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history of studying brain - Coggle Diagram
history of studying brain
19th century
Surgery & Autopsy (Lesion Studies & Brain Damage Research) – 1800s
Description: Early neuroscientists studied brain function by examining patients with brain injuries or performing autopsies after death.
Example: Phineas Gage (1848) – A railroad worker survived an accident where a metal rod went through his frontal lobe, leading to personality changes. This showed the frontal lobe's role in decision-making and impulse control.
Strength: Provided early insights into brain function.
Weakness: Could only study brain function after damage had occurred, limiting experimental control. could only study after somebody died
1920s
EEG (Electroencephalogram) – 1924 (Hans Berger)
Description: Measures electrical activity in the brain using electrodes placed on the scalp.
Example: Dement & Kleitman (1957) used EEG to study REM sleep and its link to dreaming.
Strength: Detects brain activity in real-time, useful for studying sleep and epilepsy.
Weakness: Poor spatial resolution—cannot pinpoint exact locations of brain activity.
1930s-50s
Description: A surgical procedure where connections in the brain’s frontal lobe were severed to treat mental disorders.
Example: Lobotomies were widely performed but often led to severe personality and cognitive impairments.
Strength: Provided early treatment for severe mental illnesses.
Weakness: Often left patients with permanent brain damage and emotional blunting.
1960s
Experimental Brain Studies (Split-Brain Research)
Description: Involves controlled studies on brain function, often using patients who had undergone surgical procedures like corpus callosotomy.
Example: Sperry (1968) studied split-brain patients, showing that the left and right hemispheres have specialized functions.
Strength: Helped establish cause-and-effect relationships in neuroscience.
Weakness: Ethical concerns, especially with human subjects
1970s
PET Scan (Positron Emission Tomography) – First used in the 1970s
Description: Involves injecting a radioactive tracer to measure brain activity in real time.
Example: Raine et al. (1997) used PET scans to examine brain differences in murderers pleading insanity, finding reduced activity in the prefrontal cortex.
Strength: Shows real-time brain function.
Weakness: Exposure to radiation limits repeated use.
1970s
MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) – First full-body scan in 1977
Description: Uses strong magnetic fields to generate detailed images of brain structures.
Example: Maguire et al. (2000) used MRI scans to study the hippocampus of London taxi drivers, finding structural differences linked to navigation skills.
Strength: Provides high-resolution images of brain structures.
Weakness: Expensive and requires the patient to remain very still.
Lobotomy (Psychosurgery) – Popularized in the 1930s by António Egas Moniz
psychology was born in 1975 when wilhelm wundt opened a lab in leipzig germany to study peoples thoughts