Ebbinghaus said this because psychology’s questions go back to the ancients

Ebbinghaus said this because psychology’s questions go back to the ancients (Egypt, Greece, Rome).

• Ebbinghaus said this because psychology’s questions go back to the ancients (Egypt, Greece, Rome).

• Thinking about psychological topics has been around a long time, but not the discipline of psychology.

• Psychology emerged from the disciplines of philosophy and natural science.
• Philosophy and science in Western civilization are rooted in the ancients.
• We study Western ideas because we are Western.

Their clay tablets survived because they were fire-hardened.

• Their clay tablets survived because they were fire-hardened.

• Written in a wedge-shaped writing system called cunieform, developed by the Mesopotamians.

• They describe dreams of death and the shame of being found naked in public (universal).

Ancient physicians and philosophers speculated about the nature and locus of the mind, sensation and perception, memory and learning.

• Ancient physicians and philosophers speculated about the nature and locus of the mind, sensation and perception, memory and learning.

• Their contributions persisted for thousands of years, forming the foundation for modern philosophy and science.

• Traces of their ideas persist in current thinking.

Priests enacted rituals to promote healing, for a fee.

• Priests enacted rituals to promote healing, for a fee.

• The patient was isolated in the temple.
• Drugs were used to relieve pain and stop bleeding.

• Alcmaeon (500 BC) first dissected bodies of animals to study them objectively.

• He founded a medical school to counteract the priests and promoted a rational, non-mystical, observation-based medicine.
• He saw health and disease as a harmonious balance, taking a holistic (whole body), systems approach.

Hippocrates also rejected the superstition of the priests and founded a medical school.

• Hippocrates also rejected the superstition of the priests and founded a medical school.

• He taught that all disease results from natural causes and must be treated by natural methods.

• Nature has a healing power.
• The physician’s first duty is to refrain from interfering with nature’s healing – primum non nocere

• He often prescribed rest, exercise, diet, music, and association with friends to restore natural balance.

The right side of the brain controls the left side of the body and vice versa.

• The right side of the brain controls the left side of the body and vice versa.

• In “The Art of Healing” he described symptoms of melancholia (depression), mania, postpartum depression, phobias, paranoia and hysteria.

• In “The Nature of Man” he described a theory of four humors (corresponding to the 4 elements of air, earth, fire and water): blood, two biles, phlegm.

• Bloodletting to balance humors was routinely practiced into the 1800’s, barber pole is sign of a bloodletter.

He described epilepsy in “De morbu sacro” (Concerning the Sacred Disease).

• He described epilepsy in “De morbu sacro” (Concerning the Sacred Disease).

• Seizures were considered a result of divine meddling.
• He rejected such views and predicted that a physiological cause would be discovered (it has been).

• His “dry mouth” theory of thirst says that as air passes over throat membranes it dries them out, creating a sensation of thirst that motivates drinking.

• This is still considered partially correct (there is more to it than just this).

Hippocrates is considered the father of medicine but he also contributed to psychology by:

• Hippocrates is considered the father of medicine but he also contributed to psychology by:

• Describing the natural causes of psychological conditions
• Recommending holistic treatments (like Alcmaeon)
• Describing behavioral problems
• Formulating long-lasting theories of temperament and motivation (based on imbalances of humors)
• Criticizing laws prohibiting women from studying medicine

Galen combined wisdom from Rome’s Imperial Library with personal observation and experiment.

• Galen combined wisdom from Rome’s Imperial Library with personal observation and experiment.

• He wrote a 17-book treatise “De Usu Partium” (On the Usefulness of the Parts) describing the body.

• He claimed that no part of the body is superfluous.
• Based on this he asserted the improbability of creation without divine design.
• Bodily warmth -- he failed to recognize the heart acts as a pump but said the heart’s biological flame distilled a spiritual substance (vital spirit) from the blood.

In “On the Passions and Errors of the Soul” he described a method for curing diseases of the soul.

• In “On the Passions and Errors of the Soul” he described a method for curing diseases of the soul.

• Diseases arise from passions (anger, fear) which can be controlled via understanding and self-knowledge.
• Self-love blinds us to our own faults without a therapist.
• Galen first described the therapeutic relationship.

• Galen’s works dominated medicine until the Renaissance (1300-1600).

• Galen wrote about Hippocrates and other ancients.

Science depends on measurement.

• Science depends on measurement.

• Observation is not helpful unless it is done systematically.
• Observations need to be repeatable, so description needs to be done in a way that anyone can reproduce.
• Measurement is a standardized way of observing properties of the world by assigning numbers to them.

• Measurement depends on mathematics.

The Greeks refined earlier accomplishments of Egyptians in geometry and surveying as the basis for mathematical theory.

• The Greeks refined earlier accomplishments of Egyptians in geometry and surveying as the basis for mathematical theory.

