NEUROLOGICAL BASIS OF

BEHAVIOR
Lecture 1
 Neuroscience and Biological Functions
What let’s you … read these words? Write with your pencil?
Think about ideas? Walk to your next class?

This course is about the important and exciting field of neuroscience & biopsychology
• How the brain is organized to create behavior.

the evolution of brain and behavior in diverse animal species

how the brain is related to behavior in normal people, and

how the brain changes in people who suffer brain damage or other
brain abnormalities.
Why Study Biology
• Everything psychological is simultaneously biological.
• Biological psychologists study the “animal roots” of behavior, relating
actions and experiences to genetics and physiology.
• Biological psychology provides insights into numerous aspects of our
lives, including sleep and dreams, depression and schizophrenia,
hunger and pleasure, stress and disease, and many others.
• Early approach: Phrenology.
 Phrenology

Images from:
http://pages.britishlibrary.net/phrenology/overview.htm
The Brain and Conscious
Experience
• Dualism, the belief that mind and body are different kinds of
substance that exist independently - René Descartes
• The decisive objection is that dualism conflicts with the law of the
conservation of matter and energy.
• Monoism:
• Materialism
• Mentlism
• Identity position.
• Nearly all philosophers and scientists who have addressed the mind–
brain problem favor some version of monism, the belief that the
universe consists of only one kind of substance.
Biological Basis of Behavior
• Description of the Behavior

• Ontogeneticity of the Behavior

• Evolution of the Behavior

• Biological/ Physiological Basis

How To Relate Brain and Behavior?

• Somatic Interventions

• Behavioral Interventions

• Correlations
SOMATIC INTERVENTION

Administer Strength of the

Hormone mating behavior

• Somatic • Behavior
Intervention Affected
SOMATIC INTERVENTION

Stimulation of a Arousal and

Brain Region Consciousness

• Somatic • Behavior
Intervention Affected
BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTIONS

Put a Person in Changes in

fearful situation. Hormones Levels

• Behavioral • Somatic
Intervention Effects
BEHAVIORAL INTERVENTION

Behavioral Control of Bladder/

Training/ Therapy Sphincter Control

• Behavioral • Somatic Effects

Intervention
How To Relate Brain and Behavior?
MULTI LEVEL ANALYSIS
Brain
• The forebrain is prominent in birds and mammals with big brains,
including ourselves.
• The brainstem is the source of behavior in simpler animals such as
fish, amphibians, and reptiles.
• The forebrain enfolds the brainstem and is responsible for most of
our conscious behaviors. The brainstem is responsible for most of our
unconscious behaviors.
Subparts of the nervous system
Divisions of the Nervous System
 Neurons – What are they?
• The basic building block of the nervous system -- a nerve cell

• Neurons perform three basic tasks

• Receive
• Carry electrochemical information
• Pass on to the next neuron

The brain is made up of

approximately ________
neurons.
100 billion
Neurons – How do they work?
• Neurons “fire” - send an impulse down their length - or
they don’t “fire”

• Neurons come in a variety of shapes, sizes, etc.

• Types:
- Sensory Neurons
- Motor Neurons
- Interneurons- Over 90%, connects nerves
Parts of the Neuron - Terminals
Neuron Communication
Action Potential
• A brief electrical charge that
travels down the axon of
the neuron.
• A neural impulse
• Considered an “on”
condition of the neuron
Neuron Communication
Refractory Period
• The “recharging phase”
when a neuron, after
firing, cannot generate
another action potential
Neuron Communication
Resting Potential
The state of a neuron
when it is at rest and
capable of generating
an action potential

- At rest, the inside of the cell is at -70

microvolts.
- With inputs to dendrites, the inside
becomes more positive.
- If resting potential rises above threshold,
an action potential starts to travel from
cell body down the axon.
- Figure shows resting axon being
approached by an AP.
Neuron Communication
All-or-None Principle
• The principle that if a neuron
fires it will always fire at the
same intensity

• All action potentials are of the

same strength.

• A neuron does NOT fire at 30%,

45% or 90% but at 100% each
time it fires.
• Reflections.
• Revision.