PSYC 280 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Jellyfish, Behavioral Neuroscience, Ontogeny

• School: Simon Fraser University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 280
• Professor: Neil Watson

Document Summary

C h a p t e r 1. Study of neural bases of behavior & mental processes. 5 major perspectives: describing behavior, studying the evolution of behavior, observing the development of behavior + biological char. Of behavior: study applications of behavioral neuroscience. 3 kinds of behavior: sexual behavior, learning and memory, language and communication. Charles darwin theory of evolution through natural selection. Emphasis: continuity of behavior + biological processes among species b/c of our common ancestry, species-specific differences in behavior and biology that have evolved as adaptions to diff. environments. When particular features of the body/behavior evolve it gets maintained for many years and can be seen in animals that may appear very different. In nerve cells that send electrical msgs are the same in many animals (jelly fish, humans, bugs) Species share conserved characteristics b/c they come from a common ancestor. Body + behavior develop over the life span.