• Under the Greeks math became the language of science, more than a useful tool.
• Math was used to predict solar eclipses (Thales of Miletus, 585 BC, fell in a ditch while looking at the sky).

• Pythagoras tried to relate mathematical relationships in the world to psychological harmony (harmonics in music) and order in the physical world.

A second foundation of science is the idea that a phenomenon can be understood in terms of its parts.

• A second foundation of science is the idea that a phenomenon can be understood in terms of its parts.

• It may be that emergent properties arise from the combination and functioning of fundamental parts.
• Life arises from biochemistry which is about the combination of physical elements.

• An analytical (reductionist) approach suggests that by breaking down a phenomenon into its parts, isolating them for study, it can be better understood.

Democritus (460-370 BC) said tiny atomic particles in ceaseless motion are the basis of all matter.

• Democritus (460-370 BC) said tiny atomic particles in ceaseless motion are the basis of all matter.

• The world is a mass of atoms that runs without need of outside forces.
• The human mind is included in this physical world.

• The mind’s contents (arrangement of atoms) is the result of experience.

• He incorrectly thought that objects beam particles at the mind to produce perceptions represented mentally in the form of icons (circles, sour taste = beamed atoms)

This view of mind gave rise to the problem of the relationship between mind and matter and the reliability of the sensory systems.

• This view of mind gave rise to the problem of the relationship between mind and matter and the reliability of the sensory systems.

• Zeno of Elea (490-430 BC) invented paradoxes to demonstrate the inadequacy of the senses:

• Achilles and the tortoise (he can never win because the turtle keeps moving, 10 meters + a little more).
• Similarly, Rucker suggested that you can never leave the room you are in:
• Zeno was wrong -- the sum of an infinite series is 1.

Based on Zeno’s challenges, some Greek thinkers decided that “the proper study of mankind is man.”

• Based on Zeno’s challenges, some Greek thinkers decided that “the proper study of mankind is man.”

• Man is the measure of all things.

• Socrates, Plato, Aristotle established epistemology, the branch of philosophy that investigates the origin, nature, methods, and limits of human knowledge.

• They studied learning, memory and conscious awareness.

http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/600-200.html

• http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/600-200.html

Socrates questioned every assumption, doubted the obvious and ridiculed cant (rote belief) and pretension.

• Socrates questioned every assumption, doubted the obvious and ridiculed cant (rote belief) and pretension.

• His method of questioning to arrive at truth is called the “Socratic Method.”
• He believed that truth lies hidden in every mind and the role of the teacher is to uncover it via discovery (led by questions of the teacher).
• Antiphon used questions to treat grief and melancholy, so is called the first psychotherapist (like Albert Ellis).

Plato was a student of Socrates and recorded much of what we know about him in his “Dialogues.”

• Plato was a student of Socrates and recorded much of what we know about him in his “Dialogues.”

• Plato acknowledged the unreliability of the senses but said knowledge derives from the processes of reasoning about sensations.

• Forms are eternal structures that organize the world and are revealed to us through rational thought.
• Sensations decay but forms are permanent.
• Analogy of a cave with flickering shadows cast by fire outside. Forms are the fire, sensations are the shadow.

Plato said that geometry increases the accuracy of knowledge of the world through measurement and deductive reasoning.

• Plato said that geometry increases the accuracy of knowledge of the world through measurement and deductive reasoning.

• Geometry is knowledge of the Forms created by God.
• Can the human psyche be measured like the world?

• Plato suggested that people differ in skills and abilities endowed by the Gods (Plato’s Republic).

• He classified people as gold, silver, brass or iron.
• Some must rule, some must serve.
• He proposed measuring body parts (reason in head).

Aristotle was a student of Plato for 20 years.

• Aristotle was a student of Plato for 20 years.

• He complemented deductive reasoning with an inductive, observational approach.

• Aristotle saw the value of mathematics for making formal proofs to arrive at:

• Logical deductions from self-evident assumptions and clear definitions.
• He also recognized the value of careful observation.

• This led to both correct and incorrect conclusions.

Aristotle developed basic principles of memory that have been restated many times in psychology and are still fundamental to contemporary theories.

• Aristotle developed basic principles of memory that have been restated many times in psychology and are still fundamental to contemporary theories.

• In “De memoria et reminiscentia” he said that memory results from 3 associative processes – see Hothersall, pg 27:

• Similarity, contrast, contiguity

• Influences on the strength of an association are frequency of an experience and ease of formation.

He also developed an analysis of causation illustrated by examining a statue (see example using Michelangelo’s David) – also on pg 27.

• He also developed an analysis of causation illustrated by examining a statue (see example using Michelangelo’s David) – also on pg 27.

• Material cause – what the statue is made of.
• Formal cause – its essence or form.
• Efficient cause – how the statue came to have that form.
• Final cause – the statue was created by Michelangelo.

• Attributions of purpose are unacceptable in a science of the physical world but apply to people.

