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Philosophical Issues in Neuroscience

Philosophical Issues in Neuroscience. Dr. Kelley Kline FSU. I. What is Physiological Psychology ?. The study of the biological basis of behavior. Behavior is observed & the putative mechanisms underlying such behavior is examined. Most research focuses on brain mechanisms.

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Philosophical Issues in Neuroscience

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  1. Philosophical Issues in Neuroscience Dr. Kelley Kline FSU

  2. I. What is Physiological Psychology? • The study of the biological basis of behavior. • Behavior is observed & the putative mechanisms underlying such behavior is examined. • Most research focuses on brain mechanisms.

  3. II. Fields related to physiological Psychology: • Neurology study of brain disease • Neurophysiology study of brain function • Neuropsychology study & treatment of brain damage in people • Psychophysiology study of relationship between the ANS & behavior Psychophysics study of sensory stimuli & behavior

  4. Physiological Research draws from diverse paradigms: 1. Human & nonhuman subjects 2. Experiments, quasi-experimental studies, & case studies 3. Pure & applied research

  5. III. The Search for the soul: • Since earliest times, humankind has engaged in a search for the “soul” & the body part in which it is “housed.” • A # of body parts were thought to “house” the soul: liver, blood, & heart.

  6. The Heart vs. The Brain Hypothesis: • Many thought the soul was in the heart. Greeks noticed that people died from chest wounds, leading them to infer the “mind” is in the heart.

  7. Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) Thought the heart is the source of mental processes because it is warm & active. The brain, cool by contrast, was thought to cool the blood & heart.

  8. Hippocrates: argued for the brain hypothesis (460-377 B.C.) • He observed loss of mental functions associated with brain injury. • He concluded all mental processes must be brain processes. Hence, the “soul” or “mind” must be located in the brain. • Mind & brain were one.

  9. Galen: The Roman Physician (129-199 A.D.) • Rome’s leading physician & surgeon to gladiators, noticed link between brain injury & loss of mental functions. • Argued that nerves from sense organs go to the brain, not the heart.

  10. IV. The Mind/Body Problem: • What is it??? • The relationship between the mind & the brain. • Two basic views: dualism & monism

  11. A. Rene Descartes: Dualism • Argued the “mind” exists independently of the brain, but interacts with the brain through the pineal gland to control behavior. Pineal gland was “seat of soul.” • How can a non-material mind produce movements in a material body????

  12. Dualists try to get around this problem by saying: • 1. The mind & body operate in parallel without interacting. • 2. The body can affect the mind, but the mind can’t affect the body. • Both offer dualists a loophole to explain behavior without considering the mind.

  13. B. Monism: • Avoids the mind/body problem, because it argues that the mind & body are the same thing. • Most popular among scholars*** • Monist materialism– argues that everything that exists is material. • Psychological experiences are the result of physical events taking place in our brains.

  14. C. Current view • We really don’t know whether mental processes come first or brain processes come first?

  15. V. Phrenology: Heads up!!! • Studied individual differences in mental functions by examining the bumps on the skull. • Theory—a well-developed brain region associated with a given function (memory) would produce a larger bump on the skull, indicating greater performance in that area.

  16. Phrenologists: Gull & Spurzheim • Identified a list of traits they could examine people for. • Although Gall gathered an impressive amount of data, there were no statistics to examine his findings. • His “correct” observations can easily be explained by confirmation bias.

  17. Behavioral Neurology: Broca • Paul Broca- found an area of brain damage associated with a language disorder. • Language must be produced by the left frontal lobe. • Method laid foundation for neurology & neuropsychology.

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