Introduction to Biopsychology (Chapter 1) Links

Textbook for the Course

Biopsychology (9th Edition) by John P. J. Pinel

Early History of Biopsychology

Ibn Sina (Avicenna). A list of the writings and works of Ibn Sina.

Ibn Sina’s Canon of Medicine This link will take you to Book 3 of Ibn Sina’s encyclopedia of medicine (undoubtedly the largest encyclopedia of knowledge ever written by a single individual).

Wilder Penfield

The Living Dead Part 2 of 3. The second part of three-part documentary by the BBC documentarian Adam Curtis. This segment includes some interesting clips of Penfield’s work on brain-stimulation-induced recollections (see from 1:57 – 4:53).

Dr. Wilder Penfield. A Canadian Heritage Minute infomercial from the 90s about Penfield.

Donald O. Hebb

Half Century of Hebb. Summarizes the development of Hebb’s theory of synaptic plasticity.

Animal Research and Associated Ethical Issues

National Core for Neuroethics. A Department for Neuroethics at the University of British Columbia (UBC).

Canadian Council on Animal Care. The national body that sets the standards for the ethical use of animals in scientific research in Canada.

UBC Animal Care Centre. Information about the animal research process at UBC.

STOP UBC Animal Research. A Vancouver based group whose primary goal is to end research on animals at UBC.

Fund for the Replacement of Animals in Medical Experiments (FRAME). A group whose ultimate aim is to eliminate the need for animals in any kind of medical or scientific procedure.

UBC monkey deaths spark anger. Newspaper coverage (by a reporter from the Georgia Straight) of some recent (2012) monkey deaths that occurred in a UBC neurological research laboratory.

Mouse pain study stirs debate. Coverage (by a reporter for Nature News) of a 2010 mouse pain study that caused a lot of arguments (see link below).

Online chatter over the mouse pain study. A large number of comments on the Principal Investigator’s website over the Mouse Pain study (see previous link).

When Human Rights Extend to Nonhumans. An article in the New York Times about the recent changes in Spanish law that have led to great ape personhood in spain.

The Blue Brain Project

The Blue Brain Project. The main web site for the Blue Brain project. Hosted at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne.

Psychosurgery (including the Prefrontal Lobotomy)

Psychosurgery and the Nobel Prize. The history of psychosurgery and the awarding of the Nobel Prize to Egas Moniz.

Skull with a presumed trepination. An image from wikipedia commons of a skull recovered from an archeological dig that seems to have been trepinated.

The Lobotomist. A Youtube posting of a PBS Documentary about Walter Freeman, the most accomplished lobotomist in American history. Be warned that this video contains footage of a lobotomy performed by Walter Freeman as part of an educational video that was circulated to would-be-lobotomists.

The Living Dead Part 2 of 3. The second part of three-part documentary by the BBC documentarian Adam Curtis. This segment includes coverage of the experiments carried out by Ewan Cameron on his patients at the Allan Memorial Institute in Montreal.