2.1 Localisation

Question 1

What is localisation of function?

Answer 1

tempting to assume that every behaviour has its specific place in the brain and is associated with a certain brain area
This idea is known as localization of function

Question 2

What are the 4 main parts of the brain + another important system?

Answer 2

• nervous system
• cortex
• limbic system
• cerebllum

Question 3

What is the role of the cortex?

Answer 3

Associated with high-order functions e.g abstract thought/voluntary action

Question 4

What 4 sections is the cortex divided into?

Answer 4

frontal lobes
parietal lobe
temporal lobes
occipital lobe

Question 5

What is the role of the frontal lobes?

Answer 5

associated with reasoning, planning, thinking and decision-making, voluntary action, complex emotions

Question 6

What is the role of the parietal lobe?

Answer 6

associated with movement, orientation, perception and recognition.

Question 7

What is the function of the occipital lobe?

Answer 7

visual processing.

Question 8

What is the function of the temporal lobes?

Answer 8

processing auditory information, memory and speech

Question 9

What two main sections is the brain divided into?

Answer 9

Deep furrow along cortex that divides it into left and right hemispheres

Question 10

What is the structure called that connects the two hemispheres?

Answer 10

structure of neurons that connects these two hemispheres is known as the corpus callosum

Question 11

What is the cerebellum associated with?

Answer 11

Associated with coordination of movement and balance

Question 12

What is the limbic system associated with?

Answer 12

May be referred to as “emotional brain”

Question 13

What is the limbic system composed of? 4

Answer 13

• thalamus
• hypothalamus
• amygdala
• hippocampus

Question 14

what is the thalamus associated with?

Answer 14

mostly sensory functions, nerves from almost all sensory organs reach here as a final location before connected to cortex

Question 15

what is the hypothalamus involved in?

Answer 15

involved in emotion, thirst and hunger

Question 16

What is the amygdala involved in?

Answer 16

involved in memory, emotion and fear

Question 17

What is the hippocampus involved in?

Answer 17

involved in learning, memory and transferring short-term memory to a more permanent store, spatial orientation

Question 18

What are the functions of the brain stem?

Answer 18

Main function to regulate basic vital processes e.g breathing/heartbeat

Connects brain to spinal cord

Question 19

What studies were the main backbone to support strict localisation?

Answer 19

studies performed with patients with brain damage
Some of these studies showed that a person with damage to a very specific brain area may demonstrate a very specific malfunction in behaviour

Question 20

What studies were done or what theories support the idea of strict localisation?

Answer 20

1. Paul Broca 1861 (Tan)
2. Carl Wernicke 1878
3. WIlder Penfield

Question 21

What case study did Paul Broca carry out? What condition did he discover?

Answer 21

Patient called Tan - could only pronounce syllable Tan and could not speak/write however could understand what was being said to him

Broca’s Aphasia - loss of articulated speech

Question 22

What were Broca’s main findings in relation to localisation?

Answer 22

Asserted that speech articulation is controlled by left frontal lobe

Broca’s findings suggested that other functions can also be mapped onto specific brain areas

Question 23

What are symptoms of Wernicke’s aphasia?

Answer 23

People with Wernicke’s aphasia have a general impairment of language comprehension, while at the same time speech production is intact, cannot understand speech

Question 24

What is wernicke’s area?

Answer 24

Wernicke’s area was discovered by Carl Wernicke in 1874

Area located in the temporal lobe of the dominant hemisphere (which is the left hemisphere for most individuals)

Area responsible for the comprehension of written and spoken language

Question 25

What method was used by both broca and wernicke?

Answer 25

studying a patient with a naturally occurring brain lesion and conducting brain autopsy after the patient’s death

Question 26

What is the drawback of studying a patient with a brain lesion?

Answer 26

A naturally occurring brain lesion is rarely neat or confined to a specific area (hard to prove strict localisation)

Question 27

What did Wilder Penfield achieve?

Answer 27

He mapped brain functions on a larger scale - created cortical homunculus

Question 28

How did WP map brian functions?

Answer 28

Used method of neural stimulation
Part of his work involved treating patients with severe epilepsy by destroying nerve cells that initiated the seizures
Before conducting the surgery he would stimulate various parts of the brain while the patient was still conscious, and observe the effects this stimulation had on behaviour

Question 29

What is an example of research opposing strict localisation?

Answer 29

Karl Lashely 1929

Question 30

What was the aim of Karl Lashley’s experiment?

Answer 30

To pinpoint where memory is localised in the cortex

Question 31

What were the results of Karl Lashley’s experiment?

Answer 31

Research failed - concluded that memory was distributed rather than localised
Conclusion supported by:

Question 32

what were the 2 main principles/ findings to come out of Karl Lashley’s research?

Answer 32

1. Principle of Mass Action - memory of maze depended on percentage of cortex destroyed not on the location of the lesion
2. equipotentiality 0 one part of cortex can overtake functions of another part of cortex

Question 33

WHat was Lashley’s conclusion?

Answer 33

• memory is not localised (widely distributed across cortex)

- other parts may take over function of missing part