ABSTRACT
In physiological psychology we are mostly concerned with studying damage to parts of the brain: brain lesions. Brain lesions may be produced by injury or disease, may be experimentally produced, or may result from therapeutic surgery. The aim is to see how an animal or person's behavior changes after an area has been lesioned. A less destructive way of studying the functions of brain sites is to use stimulation studies. Weak electrical currents or chemicals are used to stimulate specific points in the brain, often using a stereotaxic apparatus, and the effects on the animal's behavior are studied. The converse of stimulation methods are recording methods. These allow us to find out which parts of the brain are active during particular behaviors. In the last 30 years a breakthrough in the study of brain function in intact animals and people has resulted from the introduction of a number of imaging techniques.
