PSYC 2307B
Human Neuropsychology I
Dr. Brian Tansley
office: Loeb A500
office hours: by appointment
email: brian.tansley@carleton.ca
Course Learning Objectives:
An introduction to the basic principles,
scientific research techniques and issues
associated with the study of the neural
basis of behaviour and experience in
typical and brain-damaged people.
*PSYC2307 is a prerequisite for PSYC3307 (Human
Neuropsychology II).
The Course Covers 16 Topics
Presented in 24, 80 min.
Lectures
Several of the topics take
more than one 80 min.
lecture period to present...
(See the course outline...)
Four sources of course content :
(1) What I have to say* about each topic
(2) The topic’s accompanying Powerpoint
slide deck
(3) The course textbook: Kolb and Whishaw,
th
8 edition (available in the bookstore).
(4) Examples from the scientific research
literature in each course topic (available in
the PSYC2307B Brightspace course page
topic frames.)
Course Evaluation
A Midterm Exam (1.5 hrs., 35%) (Feb. 16)
A Final Exam (3 hrs., 65%) in the exam period at
the end of the semester (date, time and location
TBA)
 Exams are closed book, short answer format
 Bonus: up to 3, one-page summaries of a
research paper from the course Brightspace
page (no two from the same Topic) may be
prepared in advance in hardcopy and submitted
with your final exam.. Each summary is awarded
up to 5 points which are added to your final exam
total.
(See details in the course outline)
QUESTIONS?
PSYC 2307
Human Neuropsychology I
Topic 1:
Introduction & Origins
Human Neuropsychology Defined
General: the scientific study of the
neural basis of human experience
and behaviour
Clinical Neuropsychology (distinct
from Clinical Psychology):
evaluation and treatment of brain
abnormalities affecting experience
and behaviour
What is Experience?
 The end-product of perception,
the cognitive faculty that is a
property of consciousness
What is behaviour?
 The end-product of conation, the
cognitive faculty that leads to
purposive skeletal muscle
activity controlled by the somatic
nervous system
 Experience and Behaviour derive
from contributions to nervous
system structure and function
from both genetic and memetic
information sources & processes.
Genetic Information (Nature)
Information obtained from
sexual reproduction (i.e.,
inherited from parents)
 Carried in the configuration of
DNA molecules in the cell
nucleus
Results in the production of
specific molecules and proteins
Memetic Information (Nurture)
Information obtained from
sensation/perception
Stored in (and recalled from)
memory
General Factors Affecting
Brain Function
Genetics
Nutrition
Experience
Vegetative physiology
Tissue Ablation
Drugs
Electromagnetic energy
Today’s Neuropsychologist
Evaluation of the brain/behaviour relationship
through:
 behavioural assessment of perceptual,
cognitive and psychomotor functions
associated with specific brain regions
 monitoring local brain metabolism during
the performance of tasks (fMRI, PET, etc.)
 monitoring local brain electrical activity
(EEG and Event-Related Potentials)
 temporarily altering local brain functions
e.g., using transcranial magnetic stimulation
(TMS).
Why study brain/behaviour
phenomena?
 How the brain produces both behaviour
and consciousness are interesting &
largely unanswered questions.
 Research leads to a better understanding
of brain/behaviour disorders, better
diagnosis and better treatment.
Society for Clinical Neuropsychology
(Division 40 of the American Psychological Association)
-- a scientific and professional organization
of psychologists interested in the study of
brain-behavior relationships, and the
clinical application of that knowledge to
human problems.
Clinical Neuropsychology
Assessment of CNS function in ABI and TBI
adults and children
Comparison of results of cognitive, emotional,
sensory and motor tests to populations matched
on demographic variables (age, gender, etc.)
 Modern testing is automated (e.g., NIH toolbox,
CANTAB) but still requires patient cooperation
 Use of standardized testing protocols
 Statistical comparisons to ‘norms’
Malingering remains an issue…
Recent Job Ad for a Neuropsychologist in Toronto…
 Ph.D. or Psy.D. in Psychology with valid registration with the
College of Psychologists of Ontario (i.e., C.Psych.)
