BY: Neha Shrestha, Shelrika Bryant, Christopher Bynum, Kimberly Ann Abundis, and Tanner Savage

BIOLOGY AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE

What is Biology? Ø  Study of living organisms divided into many specialized

fields

Ø  Biochemistry

Ø  Botany

Ø  Cellular biology

Ø  Ecology*

Ø  Evolutionary Biology*

Ø  Genetics*

Ø  Molecular Biology

Ø  Physiology*

Ø  Zoology*

History v ARISTOTLE (384BC – 322 BC)

ü  The first biologist- history and philosophy of science

v Hippocrates (460 BC- 370 BC)

ü  Father of Medicine

ü  Transformed the path of Greek Medicine

ü  Believe in natural action of diseases and not spirits and gods

ü  Hippocratic Oath- taken by new physicians to uphold ethical standards in medical practices

History

v William Harvey (1578-1657) ü Pioneer in the study of blood circulation and

embryology

ü Founder of experimental physiology ü Practiced medicine in London

v Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778) ü Father of taxonomy

History v  Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

ü  Book: Origin of Species (1859)

ü  Famous for his work on the theory of evolution

ü  Darwinian medicine- applies evolutionary biology to problems in medicine and public health

ü  H.M.S. Beagle’s Five-year Voyage (1831-1836) around the globe with Captain Robert FitzRoy

ü  Studied plants, animals, fossils and geological formations during the voyage

ü  Found fossils of extinct mammals during the voyage

ü  Wrote the book “ Voyage of the Beagle”

ü  Discovered “Theory of Natural Selection” with Alfred Russel (1958)

ü  Laid foundation for Evolutionary Biology

History

u  Biology developed very slowly in the past

u  People believed that earth was 6000 years old

u  Later, fossils were discovered (19 century)

u  Realization that earth is much older

u  Amia Calva (Bowfin) – sole surviving species which dates from Jurasic to the Eocene persisting to the present

GENETICS Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in living organisms. It is generally considered a field of biology, but it intersects frequently with many of the life sciences and is strongly linked with the study of information systems.

https://youtu.be/v8tJGlicgp8

MODERN SYNTHESIS

u Several major ideas about evolution came together in the population genetics of the early 20th century to form the modern synthesis, including genetic variation, natural selection, and particulate (Mendelian) inheritance.

WATSON AND CRICK u  Watson and Crick deduced the double helix structure of DNA

u  The genetic code is a nearly universal "language" that encodes directions for cells. The language uses DNA nucleotides, arranged in "codons" of three, to store the blueprints for amino acid chains. The amino acid chains in turn form proteins, which either comprise or regulate every other biological process in every living thing on the planet.

u  Watson is an American molecular biologist, geneticist and zoologist.

u  Crick was as a British molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist.

FRANKLIN AND WILKINS u  An English chemist and X-ray crystallographer who made contributions to the

understanding of the molecular structures of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), RNA (ribonucleic acid)

u  Her contributions to the discovery of the structure of DNA were largely recognized posthumously.

§  Wilkins' work on DNA fells into two distinct phases. §  In phase 1 Wilkins discovered that it was possible to produce thin threads from this concentrated DNA

solution that contained highly ordered arrays of DNA suitable for the production of X-ray diffraction patterns. Using a carefully bundled group of these DNA threads and keeping them hydrated.

§  By phase 2 Wilkins had evidence that DNA in cells as well as purified DNA had a helical structure.

u  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI1624SwYnI

Crick was interested in two fundamental unsolved problems of biology: how molecules make the transition from the non-living to the living, and how the brain makes a conscious mind.

•  The conscious mind communicates to the outside world and the inner self through speech, pictures, writing, physical movement, and thought.

•  The unconscious constantly communicates with the conscious mind

via our subconscious, and is what provides us with the meaning to all our interactions with the world, as filtered through your beliefs and habits. It communicates through feelings, emotions, imagination, sensations, and dreams.

u  Genetic psychology is also known as behavioral genetics, it’s a category of psychology that investigates the genetic influence on human behavior. This field of study involves psychology, biology, genetics and statistics. Psychologists in this field analyze how much of an effect genetic inheritance has on a person's personality.

u  All human traits and personality characteristics are driven by a complex interplay between the expression of our genes and the feedback from our environment. We know that human genes are expressed in the brain and that almost all normal and disordered behaviors are polygenic, meaning that they are each influenced by a large number of genes.

u  A trait that appears to result from a child’s upbringing may actually be largely a product of the genes he/she inherited from his/her parents, who share those genes with him/her.

