BIOPSYCHOLOGY 8e

John P.J. Pinel

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Topics
PART ONE: Methods of Studying the
Nervous System
5.1 Methods of Visualizing and
Stimulating the Living Human Brain
5.2 Recording Human
Psychophysiological Activity
5.3 Invasive Physiological Research
Methods
5.4 Pharmacological Research Methods
5.5 Genetic Engineering

PART TWO: Behavioral Research

Methods of Biopsychology

5.6 Neuropsychological Testing

5.7 Behavioral Methods of Cognitive

Neuroscience

5.8 Biopsychological Paradigms of

Animal Behavior
Ironic case of
Professor P
Methods of Visualizing and
Stimulating the Living Human Brain

• Contrast X-rays – inject

something that absorbs
X-rays less or more than
surrounding tissue
• cerebral angiography

• X-Ray computed
tomography
• Computer-assisted
X-ray
procedure
FIGURE 5.2:
• Provides a 3-D Computed
tomography (CT) uses
representation X-rays to create a CT
of the brain scan of the brain.

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Methods of Visualizing and
Stimulating the Living Human Brain

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

• High resolution images
• Constructed from measurement of
waves that hydrogen atoms emit when
activated within a magnetic field
Positron emission tomography (PET)
• Provides images of brain activity
• Scan is an image of levels of
radioactivity in various parts of one
horizontal level of the brain
• A radiolabeled substance is
administered prior to the scan

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 Methods of Visualizing and
Stimulating the Living Human Brain
• Functional MRI (fMRI)
• Provides images of brain structure and activity
• As with MRI, uses strong magnetic field
• Structure is imaged using waves emitted by hydrogen
ions
• Function is imaged using signal created from interaction
between oxygen and iron in the blood
-- BOLD signal

• Magnetoencephalography
• A measure of neural activity
• Measures changes in magnetic fields on the surface of
the scalp
• Fast temporal resolution

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 Methods of Visualizing and
Stimulating the Living Human Brain

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

• NOT a measure of neural activity
• Provides an experimental probe to alter neural activity
• TMS applies a brief, strong magnetic field that alters
neural activity
-- Can either activate or “deactivate” brain structures
-- Observe changes in behavior

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Recording Human Psychophysiological Activity

• Scalp electroencephalography
(EEG)
– Measure of gross electrical
activity of the brain
– Uses electrodes attached to
scalp
• Many techniques of EEG
– Wave form assessment (e.g.,
alpha waves)
– Event-related potentials (ERPs)
– Combination of EEG with MRI

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 Recording Human Psychophysiological Activity

FIGURE 5.8:
Some typical
electroencephalograms
and their psychological
correlates

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 Recording Human Psychophysiological Activity

FIGURE 5.9:
The averaging of an
auditory evoked
potential. Averaging
increases the signal-
to-noise ratio

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Recording Human Psychophysiological Activity

Muscle tension
• Electromyography is the
technique of measuring the
electrical activity of muscles
• Electromyogram (EMG) indicates
tension of muscles under the skin
Eye movement
• Electrooculography is the
technique of recording eye
movements
• Electrooculogram (EOG)
indicates changes in electrical
potential between the front and
back of the eyeball

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Recording Human Psychophysiological Activity

FIGURE 5.12:
The relation
between a raw
EMG signal and
its integrated
version. The
subject tensed
the muscle
beneath the
electrodes and
then gradually
relaxed it.

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 Recording Human Psychophysiological Activity

FIGURE 5.13:
The typical placement of
electrodes around the
eye for
electrooculography. The
two electrooculogram
traces were recorded as
the subject scanned a
circle.

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Recording Human Psychophysiological Activity

Skin Conductance Cardiovascular Activity

• Measures of • Often used to link

electrodermal activity physiological changes
with emotional state
• Techniques include
measurement of skin • Measures include
conductance leavel heart rate, blood
(SCL) and skin pressure, and blood
conductance volume
response (SCR)

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Invasive Physiological Research Methods

Stereotaxic surgery
• Requires use of
sterotaxic atlas
and instrument

FIGURE 5.14: Stereotaxic

surgery: implanting an
electrode in the rat
amygdala

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Invasive Physiological Research Methods

Lesion methods
• Bilateral and unilateral
lesions
• Several procedures each
requiring careful
interpretation of effects
• Aspiration lesions
• Radio-frequency
lesions
• Knife cuts
• Cryogenic blockade

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Invasive Physiological Research Methods

• Electrical stimulation

• Lesioning can be used to remove, damage, or inactivate a

structure

• Electrical stimulation may be used to “activate” a structure

• Stimulation of a structure may have an effect opposite to that

seen when the structure is lesioned

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Invasive Physiological Research Methods

Invasive electrophysiological
recording methods:
• Intracellular unit recording
– Membrane potential of a neuron
• Extracellular unit recording
– Firing of a neuron
• Multiple-unit recording
– Firing of many neurons
• Invasive EEG recording

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Invasive Physiological Research Methods

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Pharmacological Research Methods

• Routes of drug administration

• Fed to subject
• Injected through a tube into
stomach of subject
• Injected hypodermically into the
peritoneal cavity of the
abdomen, into the fatty tissue
beneath the skin, or into a large
surface vein of the subject

• Selective chemical lesions

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 Measuring Chemical Activity of the Brain

• 2-deoxyglucose (2-DG) technique

– Inject animal with
radioactive 2-DG and allow
it to engage in behavior or
interest
– Use autoradiography to
see where radioactivity
accumulates in brain slices

• Cerebral dialysis – measures

extracellular concentration of
specific chemicals in live animals

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Locating Neurotransmitters and Receptors in the
Brain

