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Biopsychology Flashcards

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1
Q

What is denervation? (Plasticity + recovery from brain trauma)

A
  • Loss of nerve supply. Inactivity and atrophy of muscle fibres.
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2
Q

What is denervation super sensitivity / denervation hypersensitivity? (Plasticity + recovery from brain trauma)

A
  • sharp increase of sensitivity of post-synaptic membranes to a chemical transmitter after denervation, it is compensatory change
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3
Q

What is atrophy? (plasticity + recovery from brain trauma)

A
  • Reduction in size of cells / tissue / organs.
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4
Q

What is synaptic pruning?

A
  • as we age, rarely used connections are deleted and frequently used connections are strengthened.
  • 15,000 synaptic connections by 2-3 years of age (Gopnik et al 1999)
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5
Q

What is neural plasticity?

A

-the brain’s tendency to change and adapt (mould) functionality and physically as a result of exp and new learning

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6
Q

What happens in the brain during recovery?

A
  • process is supported by a number of structural changes:
    1) axon sprouting: new nerve endings grow and connect with us damaged areas.
    2) reformation of blood vessels.
    3) recruitment of homolagous (similar) areas: on the opposite hemisphere to do specific tasks. E.g. if Broca’s area was damaged then an area on the right might take over
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7
Q

Explain how recovery of the brain after trauma is an example of plasticity (increased brain stimulation)

A
  • there is increased brain stimulation, if neurons are damaged, neighbouring neutrons are also affected (works the same for the hemispheres).
  • therefore, you need to stimulate the undamaged neighbouring neutrons or healthy hemispheres to aid plasticity
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8
Q

List the evaluations for research on plasticity:

A

Positive:
- plasticity application
- age and plasticity
- support from animal studies
- the concept of cognitive reserve

Negative:
- negative plasticity

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9
Q

Explain how practical application is a positive evaluation for research on plasticity (neuro-rehab)

A
  • Understanding plasticity has contributed to the field of neuro- rehabilitation.
  • Following illness or injury to the brain, spontaneous recovery tends to slow down after a number of weeks, so physical therapy may be required.
  • Including movement therapy and electrical stimulation to counter the deficits in motor and/or cognitive function.
  • This shows the brain has the ability to fix itself
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10
Q

Explain how negative plasticity is a negative evaluation for research on plasticity

A
  • brain’s ability to rewire can have maladaptive behavioural consequences.
  • Prolonged drug shown to result in poorer cognitive function + increased risk of dementia (Medina et al., 2007).
  • 60-80% of amputees known to develop phantom limb syndrome.
  • unpleasant, painful and thought to be due to cortical reorganisation in the somatosensory cortex (Ramachandran & Hirstein, 1998)
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11
Q

Explain how age and plasticity are related and are a positive evaluation for plasticity research

A
  • brain has a greater tendency for reorganisation in childhood, constantly adapting to new experiences and learning.
  • Bezzola et al. (2012) demoed 40 hours of golf training produced changes in neural representation of movement in ppts aged 40-60.
  • Using fMRI researchers observed reduced motor cortex activity in novice golfers than controls, suggesting more efficient neural representations after training
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12
Q

Explain how support from animal studies is a positive evaluation for research on plasticity

A
  • Hubel and Wiesel (1963) sewed one eye of a kitten shut and analysing brain’s cortical responses. found that the area of visual cortex associated with the shut eye was not idle but continued to process information from the open eye
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13
Q

Explain how the concept of cognitive reserve supports research on plasticity/recovery

A
  • evidence to suggest person’s educational attainment may influence how well brain adapts after injury.
  • Schneider et al. (2014) discovered that more time brain injury patients had spent in education (which was taken as their cognitive reserve), the greater their chances of disability-free recovery (DFR).
  • 2/5 of patients studied who achieved DFR had more than 16 years education compared to about 10% who had less than 12
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14
Q

List the features of Eleanor Maguire’s research on plasticity:

A
  • studied brains of LDN taxi drivers (MRI), found more grey matter in posterior hippocampus than in control group.
  • part involved with development of spatial and navigational skills.
  • LDN drivers take complex test ‘the knowledge’ testing recall of city streets and possible routes.
  • positive correlation between how long in job and structural difference
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15
Q

Explain the evaluations of Maguire’s research on taxi drivers (plasticity)

A

Positives:
- Control group allows us to say that there is a significant difference between taxi drivers and others. (good design).
- Use of scientific, objective measurements (MRI)
- An attempt to study a real world phenomena.

