A2 Biopsychology - Localisation of Function

Question 1

Define localisation of function

Answer 1

The idea that different areas of the brain are responsible for different functions. When one area of the brain is damaged, the corresponding function is affected.

Question 2

What are the functions of the left and right hemispheres?

Answer 2

LH is associated with movement, vision, hearing, reading, writing and speaking.

RH is associated with art, music and creativity.

LH controls RHS of the body and vice versa.

Question 3

Describe the cerebral cortex.

Answer 3

Cerebral cortex is approximately 3mm thick and covers both hemispheres.

It’s more developed in humans than animals which makes us more cognitively developed.

Question 4

Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas.

Answer 4

Broca’s area is located in the frontal lobe of the left hemisphere and controls speech production.

Damage to Broca’s area causes Broca’s aphasia which can lead to slow and influent speech.

Wernicke’s area is located in the temporal lobe in the left hemisphere and controls speech comprehension.

Damage to Wernicke’s area causes Wernicke’s aphasia which can lead to fluent yet nonsense speech.

Question 5

Give areas and functions of the brain.

Answer 5

The motor area controls fine motor skills and voluntary movements and is located at thee back of the frontal lobe

The somatosensory area receives sensory information from the skin and controls involuntary movement - receptors for face and hands control over half of this area. It’s located in the parietal lobes and is separated from the motor area by the central sulcus

The visual area receives information from the eyes - damage to LH visual area causes blindness in right visual field of both eyes. It’s located in the occipital lobe.

The auditory area receives information from the ears - damage to LH auditory area causes right ear deafness. Located in the temporal lobe

Question 7

Evaluate localisation of function.

Answer 7

(+) Tulving (1994) found that different parts of the brain were active when thinking of episodic memories in comparison to semantic memories, so different areas of the brain have different functions ie LoF.
(+) Peterson (1988) found Broca’s area to be active when reading aloud (speech production) and Wernicke’s area to be active when listening to speech (speech comprehension) => same development as above.
(+) Dougherty (2002) found that 1/3 of OCD patients who’d received a cingulotomy (removal of the cingualate gyrus, which is thought to be linked to OCD) showed full improvement and a further 14% showed partial improvement.
(+) Case study of Phineas Gage (1848): accident removed most of his frontal lobe, and although he could walk and talk, his personality changed dramatically => suggests brain doesn’t work holistically
(-) Lashley removed 10-50% of rats’ brains and found that no matter how much brain he removed, or from where, the rats couldn’t navigate their way through a maze
(-) Plasticity