In “Art of Poetry” he described drama as having a purgative effect on the audience (draws out emotions).

• In “Art of Poetry” he described drama as having a purgative effect on the audience (draws out emotions).

• This catharsis later became central to Freud’s theories.

• He said all life forms a “ladder of creation” from lowest to highest forms of complexity (scala natura).

• Nutritive (plants), sensitive (animals), rational (humans).
• This idea influenced Darwin’s theory of evolution.

• He thought the heart was the “seat of thought”.

Aristotle’s logic led him to make other mistakes about animals in “Historia Animalium”:

• Aristotle’s logic led him to make other mistakes about animals in “Historia Animalium”:

• He tried to classify them based on number of legs and presence of blood.
• He concluded that bees don’t make honey but collect it.
• He asserted that caged birds beaks grow long as a punishment for being inhospitable to a guest in a previous lifetime.

Epicureans included Epicurus (341-270 BC) and Lucretius (99-55 BC) & asserted that all knowledge originates in sensations stored in memory.

• Epicureans included Epicurus (341-270 BC) and Lucretius (99-55 BC) & asserted that all knowledge originates in sensations stored in memory.

• Entirely materialistic, so the goal of life is to enjoy pleasure while minimizing the pain of others -- Locke.

• Stoics included Zeno of Citium and Seneca who asserted that a rational principle (logos) guides the universe which each person has a duty to follow.

• Passions are to be subdued in favor of reason -- Kant.

The Roman Empire had preserved knowledge, but it collapsed and was overrun by Barbarians.

• The Roman Empire had preserved knowledge, but it collapsed and was overrun by Barbarians.

• Access to the accumulated knowledge was preserved in Muslim libraries but these were inaccessible because the West was mostly Christian.

• The Medieval Church discouraged literacy, free thought, and scientific inquiry beyond the revealed wisdom of clerics & church scholars (St. Augustine).

• With the Crusades, knowledge was rediscovered.

Hothersall – the historian Kemp asserts there was innovation and science during the Dark Ages:

• Hothersall – the historian Kemp asserts there was innovation and science during the Dark Ages:

• Stirrups used for the first time in war (600’s AD/CE).
• A biography of Charlemagne was published (800’s).
• Domesday Book (1086 survey done for King William I of England) recorded 6000 watermills in Britain.
• Windmill invented in 1180 (taxed by the Vatican).

• It would be odd if there were no progress at all, but this is not comparable to what was seen in Greece & Rome nor was learning cumulative.

Population increased putting pressure on peasants.

• Population increased putting pressure on peasants.

• Landowners had the advantage, there was famine.

• 14 universities were established in 12th & 13th centuries, including Oxford & Cambridge.

• Civil war and wars between France, Italy & England disrupted the 14th century.

• Plague (Black Death, 1348-1350) killed 1/3 of the population of Europe.

Psychological questions belonged to religion.

• Psychological questions belonged to religion.

• In “Confessions,” St. Augustine (4th century) disclosed psychological emotions, thoughts, motives, memories.

• God was the ultimate truth.
• Knowing God was the ultimate goal of the human mind.
• Truth dwells within every person – turn inward.

• St. Thomas Aquinas reinterpreted Aristotle and established scholasticism – reason as a complement to faith in the search for truth.

The invention of movable type made printing inexpensive, permitting the spread of ideas across Europe via books, including to scholars & others.

• The invention of movable type made printing inexpensive, permitting the spread of ideas across Europe via books, including to scholars & others.

• Prescientific psychology books appeared:

• Psichiologia – Marcus Marulus (1520).
• Psychologia hoc est, de hominis perfectione (Psychology on the improvement of man) (1590) edited by Goeckel.
• Psychologia – John Broughton (1703) in English.

• No scientific study of human behavior was started.

The view of man’s place in the universe changed.

• The view of man’s place in the universe changed.

• Copernicus (1543) demoted humans from a central to a peripheral position – his system was called antireligious.
• Galileo (1610) confirmed his view that the Earth goes around the sun, not vice versa, as did Bruno.
• Galileo also developed a method of manipulating variables while controlling other factors in expts.

• Goaded by Martin Luther’s Protestant Reformation, the Catholic church was unreceptive to Galileo’s new theory -- Bruno was burned at the stake.

Galileo believed in the power of reason:

• Galileo believed in the power of reason:

• “…in questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual.”
• The next advances came from Protestant countries.

• Isaac Newton revolutionized physics by developing a new optics (theory of light) and laws of physics.

• Vesalius developed an anatomy of the human body.

• Harvey studied the movement of the heart and the motion of blood using experimental methods.

At age 23, a dream revealed a “Spirit of Truth,” a vision of a new system of science and mathematics so he renounced idleness to search for truth.

• At age 23, a dream revealed a “Spirit of Truth,” a vision of a new system of science and mathematics so he renounced idleness to search for truth.