 Proof of professional liability insurance
 Documented competency in the areas of Clinical
Neuropsychology and Clinical Psychology (adults) or
Rehabilitation Psychology (adults) with no restrictions on
license to practice
 Documented competence in Assessment
 At least two years experience conducting assessments of
individuals with acquired brain injury (ABI) and other
neurological problems knowledge of comorbid psychological
factors in ABI
Recent Job Ad for a Neuropsychologist in Toronto…
(Cont’d)
Demonstrated commitment to continuing education
and professional development
Medico-legal and third party assessment
experience preferred
Experience writing professional reports for third
party payors preferred
Excellent written and oral communication skills
Excellent interpersonal and time management
skills
Experience working in an interdisciplinary setting
Membership in OPA or CPA preferred
How long does it take to be qualified to
apply for a job like this?
Undergraduate Honour’s Degree in
Experimental Psychology (4+ years)
Master’s Degree in Clinical or Experimental
Psychology (2+ years)
Ph.D. or Psy.D. Degree in Clinical
Neuropsychology (5+ years)
Clinical Internship or Postdoctoral Training (2+
years)
On the job experience (+ or in parallel)
Total ~ 7 - 9 yrs postgraduate training
Admission requirements to some graduate
programs in clinical neuropsychology
Example, Ottawa U clinical psychology program:
 Average GPA = 9.3/10 (Carleton equivalent:
11.1/12)
 Half the entrants had at least one
publication…
 Neuropsychology Doctoral program (average
time to completion from Bachelor’s Degree) =
7.3 years (Ottawa U.), 7.9 years (York U.)
What kinds of career paths are available to
someone trained as a neuropsychologist?
Experimental neuropsychology:
 institutional research and teaching:
university faculty positions, involving
teaching and research
Clinical Neuropsychology
 Private practice (clinical neuropsychology):
 Institutional practice:
 Part-time Hospital Consultant:
Note: See U.S. Neuropsychologist’s Salary
Survey in the top frame of the CuLearn Course
Page…
Origins of Neuropsychology
As with most sciences, neuropsychology rests
on the philosophical foundation of materialism
”matter” is the fundamental substance in nature,
and that human behaviour and consciousness
have a purely material basis
 Informed mid-19th century life science – (mainly in
Germany and England) -- and has done so ever
since…
 Decoupled life science from religious dogma
allowing the study of the neural basis of behaviour
and thought with the Scientific Method…
 Are we humans (as John Horgan put it) just
”matter that yearns to matter”?
Theory of Evolution (1858)
Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace
published, jointly, the (independently
arrived-at) theory of evolution in 1858.
Darwin published On the Origin of Species
by Means of Natural Selection, or the
Preservation of Favoured Races in the
Struggle for Life (1859) --“The academic
book that most changed the way we think
about the world” (according to the British
Booksellers Assn.)
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)
English polymath strongly influenced by
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
Applied evolutionary theory to biological
organisms, the human mind, human culture and
societies
Influenced many philosophers and scientists in
the 19th century both in England and
elsewhwere…
Spencer’s Principles of Psychology (1855) was
one of the first textbooks in psychology that
explored its physiological basis.
Some 19th - early 20th century technological
developments that advanced neuropsychology
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the Golgi stain/histology
the mirror galvanometer
analgesics and anesthetics
electronics
artificial light
optical design and fabrication
biochemistry
publishing and broadcasting
photography
Some 19th - early 20th century disciplines
that influenced neuropsychology
Psychophysics
Mental Chronometry
Electrophysiology
Neurology/neurosurgery
Psychophysics: the relation between the
physical world and experience
Made possible by the precision of 19th century
analytic measurement and recording instruments
(for quantifying electricity, light intensity and
spectral energy distributions, sound, heat, chemical
reactions, time, etc.)
Functional relationships between the intensity of a
physical stimulus (e.g., light intensity) and one’s
experience of it (‘brightness’)
At Threshold: Weber’s Law: (D𝚽/𝚽 = constant)
Above Threshold: Fechner’s Law (𝚿 = k log 𝚽)
The relationship between the physical world
and our experience of it...
