Biological Psychology
James W. Kalat
Language: English
Pages: 608
ISBN: 1111831009
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Dr. James W. Kalat's BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY is the most widely used text in the course area, and for good reason: an extremely high level of scholarship, clear and occasionally humorous writing style, and precise examples. Throughout all eleven editions, Kalat's goal has been to make biological psychology accessible to psychology students, not just to biology majors and pre-meds. Another goal has been to convey the excitement of the search for biological explanations of behavior, and Kalat--a skilled teacher--delivers. Updated with new topics, examples, and recent research findings--and supported by a strong media package--this text speaks to today's students and instructors.
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being excited by some wavelengths and inhibited by others. The high sensitivity to detail and color reflects the fact that parvocellular cells are located mostly in and near the fovea, which has many cones. The magnocellular neurons, in contrast, have larger receptive fields and are not color sensitive. They respond strongly to moving stimuli and large overall patterns but not details. Magnocellular neurons are found throughout the retina, including the periphery, where we are sensitive to movement
wealth of behavior and experience. This book is about researchers’ attempts to elaborate on that word “somehow.” Biological psychology is the most interesting topic in the world. No doubt every professor or textbook author feels that way about his or her field. But the others are wrong. Biological psychology really is the most interesting topic. When I make this statement to students, I get a laugh. But when I say it to biological psychologists or neuroscientists, they nod their heads in
that after nicotine use, the nucleus accumbens cells responsible for reinforcement become less responsive than usual (Epping-Jordan, Watkins, Koob, & Markou, 1998). That is, many events, not just nicotine itself, become less reinforcing than they used to be. STOP & CHECK 21. How does nicotine affect dopamine synapses? ANSWER 21. Nicotine excites acetylcholine receptors on neurons that release dopamine and thereby increases dopamine release. Fowler, 1997; Volkow, Wang, Fowler, et al., 1998).
prefrontal lobotomy—surgical disconnection of the prefrontal cortex from the rest of the brain. The surgery consisted of damaging the prefrontal cortex or cutting its connections to the rest of the cortex. Lobotomy began with a report that damaging the prefrontal cortex of laboratory primates made them tamer without noticeably impairing their sensations or coordination. A few physicians reasoned (loosely) that the same operation might help people who suffered from severe, untreatable psychiatric
higher than average ratio of glia to neurons in one brain area (M. C. Diamond, Scheibel, Murphy, & Harvey, 1985). Another study found expansion of part of Einstein’s parietal cortex, as shown in Figure 4.38 (Witelson, Kigar, & Harvey, 1999). However, when researchers examine many aspects of a particular brain and find a couple of unusual features, we don’t know whether those features are significant or irrelevant. Comparisons Across Species All mammalian brains have the same organization. That is,