• He first combined algebra & geometry into analytic geometry, published 18 years later as “La Geometrie”.
• He lived in 24 homes in 13 cities during 20 years in Spain-occupied Holland, hiding out from the Inquisition.
• Queen Christina of Sweden summoned him to tutor her on “How to live happily and still not annoy God.”
• He died of pneumonia 4 months later in her court.

Descartes believed in applying logic rigorously to discover truth.

• Descartes believed in applying logic rigorously to discover truth.

• Descartes was a devout Catholic but he sometimes doubted the existence of God, so he was heretical.
• Cogito ergo sum – I doubt, thus I think, therefore I exist.

• He considered the mind different than the body.

• Having different substance, different functions, bound by different laws.
• The body is nothing more than a complex self-regulating machine functioning without the mind.

Hollow tubes of minute threads contain subtle fluids (animal spirits) distilled from the blood, flowing to the senses for sensation and movement.

• Hollow tubes of minute threads contain subtle fluids (animal spirits) distilled from the blood, flowing to the senses for sensation and movement.

• Reflexes operate as a hydraulic pathway between body and brain, pores are synapses.

• The body is infinitely more complex than a machine designed by humans because invented by God.

• Animals only have reflexes but humans can control the opening of pores to control reflex actions.

• The pineal gland is where mind and body meet.

Two major classes of ideas exist in the mind:

• Two major classes of ideas exist in the mind:

• Innate ideas – inborn, time, space, motion, God.
• Derived ideas – arising from experience, based on memories of past events (open pores stay open).

• Passions arise from the body and cause actions.

• 6 primary passions (wonder, love, hate, desire, joy, sadness) – other passions are mixtures of these.

• Animals do not possess minds so cannot think, be self-aware or have language – have no feelings.

La Mettrie published “L’homme Machine” (Man the Machine) in 1748, arguing that people are solely machines, explained through mechanistic principles.

• La Mettrie published “L’homme Machine” (Man the Machine) in 1748, arguing that people are solely machines, explained through mechanistic principles.

• People are motivated by hedonistic drives (pleasure, pain) not reasoning.

• Degrees of thought are present in animals not just people – cognition is a continuum across organisms.

• His prediction that apes can use language has been confirmed by those studying chimpanzees.

Empiricism – emphasized the effects of experience on a passive mind.

• Empiricism – emphasized the effects of experience on a passive mind.

• Hobbes, Locke, Berkeley.

• Associationism – the active mind forms associations.

• Hume, Hartley, James and John Stuart Mill

• Nativism – the contents of the mind are influenced by its inborn structure, not just experience.

• Leibniz, Kant (German philosophers)

• Timeline -- http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/1400-1800.html

Empiricists (British):

• Empiricists (British):

• Hobbes
• Locke
• Berkeley

• Nativist counter-voice:

• Leibniz (German)

Hobbes’s views of mind were based on his social and political theories about people in groups.

• Hobbes’s views of mind were based on his social and political theories about people in groups.

• He believed we are basically aggressive animals banding together for protection from other people.

• The only way a group’s integrity can be protected is via a strong, centralized authority, such as a monarch.

• This thinking influences current sociobiologists.

• Barash (1977) says that because we cannot kill each other without weapons, we have no biological inhibition against aggression like animals do, leading to war, etc.

He was the first major British Empiricist, at Oxford.

• He was the first major British Empiricist, at Oxford.

• Locke rejected Descartes & emphasized scientific method & experimentation.

• Locke’s Puritanism rejected Descartes’ Catholicism.
• Political ideas – people have inalienable rights to personal liberty, equality before the law, religious equality – protected by checks & balances & overthrow

• Philosophy of education – people are born good and equal in potential, making education crucial.

• Access to education should be available to all children.

Locke denied existence of innate tendencies, dispositions or fears in children.

• Locke denied existence of innate tendencies, dispositions or fears in children.

• The only things we innately fear are loss of pleasure and pain. We avoid whatever has these consequences.

• He proposed that children dislike reading because of punishments associated with teaching them.

• Locke advanced ideas about the acquisition and treatment of fears similar to Watson, Mary Cover Jones and Wolpe (systematic desensitization).

This work was the beginning of British Empiricism.

• This work was the beginning of British Empiricism.

• Locke sought a set of laws for the human mind, like Newton’s principles of physics.

• Locke’s system is atomistic and reductionistic.

• Basic elements of mind are ideas.
• Ideas come from experience (Locke rejected Descartes).
• The “blank slate, page of paper, tablet” comes from Aristotle, but characterized empiricism.

• Ideas have two sources: sensation & reflection.

Sensations can be illusory or misleading.

• Sensations can be illusory or misleading.

• Ideas are either simple or complex. Simples ideas form a complex idea in several ways:

• By combining several simple ideas into a single one.
• By seeing the relation between two simple ideas.
• By separating simple ideas from other ideas that go with them – the process of abstraction.

