Biological Psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Biological Psychology - Essay Example Introduction The biological basis of thought has often been a source of interest to scientists since a long time. Years of research through noninvasive technology has led to some understanding of the anatomy of behaviour and thought. This has been possible by brain mapping, a useful tool to gain understanding of the functional, genetic and various other molecular aspects of brain. Advances in brain mapping have contributed to understanding of several psychological, surgical and anatomical problems in the brain, thus providing clues for improved management and prediction of treatment outcomes. Brain mapping has been possible through advances in neuroimaging and also automation. Functional magnetic resonance imaging, a recent technology in magnetic resonance imaging has been an immense tool in understanding the functional areas of brain. For example, researchers are now able to see which brain areas are altered during performance of certain movements. Based on such information, it has been possible to divide the brain functionally and also understand as to how different areas of the brain work in conjunction during day-to-day activities (Jones and Overly, 2010). In this essay, brain mapping, methods used for brain mapping and benefits of brain mapping will be discussed. Brain mapping Brain mapping may be defined as a set of techniques related to neuroscience that map the biological properties and quantities onto spatial representations of the brain of the concerned mammal resulting in maps that are easily visualized and understood. Any technology in neuroimaging is actually a part of brain mapping, although brain mapping is considered to be higher form of neuroimaging that produces brain images supplemented by additional non-imaging or imaging data analysis, processing or both, like projecting of maps into analysis of behaviour with respect to regions in the brain. It is very important to understand biological basis of diseases so that appropriate treatment can b e based on that. In many diseases, genes have been attributed to the molecular basis of disease because they are the main instruction providers for the cellular molecular machinery. Infact, several genes have been identified for one single disease like 600 for multiple sclerosis (Jones and Overly, 2010). In this regard, a scientific team at the Allen Institute for Brain Science has envisaged a high-tech bridge between genetics and anatomy of brain which is basically an online atlas of the brain of the humans showing activity of about 20,000 human genes (Jones and Overly, 2010). This atlas is likely to expand over the coming years. Even now, the atlas provides an in detailed view of the activity of a particular gene in human being. For example, it is now possible for the scientists to determine the site of genes which encodes specific proteins, including those that are at high chances of being affected by a specific new drug. Based on this information, it is now possible to ascertain the therapeutic and adverse effects of the specific drug. On the other hand, a scientist can concentrate on specific brain structure and known about the genes which function there, thus gaining information about the molecular footprint of the condition. The scientist can also gain information about