PSY 324 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1 &13: Prefrontal Cortex, Thiamine, Episodic Memory
Document Summary
An inspection of the brain reveals distinct subareas: microscopic level. Neurons convey messages to one another and to muscles and glands, vary enormously in size, shape and functions. Glia generally smaller than neurons, have many functions but do not convey information over great distances. Biological explanations of behaviour fall into 4 categories: (1) physiological. Relates a behaviour to the activity of the brain and other organs. Deals with the machinery of the body: (2) ontogenetic explanation. Ontogenetic comes from greek roots meaning the origin or genesis of being. Describes how a structure or behaviour develops, including the effects of genes, nutrition, experiences, and their interactions: (3) evolutionary explanation. Reconstructs the evolutionary history of a structure or behaviour. Characteristic features of an animal are almost always modifications of something found in ancestral species. Evolutionary explanations also call to attention features left over from ancestors that serve little or no function in the descendants: (4) functional explanation.