The dot density of A1 and B1 appear different
When 100 dots are added to both (as in A2 and B2)
the two no longer appear different
(In both pairs the density differs by 10 dots)
1
A
B
2
Gustav Theodor Fechner (1801-1887)
 Along with Helmholtz and Wundt, a founder of
experimental psychology
 October 22, 1850 Fechner had a dream that resulted
in a new approach to the study of the relation
between brain and mind – that he called this
approach psychophysics and proposed its “law”:
“In order that a sensation (𝚿) increases in arithmetic
progression, the physical stimulus (𝚽) must increase in
geometrical progression”…
𝚿 = k log(𝚽)
 About 110 years earlier the Swiss mathematician
Gabriel Cramer had noted a similar relationship
between the (physical) value and (psychological)
utility of money…)
Fechner’s Law (~1860)
Wilhelm Wundt (1832-1920)
(University of Leipzig)
Studied sensory systems under Mueller and
Helmholtz at the University of Heidelburg using
methods derived from physics called
psychophysiology
Wundt founded the first psychology
laboratory in Leipzig in 1879.
The Scottish physician and psychologist, David
Ferrier, also studied in Heidelburg and became
influential in England in brain research
Mental Chronometry
As early as 1868-1869 the Dutch
ophthalmologist Franciscus Donders (1818 1869) measured the amount of time taken to
produce a simple motor response following a
visual or auditory stimulus – called the ‘simple’
reaction time…
Observed that reaction times that involved a
decision (e.g., between two response
alternatives) took longer that the simple RT (aka
‘choice reaction time)
RT techniques remain an important research
tool for cognitive studies
Electrophysiology
In the mid-1780s, Italian physician Luigi Galvani connected the nerves of a recently dead frog to
a long metal wire and pointed it toward the sky during a thunderstorm. With each flash of
lightning, the frog’s legs twitched and jumped as if they were alive. It was this macabre scene that
would inspire the British novelist Mary Shelley to write her gothic masterpiece, Frankenstein, 20
years after the physician’s 1798 death. But more importantly, through such experiments Galvani
proved not only that recently-dead muscle tissue can respond to external electrical stimuli, but
that muscle and nerve cells possess an intrinsic electrical force responsible for muscle
contractions and nerve conduction in living organisms. Galvani named this newly discovered
force “animal electricity,” and thus laid foundations for the modern fields of electrophysiology and
neuroscience.
The discovery of the brain’s electrical
activity...
Gustav Fritsch
and Eduard
Hitzig (1870)
electrically
stimulated dog
cortex and
observed
movements of the
contralateral
limbs…
Richard Caton (1842 – 1926)
English physician (Liverpool) and a pioneer of
electrophysiology
Recorded spontaneous electrical activity from
cerebral cortex of “dogs & apes” using a string
galvanometer
Promoted electrophysiology for medical
applications
Neurology
Subdisciplines of medicine concerned with
disorders of the nervous system
closely aligned with neuropsychology
19th century & early 20th century neurology
utilized a combination of careful observation and
assessment of patients’ behavioural, cognitive
and emotional symptoms to diagnose (and
monitor the effectiveness of treatment of)
neurologic disorders and conditions
“gunshot-wound neurology” -- studying brain
structure/function relationships in braindamaged war veterans
Paul Broca (1824-1880)
 French physician, surgeon, anatomist,
anthropologist
Influenced by Darwin and Wallace (“I would
much rather be a perfected ape than a degraded
Adam.”)
Studied patients with aphasia
 From autopsies he concluded that the 3rd frontal
convolution in the left hemisphere was
responsible for speech production...
Carl Wernicke (1848-1905)
German psychiatrist, anatomist and
neuropathologist
Inspired by Broca’s work on motor aphasia
Wernicke's interests in psychophysiology and
aphasiology relating to language led to the
discovery Wernicke's aphasia (aka receptive
or fluent aphasia) – the inability to understand
speech, or to produce meaningful speech,
caused by lesions to the posterior superior
temporal gyrus.
