Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.E.) , who believed that it was the brain and not the heart where the locus of the mind resided. He wrote: "It ought to be generally known that the source of our pleasure, merriment, laughter, and amusement, as of our grief, pain, anxiety, and tears is none other than the brain. It is specially the organ which enables us to think, see, and hear......It is the brain too which is the seat of madness and delirium, of the fears and frights which assail us" (Gross, 1987, p. 843-844).

Early philosophers, such as Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.), believed that one's mind resided in the heart. He believed that since our blood started from the heart, the soul also originated there. Plato (428-347 B.C.E.) argued that the executor of reason was the heart and our animalistic desires and emotions were controlled by the liver

1949, Donald Hebb wrote his influential book, The Organization of Behavior, where he introduced the first comprehensive theory on how the brain might create and control complex psychological functioning, such as thought, memories, emotions and perceptions.

Free will vs. determinism is an issue that is far from being resolved and remains controversial even among scientists, including biological psychologists.

hich literally means that the mind and the functioning of the brain (assumed to be entirely physical) are two (dual) separate processes, completely independent of one another.

mind-body dualism or mind-brain dualism,

his means that the mind, our mental processes and subjective mental experiences, must also be entirely physical processes in an entirely material brain.

For example, we now know that damage to an area of the brain known as the primary visual cortex, at the very back of your head in the occipital lobe, will result in blindness even though the rest of your visual system, including your eyes, is functioning normally.

destroyed and/or removed as much as 90% of the brain tissue of their animal subjects.  Nevertheless, these animals could still perform basic behavioral and physiological functions. Some who read these results made the incorrect assumption that this meant that animals were using only 10% of their brains.  Subsequently, this interpretation was generalized to humans (Elias and Saucer, 2006).

Studies of humans with brain damage have revealed that the effects of brain damage are correlated with where the damage is and how extensive it is.

Nevertheless, these animals could still perform basic behavioral and physiological functions. Some who read these results made the incorrect assumption that this meant that animals were using only 10% of their brains.  Subsequently, this interpretation was generalized to humans

The frequently repeated claim that humans use only 10% of their brains is false

Because all behavior is controlled by the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord), biopsychologists seek to understand how the brain functions in order to understand behavior and mental activities

With advances in research methods, more complex topics such as language, reasoning, decision making, intelligence, and consciousness are now being studied intensely by biological psychologists.