Understanding Consciousness
Introduction
Psychological physiology as we know I today was developed as a result of medical initiatives that informed brain exploration. Most of the discoveries in relation to behavior and the functions as well as structure of the brain as were deduced by an analysis of damaged brain parts and how they affected behavior. In this text, I look at the underplaying assumptions of the bio-physiological approach to understanding consciousness. I come up with a definition of physiological psychology and describe several historical figures in this field as well as the contributions they made. Lastly, l explain the relationship between the human nervous system and behavior as well as the various research approaches used by physiological psychologists.
The definition of Psychological psychology
According to Harvey (2010) Psychological psychology concerns itself with the way people think based on psychology. It provides a link between the brain’s physical operation and the way people act and say. It is hence the in-depth study of the structure of the brain, its chemistry and components as well as how a combination of al these things work to bring about peoples actions and speech. Ziehen (2009) also says with psychological psychology, an understanding of how the five senses receive and interpret information is achieved.
Historical figures in the field of psychological psychology and their contributions to the field
For a long time, people and most prominently philosophers were perplexed by the very nature of the human mind and its correlation with an individual’s actions and behavior. As we shall see below, their conclusions were largely speculative as there was no fully developed technology to study the whole nervous system as well as the human brain in detail. It was only in the 19th century that psychologists came up with appropriate techniques and ways of looking at the brain and the nervous system in detail. These discoveries and advancements marked the beginning of the real development of psychological psychology (Harvey 2010). One of the most notable historical figures in the field of psychological psychology was the German psychologist, Hermann von Helmholtz. He was one of the psychologists who became extremely critical of the common belief then that various organisms’ psychological and physiological processes were mysterious and hence needed to be explained that way. Helmholtz believed that the same kind of laws that were used to explain things that were considered to be non living could also be applied for living things. Wundt (2009) notes that among Helmholtz’s most recognized contributions were coming up with nerve impulses speed as well as his research on the perception of sound. Later on he revisited the color vision theory. Helmholtz also discovered and developed a tool that is usually utilized in the examination of the eye’s interiors. His contributions opened the nervous system and the brain to scientific study and scrutiny. Paul Broca, a French neurologist is also considered one of the greatest historical figures in the field of psychological physiology.
He is one of the scientists whose efforts lead to an understanding of the functions of the various brain parts. Broca once had a patient who understood all that he was told but could only reply to everything by using the words tan tan. The man died later and when an autopsy was performed, it was found out that he had lesion that was fairly large on his brain’s left frontal lobe. It was hence discovered that this was the very area in the brain that was responsible for speech and from then onwards, it came to be referred to as Boca’s area. This laid ground for more discoveries and some few years from then, Carl Wernicke who was a German neurologist discovered another area in the brain that was responsible for the comprehension of speech (Ladd 2007). Ernst Weber is yet another crucial historical figure in the field of psychological physiology. He is credited with the two point threshold, a concept concentrating on the mapping of the sense of touch. This concept simply meant the shortest distance by which a touch on the surface of the skin would elicit or be interpreted as two distinct sensations rather than a single sensation. His findings were that of all the parts of the body, the tongue was the most sensitive to touch (Harvey 2010). Lastly, we cannot mention Ernst Weber without mentioning Gustav Fechner who was his colleague at LeipzigUniversity. Fechner authored Elements of Psychophysics which was a book concentrating o various ways of coming up with measurements with regard to stimuli responses. This book is regarded in some quarters as having laid ground for experimental studies in psychological physiology (Ladd 2007).
The relation between the human nervous system and behavior
The human nervous system is charged with the coordination of all the processes of a biological nature in the human body as well as the receipt and interpretation of information through the nervous system electrical signals. The centre of the whole of the nervous system is the central nervous system (Carlson 2008). The human nervous system functions on a continuous basis and it transmits signals numbering into the millions with regard to an individuals actions, thoughts as well as feelings. In this case I will elaborate its relationship with behavior through a very simple example. If an individual is walking down a street and sees a friend on the other side of the street, this visual message will be picked by the eyes and transmitted through the nervous cells to the brain. This message on reaching the brain will be interpreted and the action to take will be communicated through a signal. The various systems charged with executing an action i.e. the glands or muscles will receive the signal from the brain inform of a command. In this scenario, the command may take various forms i.e. call out his name loudly.
The human nervous system is responsible for decoding and recognition of the cause of action. In relation to complexity, the human nervous system is second to none of all the human body systems. As discussed above, we can derive three main functions of the human nervous system in relation to behavior. First of all, it detects information with regard to conditions whose nature may be internal or external. In the example given above, this would be the recognition of a pal on the other street. Secondly it is charged with the integration of information. In our example above, this would be interpreting the visual information. Lastly, for the glands or muscles to respond, the human nervous system must command them. In our example demonstrated above this would be calling out the name of the friend loudly.In conclusion, the human nervous system helps an individual to react to stimuli i.e. events in the environment and hence modify behavior.
Research approaches used by psychological physiologists
There are various research approaches used psychological physiologists. Some of these include;
Biological psychology
Biological psychology concerns itself mainly with studying biological settings of mental as well as behavior states using scientific methods. It is good to note that neuroscience and biological psychology are intertwined and in most cases, it is quite hard to say which one is a branch of the other. This is because both are involved with the analysis and development of knowledge in areas such as the nervous system and in this regard, they both use the same methods i.e. MEG (Harvey 2010).
Neurophysiology
This research approach seeks to establish the relationship between the brain function as well as structure and processes of a psychological nature. Psychological psychologists conducting research using this approach are typically found in areas such as forensic science and academia.
Parapsychology
This is basically a study concerning the nature of mental awareness. It basically seeks to scientifically research phenomena of paranormal nature. However, its validity in scientific terms has been a disputed issue over time as it largely taken to be pseudoscience. Quite a number of scientists as well as Academic institutions have however shown interest in conducting more research in this area using scientific methods. Some of those who are most visible in this research are Robert Jahn and Hans Eyseneck. (Carlson 2008).
Conclusion
It is important to note that Psychological psychology has come a long way to where it is today. It is through the efforts of various psychologists in the past that we can today talk of advancements in systems such as PET and FMRI.
References
Carlson, N.R (2008). Foundations of physiological psychology, 7th Edition. Allyn & Bacon, Incorporated
Harvey, N.A (2010) Physiological Psychology. BiblioBazaar
Ladd, G.T. (2007). Elements of Physiological Psychology – A Treatise of the Activities and Nature of the Mind. READ BOOKS
Wundt, W.M. (2009). Principles of Physiological Psychology. General Books LLC
Ziehen, T. (2009). Introduction to Physiological Psychology. BiblioBazaar, LLCs
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