• Levels of analysis in the study of brain and behavior
  • Spatial
  • Temporal
• Methods to the madness

• A. That they knew nothing about how to treat mental illness
• B. That they knew a lot about how to treat mental illness
• C. That they had some notion about the link between mental illness and the brain

• A. That they knew nothing about how to treat mental illness
• B. That they knew a lot about how to treat mental illness
• C. That they had some notion about the link between mental illness and the brain

• A. The cerebral ventricles
• B. The pineal gland
• C. Cerebro-spinal fluid

• A. The cerebral ventricles.
• B. The pineal gland.
• C. Cerebro-spinal fluid.

• A. They employed a word meaning "brain".
• B. They removed the brain in the process of mummification.
• C. They created detailed drawings of human brain anatomy.

"If understanding everything we need to know about the brain is a mile, how far have we walked?"

J. Lichtman, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvXuq9jRWKE&feature=youtu.be

• Within an individual
  • molecular
    • genetic
    • receptor
  • chemical
    • neurotransmitter/hormonal
  • cellular
    • neuronal firing

• Internal to individuals
  • network
    • lateral inhibition
  • area
  • region
  • system

• External to individuals
  • Social
    • Friends, family, teachers, others
  • Non-social
    • neighborhood, school, state/region, country
    • Physical environment

• Within one lifetime
  • Microseconds
    • detection position from acoustic stimulation
  • Milliseconds
    • action potential
  • Seconds
    • changes in EEG power
    • short-term memory

• Within one lifetime
  • Minutes
    • synaptic plasticity
  • Hours
    • memory consolidation
    • Hormone (melatonin, cortisol) levels
  • Days

• Within one lifetime
  • Weeks
  • Months
  • Years
    • education & training
    • disease processes
    • cultural change

• Across lifetimes
  • Centuries
    • cultural changes
  • Millenia
    • Natural & sexual selection

• Different methods, different levels of analysis
• Challenge of interpretation
• Challenge of linking phenomena across levels
  • How does the micro affect macro or vice versa?

• Tools in the neuroscientist’s toolkit
• What they tell us, and what they don’t

• What is the question?
• What are we measuring?
  • Structure
  • Activity
• Strengths & Weaknesses
  • Cost
  • Invasiveness
  • Spatial/temporal resolution

• Structural
  • Mapping the circuitry
  • Anatomy & connectivity
• Functional (next time)
  • What does it do?
  • Physiology/Activity

• Cell/axon stains
  • Golgi stain – whole cells
    • Camillo Golgi
  • Nissl stain – cell bodies only
    • Franz Nissl
  • Cellular distribution, concentration, microanatomy

• Neuron information flow polarized–flows in one direction
• Retrograde (from axon terminal to cell body); anterograde (from cell body to axon terminal)
• What connects where

• Invasive (in humans post-mortem only)
• High spatial resolution, but poor temporal

• Computed axial tomography (CAT), computed tomography CT
• X-ray based

• Magnetic resonance
• Some common isotopes (e.g., H) & complex molecules have a magnetic dipole
• Axes align with strong magnetic field
• When alignment perturbed by radio frequency (RF) pulse, speed of realignment varies by tissue
• Realignment emits RF signals

• Reveals tissue density/type differences
• Gray matter (neurons & dendrites & axons & glia) vs. white matter (mostly axons)
• MR Spectroscopy
• Region sizes/volumes

• Type of structural MRI
• Reveals integrity/density of axon fibers
• Measure of connectivity

• Voxels (volume-based elements)
• Morphometry, measure ("metry") form/morphology.
• How does brain size or thickness vary by age, disease status, etc.?

• Functional methods, including functional MRI (fMRI)