BIOPSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH

Biopsychology is the scientific study of the biology of behavior.

Some refer to this field as biopsychology, behavioral biology, or behavioral neuroscience. We are
going to call it biopsychology because it denotes a biological approach to the study of psychology
rather than a psychological perspective to the study of biology.

Psychology is the scientific study of behavior, the scientific study of all the manifest activities of the
organism, as well as all the internal processes that underlie these activities.

The study of behavioral biology has a long history, but biopsychology did not become a major
neuroscientific discipline until the 20th century. Although it is not possible to determine the exact
date of the birth of biopsychology, the publication of The Organization of Behavior in 1949 by Hebb
played a key role in its emergence.

In his book, Hebb developed the first comprehensive theory of how complex psychological
phenomena such as perceptions, emotions, thoughts, and memory can be produced by brain
activity. Hebb did much to debunk the idea that psychological functioning is too complex to find its
roots in brain physiology and chemistry.

Hebb based his theory on experiments, both with humans and laboratory animals, on clinical
studies and on logical arguments. This eclectic approach has become a hallmark of biopsychology
research. Compared to physics, chemistry and biology, biopsychology is a baby.

WHAT ARE THE DIVISIONS OF BIOPSYCHOLOGY?

Biopsychologists carry out their research in multiple ways. Particular approaches to biopsychology
that have flourished and grown have received recognition as separate divisions of biopsychological
research.

We are going to clarify the meaning of biopsychology and its diversity by describing six of its main
divisions:

- physiological psychology
- psychopharmacology
- neuropsychology
- psychophysiology
- cognitive neuroscience, and
- comparative psychology.

- Physiological psychology. It is the part of biopsychology that studies the neurological

mechanisms of behavior through direct manipulation of the brain in controlled experiments. The
most common methods of brain manipulation are surgical and electrical.

The subjects are almost always laboratory animals. There is also a tradition of basic research in
physiological psychology. Greater importance is usually given to studies that contribute to the
development of theories about the neural control of behavior, rather than to research that
provides immediate practical benefit.
- Psychopharmacology. This is similar to physiological psychology, except that it focuses on the
manipulation of nervous activity and behavior through drugs. Many of the first
psychopharmacologists were simply psychologists who began studying drugs. However, the study
of the effects of drugs on the brain and behavior has become specialized to such an extent that
psychopharmacology is considered a separate discipline.

A substantial part of the research in psychopharmacology is applied. The purpose of many

psychopharmacology studies is to develop medications or reduce drug abuse.
Psychopharmacologists study the effects of drugs in laboratory animals and humans, whenever the
ethics of the situation allow it.

- Neuropsychology. It is the study of the psychological effects of brain injuries in human patients.
Human subjects cannot be exposed, for ethical reasons, to experimental tests that endanger
normal brain functioning. Thus, neuropsychology deals almost exclusively with clinical cases and
quasi-experimental studies of patients with brain injury as a result of an illness, an accident, or a
surgical operation.

The outer layer of the cerebral hemispheres, the cerebral cortex, is most susceptible to damage by
accident or surgery. Neuropsychology is the most applied of the subdisciplines of biopsychology.
Neuropsychological knowledge of human patients, even when it is part of a basic research
program, is always carried out thinking about how to benefit them.

- Psychophysiology. It is the part of biopsychology that studies the relationship between

physiological activity and psychological processes in human subjects. The procedures are basically
non-invasive. The usual measure of brain activity is the scalp electroencephalogram (EEG). Other
common measures are muscle tension, eye movement, and various types of autonomic nervous
system activity.

The autonomic nervous system is the part of the nervous system that regulates the body's internal
environment. Most psychophysiological research focuses on knowledge of the physiology of
psychological processes such as attention, emotion and information processing, but there are also
a series of clinical applications of the psychophysiological method of great interest.

- Cognitive neuroscience. This is the most recent of the divisions of biopsychology, but it is
currently among the most active and interesting.

Cognitive neuroscientists study the neural bases of cognition, a term that usually refers to higher
intellectual processes such as thinking, memory, attention, and complex perceptual processes.
Most cognitive neuroscience research involves human subjects. And since it focuses on human
subjects, its main method is non-invasive registration.

The primary method of cognitive neuroscience is functional imaging of the brain while subjects
engage in a particular cognitive activity. Because the methods and theory of cognitive neuroscience
are so complex and interesting, most cognitive neuroscience research involves interdisciplinary
collaboration between people with different backgrounds. Cognitive neuroscience research
sometimes involves non-invasive electrophysiological recordings, and sometimes focuses on
subjects with brain pathology.

- Comparative psychology. Although most biopsychologists study the neural mechanisms of

behavior, comparative psychology is not limited to that. The part of biopsychology that generally
addresses the biology of behavior is comparative psychology. Comparative psychologists compare
the behavior of different species and focus on genetics, evolution, and the adaptability of behavior.

Historically, comparative psychologists have focused on the experimental investigation of animal

behavior under controlled laboratory conditions, however, modern comparative psychology also
includes ethological studies, the study of animal behavior in their natural environment.