Science Fiction To Psychology

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31004, 9 March 1966, Page 6

Science Fiction To Psychology

An early interest in science fiction had something to do with his becoming interested in psychology, Professor R. W. Russell, head of the psychology department of the University of Indiana, said at a public lecture at the University of Canterbury on Monday evening. More than 300 persons attended and there was standing-room only for late arrivals.

Professor Bussell said he had been fascinated by the chemical change which allowed Dr. Jekyell to become

Mr Hyde. He had also been interested in science fiction stories which suggested that at some time man might know how the nervous system functioned and thus be able to control behaviour.

Modern experimental psychology was not primarily concerned with reading minds, said Professor Bussell. The main target was observing the behaviour of living organisms. Even though behaviour was extremely complex in many aspects it was systematic and measurable. Experimental psychologists were concerned with the adaptation and ajustment of organisms to their environment.

Biochemical events within organisms affected behaviour and biochemical evolution, one to five billion years ago, gave rise to forms still pre-

sent today so there was reason to think biochemical events had some sort of priority. Instinct There were certain steps in seeking the relation between behaviour patterns and biochemical events, said Professor Russell. Some behaviour patterns were had without learning—they were instinctive. The basic information on which a behaviour pattern developed was contained in the genetic structure.

One form of this was the drinking of the human infant. It was activated as a result of dehydation of cells within the body. This activation was shut off long before the water had reached the cells concerned and the body had

i become saturated. This shu [ off was dependent on certai , circuits of the nervous systeir An important recent develoj ment was that tiny tube were put into the circuit . which was stimulated with ; , chemical substance. Thu . the circuit was able to bi stimulated chemically in th i same way as had been dom electrically. The same thin, ' could be done to the eatini . circuit with different chemi cals. With different cancentra tions of chemicals it was pos sible to get an idea of how circuits handled quantatiw information—how the infer mation was controlled, sale Professor Russell. Memory Processes With the memory there were three basic processes, said Professor Russell. There was the process by which information was fed into storage and fixed, there was the process of storing the information for long periods, and once fixed and stored there was the process of retrieving the information. Genetically, DJIA was stored in the structure od large molecules of genetic material itself. A Swedish professor had developed a technique where it was possible to take out a single nerve fibre, open it and take out the contents for analysis of the molecular structure. He had been able to say molecular changes had occurred as a result of age and the changes were roughly analogous to changes in efficiency. In Canada injections of RNA into eiderly patients had restored their capabilities. Other research workers had injected RNA into animals which then showed considerable superiority in ability compared with untreated animals. More recently animals had been exposed to a learning situation and others had not. The effect of learning had increased the amount of RNA in the animals and caused a change in their chemical structure. Animals had been taught a particular behaviour pattern, RNA was extracted from their brain tissues and injected into naive animals which were then able to learn much more quickly than untreated animals. Professor Russell said there was enough RNA in a single neuron to store enough information to fill 1000 large textbooks. RNA was a large mblecule found in great numbers in an individual nerve ceil, it was susceptible to change in environment — unlike ONA.