• Locke’s idea about combination of ideas is analogous to a chemical compound (from Boyle).

Wrote three essays that radically extended Locke’s philosophy into subject idealism (immaterialism).

• Wrote three essays that radically extended Locke’s philosophy into subject idealism (immaterialism).

• Berkeley argued that because all knowledge of the world comes from experience, the very existence of the external world depends on perception.

• Matter exists because it is perceived – matter does not exist without a mind.
• The permanence of the world is thus proof of God’s existence.

• His book on vision was better regarded in his time.

Leibniz (1646-1716) – Germany’s leading mathematician, wrote to Locke on politics.

• Leibniz (1646-1716) – Germany’s leading mathematician, wrote to Locke on politics.

• His “New Essays on Understanding” rebutted Locke.

• He considered animals empirics but said humans were only empirical in ¾ of their acts, not all.

• Necessary and inborn truths are ¼ of the mind, the “innate intellect.”

• Intellect allows reason & science, gives us knowledge of ourselves and God, is the essence of the human spirit.

In “The Monadology,” Leibniz described a system of monads.

• In “The Monadology,” Leibniz described a system of monads.

• Monads are an infinite number of elements composing all being and activity, with no parts, not decomposable.
• Monads are indestructible, uncreatable, immutable.

• The physical and mental worlds are pluralisms of independent monads that do not interact, in parallel

• There is a continuum of consciousness-unconsciousness with different levels of activity, with a threshold for consciousness.

Transitional Associationists:

• Transitional Associationists:

• Hume
• Hartley

• 19th Century Associationists:

• James Mill
• John Stuart Mill
• Bain

Hume studied “pneumatic philosophy” (the name for the science of mental life).

• Hume studied “pneumatic philosophy” (the name for the science of mental life).

• People are part of nature so should be studied using the methods of studying nature.

• He differentiated between impressions & ideas:

• When impressions & ideas occur together they become associated with each other.
• 3 kinds of associations: resemblance,
• contiguity in time or space, cause-and-effect relationship.

Hartley said both mind and body are to be studied.

• Hartley said both mind and body are to be studied.

• Localized mental faculties to the brain, citing the effects of alcohol, poisons & opiates, blows to the head, on thinking.

• He described visual and auditory after-images as vibrations of medullary particules in nerves in the brain.

• Vibrations & ideas become associated by occurring simultaneously a sufficient number of times.
• This is a kind of biological associationism.

James Mill (1773-1836) – wrote a History of British India and an Essay on Government.

• James Mill (1773-1836) – wrote a History of British India and an Essay on Government.

• Believed his son’s mind was a blank slate and dedicated himself to filling it with maximum knowledge
• John Stuart Mill regarded himself as a “dry, hard, logical machine” and became depressed in early 20s.
• This led him to recognize the irrational as well as the rational, see humans as more than unfeeling machines.

• John Stuart Mill rejected his father’s views on women’s capacities & rights, introduced suffrage bill

James Mill wrote “Analysis of the Phenomena of the Human Mind.”

• James Mill wrote “Analysis of the Phenomena of the Human Mind.”

• Mill added muscle (kinesthesis), tickling & itching, digestive (alimentary) senses to Aristotle’s 5 senses.

• Described stream of consciousness associations.

• Some associations stronger than others.
• Permanence, certainty & facility determine strength.

• Proposed a model of concatenation (joining) of ideas later refined by his son.

Wrote “System of Logic” about metascience – the study of scientific process and assumptions that underlie all sciences, including psychology.

• Wrote “System of Logic” about metascience – the study of scientific process and assumptions that underlie all sciences, including psychology.

• J.S. Mill argued that there can be a science of the mind, but it must be inexact, not deterministic.

• If laws of psychology govern behavior will people’s action be predictable, what happen to responsibility and free will?
• Saw the need for Ethology – the study of the influence of external circumstances on behavior (not animal).

Bain wrote “The Senses and the Intellect,” “The Emotions and the Will,” and “Mind and Body.”

• Bain wrote “The Senses and the Intellect,” “The Emotions and the Will,” and “Mind and Body.”

• The standard British psychology textbooks for 50 years.
• Founded the journal “Mind,” establishing psychology as a field distinct from philosophy.

• Developed the concept of habit derived from consequences of random actions, leading directly to Thorndike’s behaviorism.

• Stressed the importance of observation, sympathetic to experimental method.

The leading German epistemologist, Kant was a subjectivist, nativist, rationalist successor to Descartes and Leibniz.

• The leading German epistemologist, Kant was a subjectivist, nativist, rationalist successor to Descartes and Leibniz.

• Kant wrote “A Critique of Pure Reason” saying that empiricists forgot to ask how experience is possible.