• Dye or radioactive labels used to

visualize the protein of interest

• Immunocytochemistry – based on
the binding of labeled protein-
specific antibodies
• Immune response – antibodies
created that bind and
remove/destroy antigens
(foreign proteins)

• In situ hybridization – uses labeled

RNA to locate neurons with
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Genetic Engineering

• Gene knockout techniques

• Subjects missing a given gene can provide
insight into what the gene controls
• Difficult to interpret results – most behavior is
controlled by many genes and removing one
gene may alter the expression of others,
including compensation for missing gene
• Antisense drugs block expression of a gene

• Gene replacement techniques

• Insert pathological human genes in mice

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Fantastic Fluorescence and the Brainbow

• Green fluorescent protein (GFP)

exhibits bright green florescence when
exposed to blue light
• Variants of the gene for GFP can
express other colors
• These GFP genes can be inserted into
DNA of neurons—color can then be
viewed when targeted neuronal genes
are expressed
• Brainbow

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Neuropsychological Testing

• Time-consuming – only
conducted on a small portion
of those with brain damage
• Assists in diagnosing neural
disorders
• Serves as a basis for
counseling/caring
• Provides information on
effectiveness and side effects
of treatment

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Modern Approaches to Neuropsychological Testing

• Single-test
• Used to differentiate brain damage from
functional (psychological) causes

• Standardized-test-battery
• Same goal as single-test approach
• Halstead-Reitan, for example

• Customized-test-battery
• Now predominant
• Characterizes nature of psychological
deficits

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Tests of the Common Neuropsychological Test Battery

• Intelligence
– Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
– WAIS, an IQ test
• Memory
– Digit span subtest
• Language – problems of phonology, syntax, or
semantics
• Language lateralization – used to identify
language-dominant hemisphere
– Sodium amytal – anesthetize one
hemisphere
– Dichotic listening – ear contralateral to
dominant hemisphere shows superior
hearing ability

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Tests of the Common Neuropsychological Test Battery

• Memory – exploring nature of deficits

• Short-term, long-term, or both?
• Anterograde or retrograde?
• Semantic or episodic?
• Explicit or implicit? (repetition priming
tests)
• Language – problems of phonology,
syntax, or semantics
• Frontal-Lobe Function
• Wisconsin Card Sorting Task

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 Behavioral Methods of Cognitive Neuroscience

• Each complex cognitive process

results from the combined activity
of simple cognitive processes
(constituent cognitive
processes)
• Each complex cognitive process is
mediated by neural activity in a
particular area of the brain
• Goal is to identify the parts of the
brain that mediate various
constituent cognitive processes
• Paired-image subtraction
technique: compare PET or fMRI
images during several different
cognitive tasks

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 Biopsychological Paradigms of Animal Behavior

Procedures developed for the

investigation of a particular
behavioral phenomenon
Assessment of Species-common
behaviors:
• Open-field test
•Tests of Aggressive and Defensive
Behavior
•Tests of Sexual Behavior

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 Biopsychological Paradigms of Animal Behavior

Traditional Conditioning
Paradigms:
• Pavlovian conditioning (pairing an
unconditioned stimulus with a
conditioned stimulus)
•Operant conditioning
•Self-stimulation

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Biopsychological Paradigms of Animal Behavior

Seminatural Animal
Learning Paradigms:
• Conditioned Taste Aversion
• Radial Arm Maze
• Morris Water Maze
• Conditioned Defensive
Burying

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 Watch: Visit to a Cognitive
Neuroscience Laboratory
Watch: Robert Sternberg on Intelligence

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Acknowledgments
Slide Image Description Image Source

template lightning ©istockphoto.com/Soubrette

template background texture ©istockphoto.com/Hedda Gjerpen

ch05 image Someone whose brain is being studied in a lab ©istockphoto.com/annedde

3 Figure 5.2 Pinel 8e, p. 103

4 PET scan ©istockphoto.com/BanksPhotos

someone whose brain is being studied in a lab ©istockphoto.com/annedde
7, 17
8 Figure 5.8 Pinel 8e, p. 107

9 Figure 5.9 Pinel 8e, p. 108

10 eye ©istockphoto.com/Tyler Stalman

11 Figure 5.12 Pinel 8e, p. 109

12 Figure 5.13 Pinel 8e, p. 110

14 Figure 5.14 Pinel 8e, p. 111

15 Figure 5.15 Pinel 8e, p. 112

15 Figure 5.16 Pinel 8e, p. 113

16 EKG Heartbeat ©istockphoto.com/dan ionut popescu

18 Figure 5.17 Pinel 8e, p. 114

19 pill background ©istockphoto.com/Fotografia Basica

20 hand holding rat ©iStockphoto.com/sidsnapper

21, 28 brain ©istockphoto.com/Stephen Kirklys

22 DNA ©istockphoto.com/Mark Evans

22, 29 white rat ©iStockphoto.com/Elena Butinova

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Acknowledgments
23 colored smoke ©istockphoto.com/Wolfgang Amri

24, 25 blue sky & clouds ©istockphoto.com/kertlis

24 neuron ©istockphoto.com/ktsimage

26, 27 book ©istockphoto.com/Carmen Martínez Banús

27 Figure 5.23 Pinel 8e, p. 122

30 salivating dog ©istockphoto.com/Jess Wiberg

30 hand ©istockphoto.com/Stas Perov

30 bell ©istockphoto.com/Igor Sandra

30 dog food bowl ©istockphoto.com/Jonas Engström

31 Figure 5.26 Pinel 8e, p. 126

32 laptop ©istockphoto.com/CostinT

32 table and wall ©istockphoto.com/David Clark

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