Scientific Inference

• Empirical method to study the unobservable• The neural mechanisms of behavior

cannot be directly observed • Measure what you can observe• Logically inferring the nature of events

that cannot be observed

Critical ThinkingDelgado’s charging bull

Video: http://www.physiology.wisc.edu/yin/public/1965 New York Times report: http://www.mesolimbic.com/matador.html

Critical ThinkingDelgado’s claim

1965 New York Times report: http://www.mesolimbic.com/matador.html

“functions traditionally related to the psyche, such as friendliness, pleasure or verbal expression, can be induced, modified and inhibited by direct electrical stimulation of the brain.”

Morgan’s Canon

“An examination of the film record makes it apparent that the charging bull was stopped because as long as the stimulation was on it was forced to turn around in the same direction continuously.” (Valenstein, 1973, p. 98)

I have this chimp, Becky…

Prefrontal lobotomy: leucotome

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Critical ThinkingTransorbital lobotomy

Howard Dully during his transorbital lobotomy, Dec. 16, 1960. Credit: George Washington University Gelman Library

Howard Dully holding one of Dr. Walter Freeman's original ice picks, January 2004. Courtesy Sound Portraits, George Washington University Gelman Library

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5014080

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Wires threaded under the patient's scalp and neck skin are connected to a battery pack implanted below the collarbone. The pack delivers continuous electrical current at programmed settings and can be adjusted externally by placing a controller over it. Henry Ford Health System

An X-ray shows two deep brain stimulation electrodes implanted on either side of a patient's brain. Courtesy Dr. Helen Mayberg

Brain Implant Offers Hope for Severely Depressedhttp://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4627438

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?otool=mdtwsnlib

PubMed

http://researchport.umd.edu/V/3APTGFDBXQGNN14RH3BG2GMTGU997J1HQKIMLPDR8JGXSUQ9PQ-19313?func=find-db-1-title&mode=titles&scan_start=p%3F

Cook Library research port – click “P” in alphabetical list