NEUROLOGICAL BASIS

OF BEHAVIOR
Lecture 1
Dr. Najma Najam
 NEUROLOGICAL BASIS OF
BEHAVIOR
 The mastermind, the brain, controls every
aspect of behavior from molar to
molecular—a universe within the small
cranium. Millions of neurons and glial cells
interaction, firing constantly resulting in
the gross behaviors that we see or
experience.
 BASIC QUESTIONS IN THE STUDY OF
BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR
 Where did the study of the brain start,
who are the major contributors?
 How does the brain know that what to
process and about what (people, places,
objects) and where?
 How does the brain grow? (evolutionary
and developmental perspective)
 BASIC QUESTIONS IN THE STUDY OF
BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR
 What are and where are the controls of
our motivated behaviors?
 Why do we remember ( smells, visuals,
kinesthetic) and how do we retrieve these
memories? Why do we forget and what
can go wrong? (Alzheimer’s)
 Where does pleasure, pain, happiness and
addiction happen in the brain?
BASIC QUESTIONS IN THE STUDY OF
BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR
 What are neurochemicals? What are the
various electrical, electro-physiological,
neurochemical, biochemical and other
changes that take place in the brain and
which molecules go where and do what?

 What happens if the systems malfunction,

does one affect the rest, or things go on
as before?
BASIC QUESTIONS IN THE STUDY OF
BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR
 What happens after brain damage- do we
reconstruct?

 Why is it important for psychologists to

know about the brain?
 There are many ways of looking at the
brain behavior interaction.
 Descriptive manner
 Evolutionary perspective
 Developmental perspective
 The continuum which spans from the
naturalistic, ethological studies to experimental,
laboratory studies.
 We can study the brain from molar perspective
to molecular perspective.
 Neurohormonal influences on growth
developmental and subsequent expression of
behavior
 What is the role of sleep and dreams? How does
brain control these?
AREAS STUDIED BY RESEARCHERS

 Simpler behaviors such as feeding, hunger,

thirst, sexual behavior, temperature regulation
neuroantomical and neurochemical substrates.
 Complex behaviors such as the memory,
learning, forgetting, attachment, addiction,
emotional states ( anger, fear) depression and
schizophrenia.
 Even more complex topics such as brain
hemispheric functioning (of the cerebral cortex.
CEREBRAL HEMISPHERES
 OVERVIEW OF HOW NEUROSCIENCE
DEVELOPED
 This is one of the most interesting areas which
has had an enormous growth in the last century.
 In the middle of the 70’s a brain scientist
Valenstein wrote a book “ Brain Control”
predicting possibilities emanating from the study
of the brain.
 The most interesting aspect of this area are the
brain-behavior relationship connections.
 ISSUES
 Localization vs. Equipotential

 Nature vs. Nurture

 Behaviors studied at micro or macro level

 HISTORICAL ROOTS OF BRAIN
SCIENCES
 Hippocrates
 Muslim contributions
 Franz Gall
 Flourens
 Broca
 ROOTS IN PHYSICS
 Psychophysics methods developed by
Weber who experimented on relationships
of stimulus and response.
 CONTRIBUTORS IN
NEUROPSYCHOLOGY
 Lashley
 Pavlov
 Luria
 Sherrington
 Weber
 William James
 Jung