John Hughlings Jackson
(1835 – 1911)
 English neurologist, influenced by Darwin’s theory of evolution
 Noted how convulsions in patients with focal epilepsy originated in
the distal limbs and progressed over a short time to the face (aka the
“Jacksonian March”)
 Proposed that the evolution of the nervous system occurred at three
levels
 At the lowest level, movements are represented in their least
complex form; such centres lie in the medulla and spinal cord.
 The middle level consists of the so-called motor area of the
cortex,
 The highest motor levels are found in the prefrontal area.
 Postulated that higher centres normally inhibited lower ones
 Lesions of the higher centres removed the inhibition of these lower
centers, allowing their primitive functions to be exhibited (a term he
called “dissolution” -- borrowed from Herbert Spencer)
Karl Lashley (1890-1958)
American psychologist
pioneered the use of ablation techniques
to study brain/behaviour relationships
Promoted the idea of ‘cortical
equipotentiality’
Researched the physiological basis of
learning and memory (the engram)
Donald Hebb’s thesis supervisor
Neurosurgery
The turn of the 20th century resulted in the
advent of neurosurgery as a specialization
Advances in life-support technologies such as
respirators, blood-gas monitors, electrocautery
tools and the development of anaesthetics and
analgesics made more complex surgeries
possible.
Neurosurgical techniques were developed to
address the increased numbers of soldiers
injured by the mechanized weaponry developed
in the late 19th and early 20th century.
Wilder Penfield (1891-1976)
American/Canadian neurosurgeon brought to McGill
University in 1928 and founded the Montreal
Neurological Institute in 1934 (with William Cone).
Between 1934-1960
 performed > 1200 craniotomies for treatment of
focal epilepsy -- the “Montreal procedure”
 Systematic mapping of cortical function using
electrical stimulation during surgery
 https://can-acn.org/wilder-penfield
The Montreal Procedure included studying
brain behaviour relationships by electrically
stimulating the cerebral cortex of awake patients
during cranial surgery.
Penfield and Boldrey’s Famous Homunculus
 Drawn by Mrs. Hortense P Cantlie, a medical illustrator at
McGill University (ca. 1936-37) and included in Boldrey’s
Master’s Thesis (Boldrey was a 1st year neurosurgical
resident supervised by Penfield)
Fig. 28 P&B, 1937
ca. 1950
Consciousness/Experience: a Brain Construction...
Thought/Experience
Behaviour
Behavioural
Precursors
Information from
the environment
The CNS
Memory
Sensory Channels
in the Peripheral
Nervous
System
Information regarding
bodily status
Sensory
Processes
Perceptual
Processes
Donald O. Hebb (1904 – 1985)
Influential neuropsychologist at McGill University
Worked with the neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield
His book “The Organization of Behaviour: a
Neuropsychological Theory” (1949) was an
influential, early account of how neurons
organize themselves to form networks (‘neurons
that fire together wire together’)
Many of his students became famous
neuropsychologists in their own right (Milner,
Olds, Nadel, Kimura, Posner, etc.)
Hans-Lukas Teuber (1916-1977)
One of the founders of neuropsychology –
originally trained as a social psychologist
1946-1961 worked as a psychophysiologist at
NYU Bellvue
1960 – 1977 professor and head of psychology
at M.I.T.
Studied frontal lobe functions in U.S. military
veterans with penetrating missle wounds to the
head
Studied cognitive functions of Henry Molaisson
Alexander Luria (1902-1977)
Soviet neuropsychologist
studied brain-injured victims of World War II
often credited as a father of modern behavioural
neuropsychological assessment
developed an extensive and original battery of
neuropsychological tests some of which are still
in use today
Links to Functional Neuroimaging
The future of Clinical Neuropsychology will be
strongly linked to improvements in functional
neuroimaging technologies. Functional
Neuroimaging training is recommended.
• (Roalf and Gur, 2017)
Pre‐Doctoral Internships in Clinical
Neuropsychology (University of Toronto, McMaster
University)