The Biopsychology tries to explain human behavior and experience and to view them in a biological context to the body.
What is Biopsychology?
The relationships between the basic biological processes and the reactions of humans in their behavioral patterns are interesting for biopsychology, whereby the processes of all body organs are included, with the priority of all processes in the brain.
Biopsychology is a branch of psychology, but also neuroscience. In particular, the activity of the organism on feelings, behavior, dreams and thinking is examined more closely. Psychological states and their influence on biological functions and structures are also considered.
Methods & currents
Of course, the processes in the brain and the central nervous system play an essential role in this. In biopsychology, the study focuses on the human being. The works of the psychologists William James and Wilhelm Wundt, who are among the founders of modern and scientific psychology, paved the way for this sub-discipline of psychology.
While biopsychology has a central basic topic, it can still be divided into different, associated sub-areas. One main area is physiological psychology, which studies which neuronal behavioral mechanisms occur when the nervous system is manipulated. The focus is on the formation of theories and their associated explanatory models, which have emerged from the results of various experiments.
Typically, such examinations take place on a biological level, specifically as interventions on the brain in order to observe the effects on behavioral parameters through a very specific manipulation. Animal experiments are informative about human behavior, e.g. B. Results of visual perception and response, what happens when the memory learns new conditions or what interactions exist between behavior and hormones. The human brain differs from the animal brain mainly in its cortical development and size. Therefore, various reactions and principles of human brain activity can be derived from that of an animal.
Since damage to the brain, e.g. If medical interventions, injuries or illnesses always have an impact on human behavior, neuropsychology is also an important main area of biopsychology. Here, conclusions can be drawn about the behavior of a healthy person by observing and analyzing behavioral disorders in the event of brain damage. Is decrypted u. a. which brain region is responsible for which mental and emotional processes, e.g. B. for learning, attention or memories. This in turn can improve the condition of a sick person. Successes in neuropsychology are, for example, the treatment of speech disorders after a traumatic brain injury or a stroke.
Psychophysiology, which studies the relationship between physical and psychological processes, is just as influential. That can be B. Feelings, behaviors, even changes in consciousness and the associated connection to brain activity, circulation, motor skills, breathing and hormone release. In doing so, indicators are to be better identified, which in turn enable access to intellectual processes of a non-verbal nature, e.g. B. what effects sleep, stress or other stresses have on the brain and body and what diseases are associated with them, including their accompanying circumstances.
Psychopharmacology studies the effects of drugs, psychotropic drugs and drugs on the human brain and nervous system. That is why it is also a branch of biopsychology. Such chemical substances are not necessary for an average cell function, but the effects that they have on human experience and behavior and the place of action of the central nervous system, in turn, provide insight into what goes on in the body when it activates its own psychoactive substances .
The interaction between the hormonal and immune systems, the brain and perception, the central nervous system and behavior then provide information about the not so easy to decipher processes in z. B. psychosomatic illnesses or the physical and psychological effects of anxiety.
Comparative psychology also plays a role, which deals with the genetics and evolution of different species and their behavior, including z. B. primates or various species of birds. Likewise, cognitive neuroscience, which studies human memory and its neural mechanisms, neuroanatomy, which studies the structure of the central nervous system, or neurochemistry, which deals with the chemical basis of brain activity.
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Biopsychology uses all of these sub-areas to establish a medical diagnosis, for which in turn both biopsychological research and animal experiments are helpful.
In particular, imaging methods provide information about brain function. Learning processes, memory storage and stimulus processing are used for brain research, which in turn illustrate changes in blood flow, energy consumption or metabolic processes in certain brain regions and are measured by imaging methods such as electro- or magnetoencephalography, positron emission tomography or magnetic resonance imaging.
Other methods are electrophysiological, e.g. B. the use of an EEG, whereby different states of the brain activity can be identified, which in turn makes assumptions about the spatial distribution of the neural activity. Cardiovascular activity and the movement of muscles and eyes are also checked.
In the field of animal experiments, invasive methods are used for research, which makes it necessary to penetrate below the surface of the body, which is why they are not carried out on humans. In this way, certain brain regions can be selectively switched on or off by electrodes and an electrically generated voltage. This is used to check what triggers the behavior of the destruction of certain tissues or brain regions and what happens if the connection between certain brain areas and the rest of the central nervous system is interrupted or completely blocked.
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