PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology

Odd 2021/2022

Neural
Foundations of
Behavior: The
Basic Equipment

Session 2 & 3

The 2nd Law (2012) album cover by the British rock band Muse. This cover
features a map of human brain pathways from the Human Connectome
Project
 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022

But before that! Question from last week

• Can CBT Cure Schizophrenia?
 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022

But before that! Question from last week

• Hypnotism?
 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022

Neurons: The bread and butter of behavior

 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022

Session 2 & 3
Communication The cells that make us who we are
within the
nervous system
How neurons communicate with each other

The organization The central nervous system

and functions of
the nervous The peripheral nervous system
system Development and change in the nervous system
The methods Research techniques
and ethics of
research
Research ethics
 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022

Session 2 & 3
Communication The cells that make us who we are
within the
nervous system
How neurons communicate with each other

The organization The central nervous system

and functions of
the nervous The peripheral nervous system
system Development and change in the nervous system
The methods Research techniques
and ethics of
research
Research ethics
 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022

Neurons: The bread and butter of behavior

• The basic working unit of the brain
• A specialized cell that is designed to transmit information
– Typical cell: has a body (and nucleus),
membrane, etc.
• Transmit information to other neurons
– Thoughts, feelings
• Transmit information to muscle cells
– Actions!
 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022

Neurons: How they look like

Contains
Receive cytoplasm
information

Contains
neuro-
transmitter

Contains
chromosomes

Carries out Accelerates electrical

information transmission
 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022

Neurons: Types

https://qbi.uq.edu.au/brain/brain-
anatomy/types-neurons
 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022

Communications: Action Potentials

Intracellular Fluid Extracellular Fluid
Negatively Charged Positively Charged
relative to relative to
extracellular fluid intracellular fluid

Low concentration Na+ High concentration Na+

High concentration K+ Low concentration K+

K+ potassium
Na+ sodium
 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022

Action Potentials

K+
channels open

NA+
channels open
 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022

Communication between neurons

• Neurons communicate with one another
chemically using neurotransmitter
• Excitatory: facilitate action potentials
• Inhibitory: inhibit action potentials
• Neuromodulators: alter the
transmissions speeds of action potentials
 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022
Mirror neuron? (Bonini, 2022)

• Neurons spread across multiple

parts of brain
• Respond to the activities of other
• which attracted serious interest
because, despite their location in
a frontal motor area, they could
code the action of others, even
exclusively (Bonini, 2022)
 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022

What kind of groups in our population with

difficulty in relating to others?
 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022

Mirror Neuron And Autism (Chan and Han, 2020)

• The “broken mirror neuron and given the property of mirror

theory” for autism asserts neurons (i.e., discharges during

both activation observation and
that the frontal and parietal
execution) that appears to
brain regions with mirror
support imitation, impaired
neurons were found to be imitation might be associated
abnormally activated in with the “broken” frontoparietal
individuals with ASD mirror neurons
PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022
 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022

Session 2 & 3
Communication The cells that make us who we are
within the
nervous system
How neurons communicate with each other

The organization The central nervous system

and functions of
the nervous The peripheral nervous system
system Development and change in the nervous system
The methods Research techniques
and ethics of
research
Research ethics
 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022

Central and Peripheral Nervous System

Central Nervous System: The Brain and
the Spinal cord
Process and integrate incoming information

Peripheral Nervous System: Autonomic

and somatic systems
Controls internal and external movements
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022

The Brain: Hemispheres

The right- and left-brain hemispheres are
separated by the corpus callosum and are
asymmetrical: Each hemisphere receives
inputs from the opposite side of the body

The grey matter of the cortex is convoluted

into surface areas (gyri) and indentations
(sulci). These “wrinkles” expand the surface
areas of the brain while maintaining its
volume. More gray matters = better
information processing!
 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022

The Brain: Lobes

The Frontal lobe houses the prefrontal cortex
that controls higher-order functions: planning,
inhibition, decision making, etc.
The Parietal lobe houses the primary and
premotor cortices that process somatosensory
information (touches, pain, pressure, balance,
etc.)
The Occipital lobe houses the primary visual
cortex that preprocess visual information
The Temporal lobe houses the auditory cortex
that processes sensory information and is
responsible for language and memory
formation
 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022

The Brain: Parts

The forebrain houses the four lobes and glands
that are responsible for controlling emotion
(hypothalamus). Most grey matters are located
here

