This course is called “Introduction to Brain and Behavior,” which means that

it is actually an introduction to “Neuroscience,” with an emphasis on

behavior.

WHAT IS NEUROSCIENCE?WHAT IS NEUROSCIENCE?

Neuroscience is a field of scientific study that seeks to understand how the nervous system* carries out its functions.

(* The nervous system is comprised of the peripheral nervous system, spinal cord, & brain.)

So, what are the nervous system’s functions?

The nervous system organizes and controls an individual’s appropriate interactions with his/her environment. Thus, it’s functions are dynamic, vast and wide-ranging – extending, many believe, to include all thoughts, perceptions, bodily actions, behaviors, and even the very essence of one’s being: consciousness and the mind.Class #1: Intro, p.1

Class #1: Intro, p.2

Do you believe that mind and consciousness are an inherent part of

our body - specifically – the nervous system (or brain)?

The question is really a philosophical one, whose answer(s) have challenged philosophers, and more

recently neuroscientists, for centuries.

This issue is called the MIND-BODYMIND-BODY - or, in our case, the MIND-BRAINMIND-BRAIN – problem, and there are

basically two views:

DualismDualism: The belief that the body is physical, but the mind is not; i.e., that, as your textbook states (p. 5), the mind and body are different kinds of substance that exist independently (but can interact).

MonismMonism: The belief that the universe consists of only one kind of substance, and that the mind is part of it (see pages 5 - 7).

The mind-body (brain) problem has had a The mind-body (brain) problem has had a very long and contentious history. very long and contentious history.

Most ancient Egyptians, Indians, Chinese, and Greeks thought that the heart was the seat of our minds and emotions. Thus, they were MONISTS.

Class #1: Intro, p.3

But one Greek, Hippocrates (460-379 BC), also a monist, did not; he placed the functions firmly in the brain. He writes in his essay “On the Sacred Disease” (epilepsy):

Other MONISTS:Aristotle (384-322 BC): the brain cools the passions of the heart.

Galen (130-200 AD): Nerves convey fluids secreted by the brain and spinal cord to the body – I.e., CNS behaves like a gland.

Versalius (1514-1564): The mind/soul is the nervous system.

DUALIST:René

Descartes1596-1650

The dark ages: Monistic beliefs were thought to be heretical, so dualism

prevailed for many years.

Such beliefs remained until the end of the 18th century, when, emerging from the dark ages, and discovering electricity (e.g., Ben Franklin), knowledge about the function of

the nervous system advanced rapidly.

Class #1: Intro, p.4

Descartes believed that the “soul” (mind) controlled muscles via the pineal gland by hydraulic mechanisms. This idea stemmed from devices of his day such as garden statues and figures in clocks with moving figures.

Most neuroscientist today are monists, and make statements such as:

“All behavior is a result of brain (i.e., nervous system) function” (Kandel, 2000, p.5).

“The mind is a phenomenon produced by the workings of the nervous system” (Carlson, 2001, p.2).

I am a neuroscientist too, and it may interest you to know how I became and remain one:

Class #1: Intro, p.5

In high school, I wanted to learn more about pain and how to reduce it.

I realized research was one way to do this - mainly because I had a great biology teacher [Mr. Zinn]…

In college (Brown Univ): Biology, B.A., 1963

Neuroscience was a new and very exciting field then, and because of its promise to answer my many questions about pain, I became a neuroscientist.

Univ. Wash., Seattle): Physiol. & Biophysics, Ph.D., 1968

I arrived at FSU in 1967, never left, and still love the challenges and clinical promise of research…

In class, I’ll explain my continuing - and always thrilling - journey for answers to the puzzle and challenge of pain....

Class #1: Intro, p.6

One of the major reasons many of us are monists today is because of what

we have learned about neural functionning over the past 150 years.

We have learned that the nervous system is organized to accumulate and process knowledge

about its owner’s outer and inner worlds in a manner suited to survival and health.

THUS: • Neural input capabilities are appropriate to the lifestyle of the species.

• The nervous system processes the information it receives in a complex, dynamic manner.

•The nervous system makes use of that information in a dynamic, plastic manner: that is, the nervous system learns.

•The nervous system generates current behaviors that

are appropriate to past and current circumstances.

• Because of this situation, abnormalities can have behavioral-social consequences.

HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES:

Class #1: Intro, p.7

ULTRASOUND COMMUNICATION: We will learn, using a “bat detector” (which your instructor will bring to class) how rodents and other species can detect ultrasound, and how communication using these sound frequences has social consequences.

INJURY and PAIN: We will see how perceptions are appropriate to circumstances. Does injury always give rise to pain perception? Does pain perception mean that some part of your body is injured? (See figure on next page.)

YOUR INSTRUCTOR’S HEARING AIDS: We will discuss the behavioral and social consequences of her hearing abilities.

Class #1: Intro, p.8

Traditional drawing of the battle between the Imam Ali, cousin of Mohamed, and Amr Bin Wid, champion of the enemy host. Amr Bin Wid threw his amputated leg at Imam Ali before being killed. The two-pointed sword called Al-Sahar remains on display in the topkapi Palace in Istanbul.

(From: Wall PD. Pain: The Science of Suffering. Columbia Univ Press, New York, 2000, p. 4.)

Class #1: Intro, p.9

Don’t forget!(from book, Module 1.2)

• The Genetics of Behavior

Class #1: Intro, p. 10