§  Behavioral genetics is a field of study concerned with the genetic (inborn) and situational (from the environment) influences on behavior. It is essentially the study of the 'nature vs, nurture' debate. §  The nature vs. nurture debate within psychology is concerned with the extent

to which particular aspects of behavior are a product of either inherited (i.e., genetic) or acquired (i.e., learned) characteristics.

The Connection of Genetics and Cognitive Science

u  Cognitive genetics: internal generators of behavior such as learning mechanisms and emotions; not just one’s behavior.

u  Your genes wire up your brain’s capability of seeing, moving, learning, thinking, talking, and etc.

u  Studies show that characteristics related to cognition, temperament, and all major psychiatric disorders are heritable. This volume offers a primer on understanding the genetic mechanisms of such inherited traits.

u  The Genetics of Cognitive Neuroscience aims to give a working understanding of the influence of specific genetic variants on cognition, affective regulation, personality, and central nervous system disorders.

BIOCHEMISTRY the branch of science concerned with the chemical and physicochemical processes and substances that occur within living organisms.

https://youtu.be/NoyM9zQamE0

u  Biochemistry focuses on processes happening at a molecular level. It focuses on what’s happening inside our cells, studying components like proteins, lipids and organelles. It also looks at how cells communicate with each other.

u  Much of biochemistry deals with the structures, functions and interactions of biological macromolecules, such as proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates and lipids, which provide the structure of cells and perform many of the functions associated with life.

u  Biochemistry covers a range of scientific disciplines, including genetics, microbiology, forensics, plant science and medicine.

Another significant historic event in biochemistry is the discovery of the gene, and its role in the transfer of information in the cell. This part of biochemistry is often called molecular biology. James D. Watson, Francis Crick, Rosalind Franklin, and Maurice Wilkins were instrumental in solving DNA structure and suggesting its relationship with genetic transfer of information

Biochemical Genetics u  Biochemical genetics is a combination of biochemistry and genetics.

Biochemistry deals largely with the structure and function of cellular components, such as proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids, and other biomolecules, and of their functions and transformations during life processes.

u  Thus, biochemical genetics is a branch of genetics that deals with the chemical structure of the genes and with the mechanisms by which the genes control and regulate the structure and synthesis of proteins. It studies the relationship of genes and their control over the function of enzymes in biochemical pathways. It is genetics in terms of the chemical (biochemical) events involved, as in the manner in which DNA molecules replicate and control the synthesis of specific enzymes by the genetic code.

Botany Botany is the scientific study of plants. Also referred to as the plant science, Botany deals with the placement, diversity, and characteristics of plants.

Botanist

u  One of the most well known botanist in biology is Gregor Mendel

u  Mendel was an Austrian monk who enjoyed spending his time with plants

u  Mendel is best known as the father of modern genetics

u  His knowledge of plants and experimentations with them helped him to discover how inheritance worked.

u  https://youtu.be/Mehz7tCxjSE

u  Gregor Mendel went on to explain heredity through 3 different laws

Mendel’s 3 Laws of Inheritance

u Mendel’s law of segregation states that each allele is segregated whenever the gamete is forming,.

u Mendel’s law of independent assortment states that all the different traits in an organism are acquired independent of each other,they are not dependent on a particular trait

u Mendel’s law of dominance states that the dominant gene will always go over recessive genes.

Cellular Biology u Cellular biology also call Cell Structure stems

of the major functions and structure of a cell.

u A cell is the basic unit of life

u Several topics of cellular biology would include cell division, cell signaling, biochemistry, and Developmental Biology

u https://youtu.be/URUJD5NEXC8

u Cell Signaling happens whenever cells need to communicate with each other in order to form an action.

Cellular Biology

u  Biochemistry is the study of chemical processing related to living organisms.

u  Examples of biochemistry molecules are carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids.

u  Cell Division is the division of a cell into two daughter cells with the same genetic material

u  Examples of cell division include Mitosis, Meiosis, and Binary Fision

u  Developmental Biology is the process in which organisms grow and develop.

Developmental Biology

u Hans Spemann is seen as the founder of developmental biology

u Genetic switch and Cell growth are common terms associated with developmental biology

u Cell growth is based on the reproduction of cells while, genetic switch focuses on genes binding to specific short sequences of DNA and by doing so, switch genes on and off.

What is Ecology?

Ecology is the branch of biology that deals with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings. Ecology is an interdisciplinary field that also pertains to aspects of the fields of biology, geography, as well as Earth science. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlnFylwdYH4

How is Ecology relative to Cognitive Science?