The midbrain connects the forebrain and the

hindbrain, and plays secondary roles in vision,
hearing, and movement

The hindbrain houses the pons, medulla, and

cerebellum that are responsible for autonomic
function (e.g., sleep), cardiovascular activity,
and precise motor movement, respectively
 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022

Development and Changes

• Neurogenesis: at birth, neurons proliferate at an accelerated rate
(neurogenesis), but during adulthood, this process is highly limited
• Neurons can also reorganize themselves
– In blind people, the visual cortex processes auditory and tactile inputs
• Neurons can be damaged and recovered (to a certain extent)
– Stroke might create a blood clot that causes neuron degeneration
(ischemic stroke).
– Neurons in the PNS can regenerate,
but regeneration in the CNS is limited
– Instead, in the CNS, recovery involves reorganization of other brain areas
 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022

Neuroplasticity!
• ability of the nervous system to change its activity in response to intrinsic or
extrinsic stimuli by reorganizing its structure, functions, or connections.
(Aparicio, 2019)
• This phenomenon is involved in learning and memory, brain development and
homeostasis, sensorial training, and recovery from brain lesions.
• Adult neuroplasticity is limited, and is mainly expressed as changes in
the strength of excitatory and inhibitory synapses while the attempts
to regenerate connections have met with limited success.
PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022
 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022

Session 2 & 3
Communication The cells that make us who we are
within the
nervous system
How neurons communicate with each other

The organization The central nervous system

and functions of
the nervous The peripheral nervous system
system Development and change in the nervous system
The methods Research techniques
and ethics of
research
Research ethics
 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022

How do we know so much about the brain?

Brain perturbation approach Neuromonitoring approach

Brain Cognition
Perturbation in the brain Manipulate cognitive processes

Cognition Brain
Measure cognitive processes Measure neural activities
 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022

Perturbation approach: Lesion studies

• Association between a damaged brain region
and behavior
• Phineas Gage: Damage in the frontal lobe was
associated with disinhibition
• Cons: correlation ≠ causation
– Diaschisis: the damaged area relays information from
one brain area to another

The skull of the infamous Phineas

Gage
 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022

Transcranial magnetic stimulation

• Uses magnetic coils to deliver single/multiple magnetic pulse(s)

• Note that:
– Low spatial resolution (C)
– Only effective for surface neurons (B)
 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022

Single cell recording

• Uses fine tungsten needle to
record electrical spikes in the
axon
• Notes:
– Invasive, mostly applicable in
animals
– Can be applicable to human in
certain conditions (e.g. when
implanting deep electrode to
treat severe epilepsy
 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022

Electroencephalograph (EEG)
• Measures dendritic electrical
activity near the scalp
• Notes:
– Assess the global state of the
brain (fully awake-deep sleep)
– More sensitive towards the
activity on the gyri
– Only effective for surface
neurons
 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022

Time-locked EEG: Event-related Potentials

• Locking, averaging, and
comparing EEG signals (action
potentials!) between
experimental conditions
– E.g., congruent vs. incongruent
Stroop
• Excellent temporal resolution,
but localization may be
problematic
 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022

Positron-Emitron Tomography (PET)

• Measures metabolic activity produced by short-lived radioactive materials

introduced in the system
• Notes:
– High spatial resolution
– Invasive, low temporal resolution
 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022

(functional) Magnetic Resonance Imaging

• Measures blood-oxygen level
dependent activities (BOLD
signals) within the brain
• Notes:
– Excellent spatial resolution
– Decent temporal resolution
 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022

Methods are complementary!

Spatial specificity: high to low

Temporal specificity: high to low
 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022

Ethical Considerations
• Invasive vs. noninvasive techniques
– Invasive techniques, such as single cell recordings, provide greater localization
specificity, but cause great discomfort to participants

• Animal research: are the animals treated in a humane way?

• Gene and cell therapies: should we be allowed to “edit” incorrect or
mutated genes?
 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022

Activities!
Ethical Considerations
Get into the breakout room and discuss one of the following
controversies:
1. Shall we continue doing animal research?
2. Shall we be allowed to “edit” or correct for mutated genes?
You may provide a case example from the book or somewhere else to
make your point(s). Make sure that you provide at least one advantage
and one disadvantage of doing animal research or gene therapy.
 PSYC6120 – Biological Psychology
Odd 2021/2022

Thank you!
wisnu.wiradhany@binus.ac.id