Chapter 1 Continued
Terms
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- Peripheral Nervous System (PNS)
- All the neurons in the body that are located outside the brain and spinal cord
- Neuron
- A brain cell engaged in information processing
- Sensory Neuron
- Neuron that carries incoming information from sensory receptors into the spinal cord and brain
- Motor Neuron
- Neuron that carries information from the spinal cord and brain to make muscles contract
- Innate Behaviors
- Relatively fixed, invariant ways of responding
- Learned Behaviors
- Flexible ways of responding
- Simple Nervous System
- Narrow Range of Behavior
-
Complex
Nervous System -
Wider Range
of Behavior - Mentalism
- An explanation of behavior as a function of the nonmaterial mind
- Aristotle
-
Brain cooled the blood; no role in producing behavior
-Psyche produced behavior - Psyche
- Synonym for mind; an entity once proposed to be the source of human behavior
- Dualism
- A nonmaterial mind and the material body contribute to behavior
- Mind-Body Problem
- Quandary of explaining a nonmaterial mind in command of a material body
- Dualism: Rene Descartes
-
Mind directs rational behavior
Body and brain direct all other behavior via mechanical and physical principles
Examples: sensation, movement, and digestion
Mind is located in the pineal gland of the brain, which sits beside ventricles filled with fluid
Mind regulates behavior by directing the flow of ventricular fluid to appropriate muscles - Dualism: Problems with Descartes
-
Pineal gland is involved in biological rhythms, but not in intelligence or behavioral control
Fluid is not pumped from the ventricles to control movement - Materialism
-
Behavior can be explained as a function of the nervous system without explanatory recourse to the mind
Supported evolutionary theories of Alfred Wallace and Charles Darwin
Both were struck at the many similarities among species - Darwin’s Concept of Natural Selection
-
Explanation for how new species evolve and existing species change over time
Differential success in the reproduction of different characteristics (phenotypes) results from the interaction of organisms with their environment - Implications of Natural Selection
-
Because all animal species are related, their neurons and their brains must be related, too
Rationale for studying simpler animals to understand humans
Because all species of animals are related, their behavior must be related, too
Emotional expressions in humans (across cultures) and other animals are similar
Both the brain and behavior changed bit by bit in animals that evolved to greater complexity, as humans obviously did - Common Ancestor
-
A forebear from which two or more lineages or family groups arise
Example: Humans and apes are thought to share a common ancestor
Can trace our lineage by comparing the genes, brains, and behaviors of different animals - First forms of life
- 3.5 billion years ago
- First brain cells
- 700 million years ago
- First brain
- 250 million years ago
- First human-like brain
- 3 - 4 million years ago
- Modern brain
- 100,000 - 200,000 years ago
- Taxonomy
-
Branch of biology concerned with naming and classifying species
Groups organisms with common characteristics - Five different kingdoms
-
Monera (bacteria)
Protista (single cells)
Plantae (plants)
Fungi (fungi)
Animalia (animals) - Nerve net
- Sensory and motor neurons
- Segmented nerve trunk
-
Divided into a number of parts
Bilaterally symmetrical (the same on both sides of the body) - Ganglia
- Collection of nerve cells that function somewhat like a brain
- chordates
- Animals that have a brain and spinal cord
- Notochord
-
flexible rod that runs the length of the back
Humans: Notochord is resent in embryos, but is replaced by vertebral spinal column by birth - Nervous systems vary widely among chordates, but all are/have:
-
Bilaterally symmetrical and segmented
Brain and spinal cord encased in cartilage/bone
Crossed organization: Each hemisphere receives information from and controls the opposite side of the body
Spinal cord is dorsal (at the back) to the heart and gut - Behavioral complexity among chordates is correlated with the evolution of?
- cerebral hemispheres and cerebellum
- Cerebellum
- located in the hindbrain; involved in the coordination of motor and possibly other mental processes
- Principle of Proper Mass
- Species exhibiting more complex behaviors will possess relatively larger brains
- Encephalization Quotient
- Measure of brain size obtained from the ratio of actual brain size to the expected brain size for an animal of a particular body size
- Why the Hominid Brain Enlarged
- Rapid climate changes have been thought to produce new environments that select for new traits (e.g., larger brains)
-
Why the Hominid Brain Enlarged
-The Primate Lifestyle -
The foraging behavior of primates is more complex than other animals
Finding fruit is more difficult than eating grass or other vegetation on the ground
Need good sensory, spatial, and memory skills
Fruit eaters have larger brains -
Changes in Hominid Physiology
-Radiator Hypothesis -
The more active the brain is, the more heat it generates
Increased
Blood
Circulation
leads to
Improved
Brain
Cooling
leads to
Enabled Size of
Hominid Brains to Increase -
Why the Hominid Brain Enlarged
-Changes in Hominid Physiology -
Genetic
Mutation
leads to
Smaller Facial
Muscles & Bones
leads to
Change
in Diet
leads to
Increased Brain Size -
Why the Hominid Brain Enlarged
-Neoteny -
Rate of maturation is slowed
Allows more brain cells to be produced
Adults retain some infant characteristics
Newly evolved species resemble the young of their common ancestors
Human heads look more like the heads of juvenile chimpanzees than adult chimpanzees - Evolutionary Approach
- Make brain-behavior comparisons between different species
- Culture
- Learned behaviors that are passed on from one generation to the next through teaching and learning