Exploring the mind with a microscope : Freud΄s beginnings in neurobiology

Part of : Hellenic journal of psychology ; Vol.6, No.1, 2009, pages 1-13

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Pages:
1-13
Section Title:
Freuds legacy
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Abstract:
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), the acknowledged founder of psychoanalysis, startedhis research career as a promising neurobiologist. This article presents an overview of hisearly articles in neuroanatomy and a literature update regarding the awareness of Freud'sorigins in neurobiology. In all, Freud invested a decade studying animal histology, cellbiology and basic neuroscience before turning to human neuropsychiatrie disorders.Through his histological studies, Freud provided coherent evidence supporting the neurondoctrine and suggesting that the protoplasm consists of a contractile fibrillary network, thepresent-day cytoskeleton. Freud also documented movements of nucleoli in neurons, a phenomenonpresently referred to as nuclear rotation. In certain instances, Freud's observationsantedate later views by more than half a century and are important to our understandingof neuronal structure and intracellular motility.
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Keywords:
Freud, history of neuroscience, neurohistory, neuron theory
Notes:
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