18: Neuropsychology

Question 1

Karl Lashley 1890-1958, a horrible man who put rats in mazes and then destroyed their brain tissue after they’d learnt the maze, created a few bits of terminology to describe his findings.

Mass action, & equipotentiality. Define.

Answer 1

Mass action states that the amount of memory reduction experienced by the rat following the massacre of it’s brain tissue is dependent on how much tissue is destroyed rather than which region is destroyed.

Equipotentiality states that one part of the cortex can take over the job of another part

Question 2

How do you destroy a brain function? (Another of the lovely Karl Lashley’s discoveries)

Answer 2

To destroy a particular function, you have to destroy that entire region of the brain.

Question 3

What’s the stroop test?

Answer 3

Name the colour but not the word the colour is used to type eg it might say red but be written in green