PSYCO275 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Nerve Net, Natural Selection, Monera

• School: University of Alberta
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYCO275
• Professor: Clayton Dickson

Document Summary

Psyco 275 lecture #2 origins of brain and behaviour. Uses continuous sensory stimulation from its own body and from the environment. Embodied behaviour: essentially, brain means an intelligent and fully functioning organ, to produce behaviour and is connected to the pns. Can"t really transfer someone"s experienced brain into another person"s body: parts of the brain. Brainstem: source of behaviours in simpler animals. Generates neural activity for motion (eg. walking) Basically behaviour that changes in a certain way over time. Behaviour is a mix of inherited and learned actions. Eg. eating is a fixed, inherited behavioural pattern. For humans, eating is influenced by learning and culture moreso in later life: complexity of behaviour. Simpler nervous system --> narrower range of behaviours. Complex nervous system --> wider range of behaviours. Aristotle and mentalism: aristotle thought the brain cooled blood, came up with the idea of psyche as source of human behaviour. Processes like pain, memory, reason, desire, pleasure, imagination and opinion.