• Certain intuitions or categories of understanding are inborn and frame our experiences.
• This knowledge is a priori, whereas experiential knowledge is a posteriori (known afterward).
• 3 categories of mind: cognition, affection, conation.

Concepts of space and time.

• Concepts of space and time.

• Other intuitions, including cause and effect, reciprocity, reality, existence and necessity.

• Higher faculties of reasoning are understanding, judgment, reason.

• True science must begin with concepts established a priori by reason alone and deal with observable objects that can be located in time and space.

• Psychology lacks this so it cannot be a science.

Dissection was prohibited for religious reasons but Michelangelo exchanged his art for the chance to study human anatomy.

• Dissection was prohibited for religious reasons but Michelangelo exchanged his art for the chance to study human anatomy.

• Other ideas about the location of the mind were speculative not observation-based.

• The wars of the 17th & 18th centuries provided opportunities to observe head and spine injuries.

• How did heads grin after decapitation on the guillotine
• Cabanis concluded all thought depends on the brain.

Robert Whytt (1714-1766) found that decapitated frogs would respond to a pinch by withdrawing the leg 15 min later.

• Robert Whytt (1714-1766) found that decapitated frogs would respond to a pinch by withdrawing the leg 15 min later.

• This demonstration of spinal reflexes requires an intact spinal cord.

• Francois Magendie (1795-1855) showed the dorsal and ventral roots have different functions, dorsal controls sensation and ventral controls movement

• Bell successfully challenged the priority of Magendie’s discoveries; today this is called the Bell-Magendie law.

Charles Bell (1774-1842) suggested that the nerve imposes sensory specificity regardless of how it is stimulated.

• Charles Bell (1774-1842) suggested that the nerve imposes sensory specificity regardless of how it is stimulated.

• Visual sensations can result from stimulation of the optic nerve by light or by pressing the eyeball (with eye shut)

• German physiologist Johannes Peter Muller (1801-1858) said the nerves must either communicate different impressions or project to different places in the brain which impose specificity.

• Now we know different projection areas are involved.

The greatest 19th century physiologist, Helmholtz published definitive works on physiological acoustics and optics and a theory of color vision.

• The greatest 19th century physiologist, Helmholtz published definitive works on physiological acoustics and optics and a theory of color vision.

• Helmholtz & James Clark Maxwell tested Thomas Young’s theory of trichromatic vision – that 3 distinct kinds of nerve fibers respond to primary colors.

• Young-Helmholtz theory of trichromatic vision.

• Helmholtz’s research on neural conduction was his most brilliant contribution to physiology.

Helmholtz invented the myograph to trace a muscle contraction on a revolving drum.

• Helmholtz invented the myograph to trace a muscle contraction on a revolving drum.

• Helmholtz conducted the first reaction time experiments in which human subjects pressed buttons.

• Reaction times to a sensation on the thigh were faster than on the toe.
• Speed was 25 meters per second.
• People rejected his ideas because nerve sensations seem immediate, not delayed.

Is the impulse exclusively electrical or also chemical?

• Is the impulse exclusively electrical or also chemical?

• Do different nerves conduct at different speeds.

• Do different people’s nerves conduct at different speeds?

• Does the speed of the nerve impulse depend on the intensity of the stimulus.

• Are nerves equally excitable at all times?

• A great deal of progress was made after this as the brain was studied directly in the 19th century.

Phrenology taught our field a great deal about how to be scientific and how to avoid the pitfalls of pseudoscience.

• Phrenology taught our field a great deal about how to be scientific and how to avoid the pitfalls of pseudoscience.

• Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828) suggested that personality can be inferred from bodily appearance, especially features of the skull.

• He noticed that people with protruberant (bulging) eyes tended to have good memories, so he looked for other associations between features and abilities.
• His observations were compiled into a large catalog.

Phrenologists like Gall & Spurzheim considered themselves anatomists and scientists.

• Phrenologists like Gall & Spurzheim considered themselves anatomists and scientists.

• Gall’s books were considered deterministic, materialistic and atheistic and placed on the Index of Prohibited Books by the Catholic church.

• After Gall’s death, Spurzheim & George Combe turned phrenology into a cult, giving theatrical demonstrations, ultimately in the USA.

• Ultimately, phrenology became big business.

Circularity of arguments, e.g., opium produces sleep because it has a soporific (sleep-inducing) tendency.

• Circularity of arguments, e.g., opium produces sleep because it has a soporific (sleep-inducing) tendency.

• This is a problem with all inductive research.
• Circular predictions cannot be tested & proved false.

• In 1857, phrenology did stop seeking only corroborative examples and sought contradictory instances, but these were not accepted.

• “Maybe Descartes [small forebrain] was not so great a thinker as many thought him to be.” Spurzheim said.
• Magendie replaced Laplace’s brain with an imbecile’s.

Flourens was a French surgeon & the foremost brain researcher of the mid-19th century.

• Flourens was a French surgeon & the foremost brain researcher of the mid-19th century.

• He published “An Examination of Phrenology” in 1843.

• Flourens’ studies showed that the contours of the skull do not correspond to the contours of the brain.

• Phrenologists had located amativeness (lust) to the cerebellum – Flourens found that ablating the cerebellum interferes with motor movements not sex.

Flourens used ablation as a technique to systematically test for localization of function.

• Flourens used ablation as a technique to systematically test for localization of function.

• The parts studied should be anatomically distinct.
• He divided the brain into 6 separate areas.

• His method was to:

• First observe an animal’s behavior.
• Second remove one of the brain’s units and let the animal heal.
• Third, observe the animal’s behavior again.

The cerebral lobes are the seat of all voluntary actions – only reflexes exist without them.

• The cerebral lobes are the seat of all voluntary actions – only reflexes exist without them.

• The cerebral lobes are also the seat of perception and higher mental functions such as memory, will, judgment.

• Animals can survive damage to the cerebrum and cerebellum but not to the medulla oblongata.

• His Grand Principle -- the brain is an inter-connected, integrated system with a common action.

• Small areas can recover from damage without loss.

The accidental damage to Phineas Gage provided empirical evidence to show that Flouren’s findings with animals apply to humans too.

• The accidental damage to Phineas Gage provided empirical evidence to show that Flouren’s findings with animals apply to humans too.

• After the accident, Gage became fitful, irreverent, profane, impatient of restraint or advice conflicting with his desires, obstinate, unable to plan or make decisions – “no longer Gage.”

• Characteristic of
• people with frontal lobe damage.

First evidence came from impairment after stroke.

• First evidence came from impairment after stroke.

• Based on experience with military injuries, Gall identified the regions just behind the eyes.

• Gall’s student, Bouillaud offered 500 franc challenge.

• Broca’s patient “Tan” seemed to be a disorder of speech without damage behind the eyes.

• However, Broca’s autopsy showed a lesion to the left frontal lobe in the area specified by Bouillaud and Aubertin (his pupil).
• Broca named this expressive aphasia “aphemie”

http://www.csun.edu/~vcoao0el/de361/de361s52_folder/expAphasiamov.html

• http://www.csun.edu/~vcoao0el/de361/de361s52_folder/expAphasiamov.html

Pierre-Paul Broca (1824-1880) asserted that this only confirmed that the lesion caused the disorder, not that speech was localized to that region.

• Pierre-Paul Broca (1824-1880) asserted that this only confirmed that the lesion caused the disorder, not that speech was localized to that region.

• Broca found 25+ more cases with lesions of the left hemisphere but no damage to the right frontal lobe.

• This puzzled him because it contradicted the law of organic duality.

• Broca’s findings radically changed the debate over the localization of functions in the brain.

• Wernicke identified & localized another aphasia.

First attempts at directly stimulating parts of the brain of animals were crude and often lethal.

• First attempts at directly stimulating parts of the brain of animals were crude and often lethal.

• Electrical stimulation was first accomplished by Gustav Fritsch (1839-1927) & Edward Hitzig (1838-1907) to produce motor movements.

• Stimulation of one hemisphere always produced movement on the opposite side of the body.

• David Ferrier (1843-1928) implanted electrodes and produced precise localization maps of monkeys and later human brains.

Ferrier discovered that representation of the different body parts in the brain is proportional to their function, not body mass.

• Ferrier discovered that representation of the different body parts in the brain is proportional to their function, not body mass.

• He identified the sensory and motor cortical regions.

• His collaborator, John Hughlings-Jackson (1835-1911) studied epileptic seizures.

• He developed a conceptual model of brain organi-zation involving higher level cortical inhibitory control.

• Both researchers studied animals, not humans.

Roberts Bartholow had a patient with a hole in her skull and used it to stimulate the underlying brain.

• Roberts Bartholow had a patient with a hole in her skull and used it to stimulate the underlying brain.

• He replicated the animal findings about localizations.
• He used too much electricity the second time and caused the patient’s death 4 days later, creating a scandal.

• Since then, observations of patients whose brains are exposed for treatment purposes have increased scientific knowledge, resulting in brain maps.

• Stereotaxic instruments are guided by 3-D coordinates.

Camillo Golgi (1843-1926) discovered a technique for staining cells that revealed cell structure (cell bodies, dendrites, axons).

• Camillo Golgi (1843-1926) discovered a technique for staining cells that revealed cell structure (cell bodies, dendrites, axons).

• He proposed that nerve impulses are propagated in a continuous process through networks of interlaced cells.

• Ramon y Cajal (1852-1934) disagreed with Golgi, suggesting that neurons were separate and distinct.

• The nerve impulse must cross a gap between neurons.

• Cajal showed that axons end in terminals.

Attempts to localize such functions as learning, memory and intelligence were less successful.