Different types of ecology are directly related to cognitive science, such as cognitive ecology and behavioral ecology..

Cognitive Ecology is the study of cognitive phenomenon within social and natural contexts. It is an integrative perspective that draws from aspects of ecological psychology, cognitive science, evolutionary ecology, and anthropology.

Behavioral Ecology examines the ecological factors that drive behavioral adaptations. The subject considers things such as how individuals find their food and avoid their enemies. For example, why do some birds migrate while others are resident?

Evolutionary Biology

Another focus of biology that is important to cognitive science is evolutionary biology.

Evolutionary biology is a subfield of biology that studies the evolutionary processes that have caused the diversity of life on Earth as well as the origins of life itself.

How Evolutionary Biology relates to Cognitive Science

Evolutionary biology cohabitates and is codependent with other subjects such as evolutionary psychology which involve studies of the evolution of psychological structure.

Evolutionary biology is greatly dependent on aspects of cognitive science as it deals with the evolution of cognition as well as the evolution of life.

Zoology

u  behavior u Structure u Physiology u Classification u distribution

Animal Cognition: 1.Communication 2. Navigation 3. Mating 4. Thinking, reasoning and intelligence

Communication

No true language (no formed words)

Through sounds and gestures

In-born qualities used to signal their

feelings

Mimic human speech- Tilda (orangutan), elephants, beluga

whales

To consider talking, animals would have understand what the

words mean

slow, high-pitched voice- learn words (dogs)- as such talk does with human

babies

Navigation

u Travel with the use of visual cues (good memory)

u Side note: good memory equals to better learning (circus)

u Knows directions because they can feel magnetism

Mating u  Mate to reproduce and

not for pleasure with exception of few animals

u  Mammals are capable of experiencing romantic love

u  Signals to cognition

u  Types of mating behavior: Monogamy, Polygamy and Promiscuity

u Reactions and feelings are hard for humans to understand

u Sentient: they can think, perceive their environment, experience suffering and pleasure

u Might experience and understand in diverse ways

u On Certain memory tests- chimpanzees do better than humans

u Goats/ dogs/ cats and other animals can pull a lever(A), Lift a lever(B), open gates

u Elephants can distinguish language

u Dolphins can recognize themselves in the mirror

Thinking, Reasoning, and Intelligence

Vervet Monkey Signals

u https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8ZG8Dpc8mM

Seyfarth, Marlar and Cheney

u Cognition:

Intelligence

Thinking

Reasoning

Language

PHYSIOLOGY

u Physiology is the scientific study of the functions and mechanisms which work within a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, the focus of physiology is on how organisms, organ systems, organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical and physical functions that exist in a living system

u Know as “the science of the functions of living organisms and their parts”

u Physiology tests how organs and systems within the body work, how they communicate, and how they combine their efforts to make conditions favorable for survival.

u  Physiological understanding is behind every major medical breakthrough

u  for example, the survival of infants born at 24 weeks is made possible through understanding the physiology of a fetus. Physiology as a subject spans from the molecular and cellular level through to organ, tissue and whole system level. It provides the bridge between scientific discoveries and their application to medical science.

u   For example, much has been heralded of the genetic revolution of recent years which included sequencing the human genome. However, without understanding the physiology of the whole organism, this genome sequencing would just remain as a long string of letters.

u  https://youtu.be/nkfunphAKqo

Molecular biology

Molecular Biology is the field of biology that studies the composition, structure and interactions of cellular molecules – such as nucleic acids and proteins – that carry out the biological processes essential for the cell's functions and maintenance.

How it is related to cognitive science

u Molecular biology concerns itself with understanding the interactions between the various systems of a cell, including the interrelationship of DNA, RNA and protein synthesis and learning how these interactions are regulated.

u  here are three main types of molecules in our bodies – DNA, RNA, protein – that microscopically orchestrate everything about us. They coordinate the vastly complex processes that allow us to eat, breathe, sleep, etc. Our DNA can be thought of an instruction manual. It has rules to produce RNAs that have other rules to make proteins. The rules are what people know of as genes. Proteins do much of the physical work in our cells. They are quite literally little biological machines. The above is albeit an over-simplification, but it is a reasonable framework for this piece.

Importance

u   importance to molecular biology are the nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) and the proteins which are constructed using the genetic instructions encoded in those molecules. ... The molecules which form the basis of life provide scientists with a more predictable and mechanistic tool for scientists to study.

u   https://youtu.be/PBGcj0Z38cI

u  http://peace.saumag.edu/faculty/kardas/Courses/CogSci/BiologyCS1.htm