  • negative: can’t be sure difference due to ‘knowledge’, were not tested before
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16
Q

What is Broca’s aphasia and what is Wernicke’s aphasia?

A
  • Broca’s aphasia- speech is slow, laborious and lacking of fluency.
  • Wernicke’s aphasia- couldn’t understand language, fluent but meaningless- nonsensical words.
  • specialised areas associated with lang found in left brain’s hemispheres rather than both- both Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area were found in the left hemisphere
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17
Q

What is the corpus callosum?

A
  • A flat bundle of commissural fibres
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18
Q

Describe the key features of Sperry’s research on split brain

A
  • procedure: ppts asked to perform range of tasks and performance compared with ppts with no interhemispheric disconnection. Blindfolded 1 eye only receiving info.

Results:
- info shown to only one hemisphere only recalled if shown to same one again.
- visual material shown to left can be described in speech and writing, if shown to right ppt denies seeing but able to pick correct object with left hand.

Conclusion: some lateralisation of function between hemispheres

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19
Q

What are the strengths of Sperry’s research on split brain?

A
  • High levels of control.
  • Clearly demonstrated the lateralisation of function between the left and right
    hemisphere.
  • Although small sample, it was representative of the people who
    have had this operation
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20
Q

What are the weaknesses of Sperry’s research on split brain?

A
  • tasks lack ecological validity- the problems ppts faced in the task would probably not be a problem in real life.
  • may not be possible to compare the brains of severe epileptics who have undergone brain surgery to the brains of neurotypical people.
  • Only 11 participants which is a small sample to generalise from
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21
Q

List the evaluations of split-brain research:

A

Positive:
- Demonstrated lateralised brain functions
- strengths of the methodology

Negative:
- Theoretical basis
- issues with generalisation
- differences in function may be overstated

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22
Q

Explain how split-brain research demonstrates lateralised brain functions (positive evaluations)

A
  • pioneering work into the split-brain phenomenon produced impressive and sizeable body of research findings, main conclusions of which the left hemisphere is more geared towards analytic and verbal tasks, whilst the right is more adept at performing spatial tasks and music.
  • right hemisphere only produce rudimentary words and phrases but contributes emotional and holistic content to language.
  • Left hemisphere = analyser
  • Right hemisphere = synthesiser
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23
Q

Explain how split-brain research demonstrates strong methodology (positive evaluation)

A
  • highly specialised and standardised procedures.
  • The method used was ingenious – typically participants would be asked to stare at a given point, the ‘fixation point’, whilst one eye is blindfolded.
  • image projected would be flashed up for 1/10 of a second, means split brain patient would not have time to move their eye across the image and so spread the information across both sides of the visual field and both sides of the brain.
  • Sperry developed a useful and well-controlled procedure based off the original research
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24
Q

Explain how research on split-brain relies on theoretical basis (negative evaluation)

A
  • Puncetti suggested the hemispheres are so functionally different they represent a form of duality in the brain, that in effect we are all two minds and that this is a situation that is only emphasised rather than created in the split brain patient.
  • In contrast, other researchers have argued that, far from working in isolation, the two hemispheres form a highly integrated system and are both involved in most everyday tasks
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25
Q

Explain how research on split brain have issues with generalisation (negative evaluations)

A
  • The sample of ppts is unusual.
  • only 11 took part in all variations of the basic procedure, all of whom had a history of epileptic seizures.
  • has been argued that this may have caused unique changes in the brain that may have influenced the findings.
  • Some of ppts had experienced more disconnection of the two hemispheres as part of their surgical procedure than others.
  • control group Sperry used, was made up of 11 people with no history of epilepsy, may have been inappropriate
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26
Q

Explain how split brain research may overstate differences in function (negative evaluation)

A
  • One legacy of Sperry’s work is a growing body of pop- psychological literature that overemphasises and oversimplifies the functional distinction between the left and right hemisphere.
  • modern neuroscientists would contend that the actual distinction between the 2 hemispheres is less clear-cut and much more messy than this.
  • In normal brain many of behaviours typically associated with one hemisphere can be effectively performed by the other when the situation requires it
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27
Q

What are the different ways of studying the brain?

