HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS OF

BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR

PRESENTED BY
SUSMITHA R
BRAIN RESEARCH

 Medical personals Shun Nung (3000 B C) and

Huang Ti (2700 B C) treated mental afflictions
with acupunture and herbal remedies in
ancient china balancing Yin & Yang 40
centuries ago.
 Hua T’o (100 A D) and Chang Chung Ching
(200 A D) prescribed treatment for 12 major
organs in chinese medicine.
CARDIOCENTRIC VIEW

 Popular in Great ancient civilizations

including Egypt and Greece.
 Heart produces and regulates all behaviors
including thought and emotions.
 Brain was not considered as ‘vital organ’ by
early Egyptians.
Aristotle

 Considered heart to be the organ of

intelligence.
 Aristotle’s observations were:
1. Poking brain of an injured person did not
induce pain.
2. Brain is not involved in pain perception nor
in any other types of perception.
3. The function of brain is to cool the heart.
4. Heart produces body’s heart.
5. Words are supplied by heart and words &
voice roll out of the chest cavity.
 Anatomical dissection studies demonstrated
that arteries, veins and nerves course through
the body bundled together.
 Tracing the veins and arteries back to the
heart led to the conclusion that nerves also
come from the heart.
ENCEPHALOCENTRIC VIEW

 Evolved as a result of dissection studies of

human and animal cadavers.
 Hippocrates
 Dozens of human dissections on Island of
Cos.
 Discovery of nerves and nerve function.
 Galen (130-200 A D)
 Disagreed Aristotle’s cardio centric view.
 Paramount importance to brain.
 If function of brain is to cool heart it would be
located close to heart.
 One of his experiment : cut through medulla of
the brain ceased breathing.
 Concluded that brain controls respiration.
Wrong ideas of Galen :
 Nerves are hollow.
 Spiritus animalis flows in these hollow nerves
supplying sensation and motion.
 Damage to brain allows animal spirit to
escape impairing sensory and motor
functions.
CELL DOCTRINE

 Taught in medieval European medical

schools originated in 4th century.
 Cell means “room” or “chamber”.
 The function of brain is to cool the heart.
 Brain contains a number of large, fluid filled
spaces known as ventricles.
 Brain is composed of three cells :
First cell regulates sensation.
Second cell regulates reasoning and judgment.
Third cell regulates memories and movements.
 Emphasized wrongly ventricles and ignored
brain power.
 Before 1800, knowledge to brain came from
observations of people who suffered head
injuries.
 People who received injuries to the back of
head suffered from visual or motor
impairments afterwards.
 Head wounds to the front of the brain showed
memory and personality disturbances.
 LOCATING THE MIND: MONISM
AND DUALISM
MONISM

 A theory that mind is not separate from the

body.
 Mind is result of brain functioning and thus
follows physical laws.
 Leonardo Da Vinci proclaimed that mind is
product of mind.
 DUALISM
 Dualism is the philosophy that the mind and
body are separate entities.
 Plato has been called “father of western
dualism”.
 Rene Descartes framed Dualism in its modern
form in late 17th century.
 According to Descartes, world consist of two
substances: matter and spirit.
 Body is made of matter and mind is spiritual or
immaterial.
 Body operates according to physical laws and
the mind does not.
 In middle ages, mind was believed hover above
the head and received messages from god.
 Believed that the mind is independent of the
body and exerts control over it.
 Mind is spiritual entity, and separate from brain.
 HOLISM versus LOCALIZATION
HOLISM
 A theory that the brain works as a whole to
produce behavior.
 Every area of brain is capable of controlling all
human functions.
 LOCALIZATION
 A theory that specific structures in the brain
control specific behaviors.
 Popularized by Neuro anatomist Franz Gall.
 Gall convinced Cortex (protuberances)
correspond to human capacities such as thrift,
courage , love and jealousy.
 Shape of skull.
 19th century phrenology became popularized
and Egyptians shaping head.
 DEVELOPMENT OF BRAIN SCIENCE
 Julien Jean Cesar in 1812 provided first
evidence in support of localization of function.
 Paul Broca, in 1861 as a result of post mortem
examination of Tan, who suffered by stroke
found
 A damage to a distinct area in the front portion
of the left half of the brain.
 This area is called as Broca’s area.
 German investigators ; Gustav Fritsch and
Edouard Hitzig in 1870 dem0nstrated that
specific areas of motor cortex in dogs control
particular movements of body.
 Scottish physician, David Ferrier documented
same findings in monkeys in 1876.
REFERENCES

 Rosenzweig , M.F., Breedlove, M.S., &

Watson , N.V.(2005). Biological Psychology:
An introduction to Behavioral and Cognitive
Neuroscience (4th ed.). U.S.A: Sinauer
Associates Inc.

 Wilson , J .F.(2003). Biological Foundations of

Behavior. Canada: Thompson learning Inc.
Thank you…..