Neuropsychology - History

History

Neuropsychology is a relatively new discipline within the field of psychology, however, the history of its discovery can be traced all the way back to the Third Dynasty in ancient Egypt – perhaps even earlier. There is much debate in regards to when people started seriously looking at the functions of different organs, but it has been determined that for many centuries, the brain was looked upon as a useless organ and was generally discarded during burial processes and autopsies. As the field of medicine developed in understanding human anatomy and physiology, people often developed different theories as to why the human body functioned the way it did. Many times, functions of the body were observed from a religious point of view and any abnormalities were blamed on bad spirits and the gods. The brain has not always been looked upon as the center for the functioning body as we know it to be now. Rather, the brain has been the center of much discussion for many centuries. It has taken hundreds of years to develop our understanding of the brain and how it directly affects our behaviors, and hundreds of great minds committed to discovering the way our bodies work and function both normally and abnormally.