A
  • fMRI / MRI
  • EEG
  • ERP
  • Post-mortem examinations
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28
Q

Explain how fMRI scans work to show brain activity (ways of investigating the brain)

A
  • 3D scan providing structural and functional information.
  • Shows changes in brain activity using strong magnetic field and radio waves.
    1. More oxygenated blood flows to active areas of the brain.
    2. Molecules in oxygenated blood respond differently to a magnetic field than those in deoxygenated blood.
    3. More active areas of the brain can be identified.

Extra info:
- takes pictures of ‘slices’ of your brain (horizontal slices) to make 3D image.
- interrupts magnetic field -> however very subtle changes -> not threatening.
- it is accurate to within 1-2mm in the brain

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29
Q

What is the haemodynamic response?

A
  • rapid delivery of neural activity with oxygenated blood.
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30
Q

What are the strengths of fMRI scans (ways of investigating the brain)?

A
  • Provides high resolution moving picture of brain activity. This means patterns of activity can be compared rather than just the physiology of the brain.
  • non-invasive/virtually risk free.
  • Does not rely on radiation
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31
Q

What are the weaknesses of fMRI scans (investigating the brain)?

A
  • Poor temporal resolution- 5 second time-lag behind the image on the screen and the initial firing of neuronal activity.
  • Expensive and can only capture a clear image if the person stays still.
  • only measures blood flow in the brain. It cannot home in on activity of individuals neurons
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32
Q

What are the uses of EEGs (ways of investigating the brain + sleep studies)?

A
  • Commonly used in sleep studies
  • studies depression and schizophrenia. A meta-analysis by Boutros et al. (2008) showed patients suffering from schizophrenia displayed abnormal EEG wave patterns compared to controls.
  • Abnormal EEGs have also been identified in patients suffering from anorexia nervosa.
  • EEGs can be used as a diagnostic tool (potentially)
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33
Q

What are the strengths of EEGs (different way of investigating the brain)

A
  • Invaluable in the diagnosis of conditions such epilepsy.
  • Contributed to research into ultradian rhythms of sleep.
  • Extremely high temporal resolution-can accurately detect brain activity at a resolution of a single millisecond
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34
Q

What are weaknesses of EEGs (ways of investigating the brain)?

A
  • main drawback lies in generalised nature of the information received (1000s of neurons)
  • Not useful for pinpointing exact source of neural activity and does not allow researchers to distinguish between activities originating in different but adjacent locations
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35
Q

What are the uses of Event-related potentials (ERPs)?

A
  • ERPs record activity in response to a stimulus introduced by the researcher.
  • All extraneous brain activity from the original EEG recording is filtered out leaving only those responses that relate to the specific stimuli.
  • Milner et al. (2000) found people with phobias greater amplitude of ERP in response to images of the object they feared
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36
Q

What are the strengths of ERPs (ways of investigating the brain)?

A
  • Much more specificity to the measurement of neural processes than raw EEG data.
  • Excellent temporal resolution.
  • Researchers identified many different types of ERP and describe precise role of cognitive functioning.
  • P300 component involved in allocation of attentional resources and maintenance of working memory
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37
Q

What are the weaknesses of ERPs (ways of investigating the brain)?

A
  • Lack of standardisation in ERP methodology between different research studies which makes it difficult to confirm findings.
  • To establish pure data, background noise and extraneous material must be completely eliminated
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38
Q

Explain what postmortem is and its uses (ways of investigating the brain)

A
  • Post-morgen examinations involve dissecting (cutting up) the brain of a person who has died.
  • This allows researchers to physically look at the internal structure of the brain.
  • uses: if person had medical condition, post-Mortem could show structural abnormalities that could explain their condition.
  • e.g. study by Brown et al (1986), showed that patients who had suffered from schizophrenia had enlarged ventricles in their brain
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39
Q

What are the strengths of post-Mortem (ways of investigating the brain)?

