BIO: Localisation of function Flashcards
what are localised functions?
- functions associated with activity-specific areas of brain
- complex behaviours are often associated with whole networks of these areas working together
motor Cortex
stimulates + controls conscious physical movements
somatosensory cortex
synthesises sensory info from peripheral neurons to create physical sensations
visual (sight) cortex
receives, orients, groups and passes on visual signals from the retina through the optic nerve, giving us visual perception (sight)
auditory (hearing) cortex
receives signals from the ears from the CN-VIII nerve and creates auditory perception (hearing)
Broca’s area
centre for language production
- it combines essential signals from other regions to create speech
Wernicke’s area
centre for understanding language
- it allows us to interpret physical and verbal communication
Evidence for language areas- Wernicke’s aphasia
loss of ability to understand language
Evidence for language areas- Broca’s aphasia
loss of ability to produce language
Evaluation 1: (supporting evidence)
P- supporting evidence
E- Phineas Gage ( pole through head, suffered from bug personality change) affected the frontal lobe (went from calm to rude/ hot-headed). This suggests frontal lobe affects mood.
E- However, this is a unique case, might not apply to everyone
L- Low population validity bc can’t generalise
Evaluation 2: (undermining evidence)
P- undermining evidence
E- plasticity
E- other area’s ability change function
L- more complex than just ‘this function does this’ - reductionist
Evaluation 3: (Applications)
P- applications
E- people with Broca’s and Wernicke’s aphasia
E- we know the area of the brain so can treat them more easily?
L: