Lecture 1 - Introduction To Neuropsychology by Matt Wilson

Psychology and Counselling: Neuropsychology

ÂŠ Matt Wilson 2010

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Psychology and Counselling: Neuropsychology

Aim: To introduce and define neuropsychology, provide a brief history of the key events in the development of neuropsychology as a discipline, and outline the 5 main methods used to measure brain activity. Objectives: (TSSBAT…) •Define neuropsychology. •Summarize a brief history of neuropsychology, and discuss its key points. •Illustrate an example of damage to the frontal lobe using the key study of Phineas Gage. •Compare and contrast the 5 main methods used to measure brain activity. © Matt Wilson 2010 Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)

Psychology and Counselling: Neuropsychology

Definitions: “The branch of psychology that deals with the relationship between the nervous system, especially the brain, and cerebral or mental functions such as language, memory, and perception.” Source: www.dictionary.com

“The study of how the brain and central nervous system are related to behaviour” Source: http://www.cancer.gov/dictionary/?CdrID=462688

Psychology and Counselling: Neuropsychology

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Psychology and Counselling: Neuropsychology

• The first known written records of brain study were by an anonymous writer in Sumerian records from 4000BC and describe the euphoric mind-altering sensations caused by ingesting the poppy plant. • Around 1350BC the Ancient Egyptians considered the brain to be unimportant and removed it (through the nose) during the embalming process, as they believed the essence of a person was in their heart. © Matt Wilson and Holly Donohoe 2010 Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)

Psychology and Counselling: Neuropsychology

• In 460-379BC the Greek philosopher Hippocrates writes that epilepsy is caused by a “disturbance of the brain” and teaches that the brain is the “seat of intelligence”.

• Around 335-280BC the Ancient Greeks Herophilus and Erasistratus founded a school of anatomy and wrote one of the first descriptions of the cerebellum. They also discovered the nervous system, and classified it into different types of nerves. In this classification, they made the important distinction between motor and sensory nerves. © Matt Wilson and Holly Donohoe 2010 Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)

Psychology and Counselling: Neuropsychology

• In 1402 a London hospital called St. Mary of Bethlehem Hospital is used exclusively to treat the mentally ill and insane. This is where the word “Bedlam” comes from. • In the middle ages between approximately 1066 – 1485 brain and neuropsychological studies ceased due to a ban on human dissection by the church. • In 1543 the first known neuroscience text book called “On the Workings of the Human Body” is published by Andreas Versalius.

Psychology and Counselling: Neuropsychology

• In 1848 a railroad worker called Phineas Gage suffered an accident in an explosion which caused a large iron road to pierce his brain through the frontal lobe. • It is documented that even though he survived his personality and behaviour drastically changed, so much that his friends no longer were quoted as saying he was “no longer Gage”. • Interestingly, he kept the iron rod constantly with him for the rest of his life as a souvenir! © Matt Wilson and Holly Donohoe 2010 Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)

Psychology and Counselling: Neuropsychology

Watch this short clip to see how the iron rod actually pierced Phineas’ skull and brain. http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=EBBdxnXhbz8 &feature=related

Picture Source: https://cms.www.countway.harvard.edu/wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/gage_engraving_31.jpg

Psychology and Counselling: Neuropsychology

TASK: Read the worksheet on Phineas Gage, complete the exercise, and then answer the following two questions: 1) How did Phineas Gage change after the accident? 2) How did Phineas Gage's accident change scientists' understanding of the brain?

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Picture Source: http://science.education.nih.gov/ supplements/nih2/Addiction/guid e/lesson1-4.htm

Psychology and Counselling: Neuropsychology

How did Phineas Gage change after the accident?

After the accident, Gage's personality changed completely. He was no longer the likeable and responsible person he was prior to the accident. Instead he was thoughtless, irresponsible, stubborn and frequently swore.

2) How did Phineas Gage's accident change scientists' understanding of the brain? Scientists learned that the brain does more than control language and movement. It also controls emotions and social behaviours. Equally important, scientists learned that the brain processes information for specific functions in specific brain areas. Source: http://science.education.nih.gov/supplements/nih2/Addiction/guide/lesson1-4.htm

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Psychology and Counselling: Neuropsychology

• Paul Broca located the area of the brain responsible for speech in 1861, in an area of the frontal lobe, which became known as Broca’s Area. He based his findings on a post-mortem study of an institutionalized patient in Paris, France, who had suffered a stroke as the result of a syphilitic lesion on the left frontal lobe of his brain. • This patient could understand language, but had lost his capacity for speech. In fact, he was called "Tan" because this was the only syllable he could still speak. Broca's work with Tan and other braindamaged patients convinces him that the integrity of the left frontal lobe is crucial to speech. © Matt Wilson and Holly Donohoe 2010 Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)

