
● Magnetic resonance imaging: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a structural
brain-imaging procedure in which high-resolution images are constructed from the
measurement of radio-frequency waves that hydrogen atoms emit as they align with a
powerful magnetic field. It provides clearer images of the brain than does CT. It can
produce images in three dimensions.
● Functional MRI (fMRI): It produces images representing the increase in oxygen
flow in the blood to active areas of the brain. Nothing is injected into the volunteer; it
provides both structural and functional information in the same image; its spatial
resolution is better; and it can be used to produce three-dimensional images of activity
over the entire brain.
● Psychophysiological measures: They include electroencephalography (electrical
activity of the brain), electromyography (measures muscle tension),
electrooculography (records eye movements), electrocardiogram (records heartbeats),
to name a few.
● Neuropsychological tests: For intelligence, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
(WAIS) is common. For language lateralization, two tests are common: sodium
amytal test (Wada, 1949), and dichotic listening test (Kimura, 1973). For memory,
repetition priming tests are common. Lastly, for frontal lobe function, Wisconsin card
sorting test is commonly used.
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Pinel, J.P., & Barnes, S.J. (2018). Biopsychology. (10th ed).Pearson.

Toates, F. (2011). Biological psychology. (3rd ed). Pearson.

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