• Attempts to localize such functions as learning, memory and intelligence were less successful.

• Karl Lashley (1890-1958) spent 30 years unsuccessfully searching for memory engrams, the physical or chemical changes underlying memory.

• No matter where he lesioned, memory was affected.
• Recent neuroscience has found such changes.

• Neuroscience still relies on behavioral studies to relate brain functioning to human behavior.

Psychology began as an experimental science with the founding of Wilhelm Wundt’s lab in 1879.

• Psychology began as an experimental science with the founding of Wilhelm Wundt’s lab in 1879.

• He is often identified as “the world’s first true psychologist” and the “founder of Psychology.”

Shy, reserved person who disliked meeting strangers, new experiences.

• Shy, reserved person who disliked meeting strangers, new experiences.

• From a long line of famous scientists.

• Daydreamer.

• Hard worker.

• Strabismus (eye trouble)

A fee-charging secondary school for students age 10 and over who meet high entrance standards.

• A fee-charging secondary school for students age 10 and over who meet high entrance standards.

• Presents a rigorous curriculum to prepare students for university study – like a “prep school” in the US.

• Teachers typically hold doctoral degrees and devote themselves entirely to teaching.
• The reputation of the gymnasium depends on the how well its students do on the university entrance exams.

• Wundt failed gymnasium because of unbridled day-dreaming, calling it his “school of suffering.”

Completed medical training in 3 years at the University of Heidelberg (1855).

• Completed medical training in 3 years at the University of Heidelberg (1855).

• His dissertation was on the touch sensitivity of hysterical patients; he called this his first experimental work.

• He worked with organic chemist Bunsen to study the effects of restricted salt intake on urine composition, using himself as the subject.

• He decided to pursue an academic and research career after seeing publication of his work in the Journal of Practical Chemistry (1853).

In 1857, Wundt returned to the Univ. of Heidelberg as a lecturer in the Dept of Physiology.

• In 1857, Wundt returned to the Univ. of Heidelberg as a lecturer in the Dept of Physiology.

• He taught experimental physiology and had a health breakdown.

• When he returned, he worked as the assistant to Helmholtz who had recently joined the university.

• He taught physiology to med students and developed a course in anthropology (social and cultural psychology).
• He wrote a book on sense perception and outlined a program for psychology that he followed in his career.

Psychology falls between the physical & social sciences

• Psychology falls between the physical & social sciences

• Experimental and research methods used in the physical sciences were to be applied to psychological questions.

• Three main subdivisions:

• One branch would be an inductive experimental science
• The second would study reflections of higher mental processes, such as language, myths, aesthetics, religion & social customs via literature & naturalistic observation
• The third would integrate the social & physical sciences into a scientific metaphysics – coherent theory of the universe.

Published the two-volume “Lectures on the Human and Animal Mind” about cultural psychology.

• Published the two-volume “Lectures on the Human and Animal Mind” about cultural psychology.

• Resigned from the Institute of Physiology.

• Helmholtz did not fire him for lack of math knowledge.

• Was elected president of the socialistic Heidelberg Workingmen’s Educational Association.

• Served two 2-year terms in the Baden Parliament.

• Taught at Heidelberg (3 yrs), Zurich chair of inductive philosophy (1 yr) then went to Univ. of Leipzig.

Wundt was appointed to the chair of philosophy at the University of Leipzig which assigned him a room to store his equipment, which became his lab.

• Wundt was appointed to the chair of philosophy at the University of Leipzig which assigned him a room to store his equipment, which became his lab.

• He used a variety of equipment in his teaching demonstrations and research:

• Tachistoscopes, chronoscopes, electrical stimulators, pendulums, timers and sensory mapping devices.
• In 1879 he began experiments that were not part of his teaching – he marks this as the beginning of his lab.

• Colleagues questioned the legitimacy of his studies.

Wundt studied with Helmholtz and Bunsen, both famous.

• Wundt studied with Helmholtz and Bunsen, both famous.

• Many of Wundt’s students became prominent too:

• G. Stanley Hall
• Cattell
• Kraepelin
• Munsterberg
• Kulpe
• Titchener

Wundt wrote this two-volume textbook to use with his courses. See: http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Wundt/Physio/

• Wundt wrote this two-volume textbook to use with his courses. See: http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Wundt/Physio/

• Physiological psychology did not refer to the study of the physiological basis of psychology (as today) but to a psychology using experimental techniques.

• Wundt was self-consciously staking out a new field, so he is clearly the first person we can call a psychologist.

• The book was very successful, going through multiple printings and expansion to three volumes.

First, the “bodily substrate of mental life” – brain anatomy and function, the nervous system.

• First, the “bodily substrate of mental life” – brain anatomy and function, the nervous system.

• Obsolete now so not useful to modern students.

• Second, characteristics of sensations: quality, intensity, extent & duration, plus a theory of perception.

•