BBB tutorial FIVE:

23 June Moray House Edinburgh

& 30 June Glasgow Caledonian University

Snippets from discussions

We also briefly looked ahead to Summer School, the main part of which is three one-and-a-half day laboratory blocks: 1. Neurophysiology, 2. Perception and 3. Animal Behaviour. Each of these blocks uses very different experimental techniques but they all place some emphasis on experimental design (especially block 2). There are two afternoons of options and four evenings feature a lecture and a revision seminar (you choose one seminar from four to suit your needs/interests).
The main advice:-   It only lasts one week, so enjoy it - and don't forget to take your towel.

We discussed various aspects of  Pain .

Looking ahead to Book 4:-   Development and plasticity
But remember the update on neurogenesis.

We also looked at a set of revision questions.

In Glasgow we covered these topics, albeit with slightly different emphasis.We worked through the revision questions on pain and development, broadening the discussion to try to develop a broader view of the subject as a whole.
Stressed: No need to know all the details. There's no point in trying to lean it all just now - you'll have forgotten it by October! At the next tutorial in September, we'll make a start on revision for the exam.

We discussed the need to "get the gist" and develop frameworks/skeletons for topics and then gather informative details for discussion or provide evidence to support arguments. If you try to learn all the details, there'll be lots that you don't need - so be selective to some extent. This makes sense if you find some topics more interesting than others (worth learning) or if you have particular difficulty with some areas ( don't bother too much - unless it's something fundamental). It's also a strategy compatible with Part 2 of the exam, where you only have to answer 3 questions (essays) from 9.

We used a conceptual device:- 
three areas provide interactions which can help in understanding each other.

Examples of links between these areas:-

A

• Behaviour of a species is dependent on the evolutionary processes which have led up to the species at this point in time. This applies as much to human behaviour as to other species - so an understanding of adaptation, natural selection and evolution is relevant to thinking about "where human behaviour came from".
• The behaviour of other species is interesting in its own right,
• and in comparative studies it can provide an insight into human behaviour.

B

• Before we had the information provided by modern biological science, many psychological theories were just that - unconfirmed theories with no basis in fact.
• A really exciting aspect of BBB is the emerging explanations of psychological phenomena in real neural/neurophysiological terms, e.g. concept of behaviourally-demonstrated cognitive maps (rats in Morris tank etc.) backed up by the neurophysiological demonstration of "place cells" in the hippocampus.
• As we get into Book 6, we'll see many more examples of neural mechanisms underlying behaviour, especially in terms of the effect of damage or disease to particular parts of the brain and nervous system.

C

• The use of "animal models" can teach us about physiological processes which may also operate within ourselves.
• Much of our knowledge of basic neurophysiology has come from studies on other species, especially invertebrates (e.g. squid giant axon).
• If you look at the vision computer information (CD-rom or option at Summer School - you can buy disk from OU Milton Keynes), you'll find explanations of visual illusions that we see (psychological) in terms of receptive fields (neurophysiological) which have been most studied in animals such as cats.

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