Psychology and Counselling: Neuropsychology

• In 1929, a German Psychologist called Hans Berger devised the first electroencephalograph (commonly known as the EEG) or brainwave test, which measures electrical activity in the brain. • Berger's invention is now used routinely as a diagnostic test in neurology and psychiatry and as a common tool in brain research. © Matt Wilson and Holly Donohoe 2010 Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)

Psychology and Counselling: Neuropsychology

Source: www.easy-language-systems.com/EEG11.jpg ÂŠ Matt Wilson and Holly Donohoe 2010 Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)

Psychology and Counselling: Neuropsychology

â&#x20AC;˘ A few years later in

1932, two Englishmen called Lord Edgar Adrian and Sir Charles Sherrington won the Nobel Prize in Physiology / Medicine for their work on neurons and their function. ÂŠ Matt Wilson and Holly Donohoe 2010 Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)

Psychology and Counselling: Neuropsychology

• In 1936 Walter Freeman and James W. Watts perform the first frontal lobotomy in the USA. Freeman then practised “ice pick lobotomies” where he went in through patients’ eyes. • In the mid 1950’s the invention and introduction of antipsychotic drugs, especially Thorazine, led to a rapid decrease in the use of lobotomies.

Walter Freeman

Psychology and Counselling: Neuropsychology

• In 1949 Walter Rudolph Hess won the Nobel Prize in Physiology / Medicine for his discovery that the Interbrain [hyper thalamus, sub thalamus and parts of the thalamus] is responsible for coordinating the activities of the body’s internal organs.

Psychology and Counselling: Neuropsychology

There are 5 main pieces of equipment used by neuropsychologists and medical practitioners to measure a person’s brain functioning; • EEG • PET • CAT • MRI • MEG

and we will now briefly look at each and the differences between them. © Matt Wilson and Holly Donohoe 2010 Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)

Psychology and Counselling: Neuropsychology

An EEG machine uses electrodes wired to your head to measure the electrical magnetic fields generated by the brain. These fields exist in different wavelengths, and common examples include alpha, beta, and delta waves. The electrodes then send these signals to a computer which measures the different activity within different parts of the brain.  An EEG is non-invasive and no surgery is required.  However, it is not as accurate as MRI or CAT scans, so it is becoming less popular. © Matt Wilson and Holly Donohoe 2010 Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)

Psychology and Counselling: Neuropsychology

In a PET scan the subject is injected with a very small quantity of radioactive glucose. Once your body has absorbed the tracer glucose, a ringshaped scanner is used to measure the levels of radioactivity. This data is then sent to a computer which turns it into 2D cross-sections of the brain. (More active brain cells consume more radioactive glucose)  PET allows doctors to measure a range of activity in the brain.  Invasive as it involves injecting a radioactive substance into the body.

Psychology and Counselling: Neuropsychology

CAT (or CT) scanning is a process that works by placing a person in a donut shaped X-ray machine that moves around the person and combines numerous 2D X-ray images to create cross-sections or 3D images of the brain.  CAT scans can produce images of bones, soft tissue and blood vessels all at the same time, and are noninvasive.  High doses of radiation are involved in CAT scans. © Matt Wilson and Holly Donohoe 2010 Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)

Psychology and Counselling: Neuropsychology

MRI was invented in 1977. It works by placing a subject on a moveable bed that is inserted into a giant circular magnet and then send out radio waves into the body and turns the resulting waves into a 3D image.  MRI scans don’t involve any exposure to radiation, so they can be used by people who might be particularly vulnerable to the effects of radiation, such as pregnant women, children and babies.  MRI scans take about 15-40 minutes and the patient has to lie completely still or they won’t work. © Matt Wilson and Holly Donohoe 2010 Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)

Psychology and Counselling: Neuropsychology

MEG is a new technology that measures the very faint magnetic fields that come from brain activity. MEG scans can be used to identify specific functional regions of the brain, such as auditory and visual cortex.  MEG’s main advantage is that it can measure activity in the brain every 1/1000 of a second which is how fast the brain can react.  MEG technology is very expensive and is not as accurate as MRI at locating exactly where in the brain electrical activity is taking place © Matt Wilson and Holly Donohoe 2010 Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)

Psychology and Counselling: Neuropsychology

Click on the link on page 9 of this book for a video of Phineas Gageâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s accident or alternatively click the following link to see an interactive flash animation and explanation of the accident: http://www.boston.com/interactive/gr aphics/20090723_phineasgage/

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Psychology and Counselling: Neuropsychology

Click on the link below to watch the BBC drama “Recovery” starring David Tennant that illustrates the effects of damage to the frontal lobe. The first part of the film is available from the following link, and then the subsequent parts can be found from the links on the right of the YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/watch ?v=gWRAVrpJj80&feature=pla yer_embedded © Matt Wilson 2010 Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com)