A
  • provides foundation for early understanding of key processes in the brain. Broca and Wernicke both used post-mortem studies to establish links between lang and the brain.
  • Improves medical knowledge and helps generate hypotheses for further study
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40
Q

What are the weaknesses of post-Mortem (ways of investigating the brain)?

A
  • Causation an issue with these investigations -> observed damage may not be linked to the deficits under review but some other trauma or decay.
  • Ethical issues -> patients not able to give consent.
  • E.g. case of HM who lost ability to form memories and was not able to provide consent
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41
Q

What are the major sub-divisions of the human nervous system?

A
  • Peripheral NS (PNS)
  • Semantic nervous system (SNS)
  • Automatic nervous system (ANS)
  • Sympathetic nervous system (antagonistic)
  • Parasympathetic nervous system (antagonistic)
  • CNS
  • Spinal cord
  • Brain
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42
Q

Explain the role of the brain in the nervous system

A
  • main job to ensure life is maintained.
  • Many parts of the brain, some of which are concerned with vital functioning and others which are involved in processes such as problem solving and higher order thinking.
  • Involved in higher functioning + psychological processes
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43
Q

Explain the role of the spinal cord in the nervous cord

A
  • Facilitates the transferral of messages to and from the brain to the peripheral nervous system (PNS).
  • Receives + transmits info to and from the brain.
  • Also involved in reflex actions
44
Q

Explain the role of the peripheral nervous system (PNS)

A
  • The PNS transmits messages via millions of neurons (nerve cells), to and from the central nervous system (CNS).
  • The PNS is further sub-divided into:
  • The somatic nervous system (SNS).
  • The autonomic nervous system (ANS)
45
Q

Explain the role of the Somatic nervous system (SNS)

A
  • This is the part of the PNS that is responsible for carrying sensory and motor info to and from the spinal cord.
  • The somatic nervous system is made up of 12 pairs of cranial nerves from the brain, 31 pairs spinal nerves from the spinal cord, and all of their branches
46
Q

Explain the role of the autonomic nervous system (ANS)

A
  • Governs vital functions in the body such as breathing, heart rate, digestion, sexual arousal and stress responses (fight-or-flight).
  • Transports info from / to glands + organs
47
Q

Describe the role of the parasympathetic nervous system

A
  • Decreases and maintains internal processes.
  • rest and digestion
48
Q

Describe the role of the Sympathetic nervous system and fight and flight response

A
  • Anxiety and fear important for survival as they act as a mechanism to protect the body against stress and danger.
  • Sympathetic nervous system controls been called the ‘fight or flight’ phenomenon because control over the necessary bodily changes needed when we are faced with a situation to defend ourselves or escape
49
Q

What is a gland?

A
  • An organ in the body that synthesises substances such as hormones.
50
Q

What is homeostasis?

A
  • the maintenance of a constant internal environment within the body.
51
Q

Explain the role of the CNS (central nervous system)

A
  • Life processes
  • signals from senses
  • Neurons
  • divided into 2 sub-divisions:
  • Spinal cord
  • Brain
52
Q

List all the parts of the endocrine system:

A
  • pineal gland
  • hypothalamus
  • parathyroid glands
  • adrenal glands
  • kidneys
  • testes
  • ovaries
  • pancreas
  • thyroid gland
  • pituitary gland
53
Q

What is the endocrine system?

A
  • One of the body’s major information systems that instructs glands to release hormones directly into the bloodstreams
54
Q

What are hormones?

A
  • Chemical substances that circulate in the bloodstream, their effects on behaviour can be very powerful.
55
Q

Which cells do hormones affect?

A
  • Target cells that have specific receptors for a specific hormone.
56
Q

Explain the role of the pituitary gland

A
  • It is located in the brain.
  • called the master gland as it controls the release of hormones from all the other endocrine glands in the body
57
Q

What controls the pituitary gland?

A

-the hypothalamus

58
Q

What are the 2 parts of the pituitary gland?

A
  • the anterior (front) lobe and the posterior (back) lobe.
  • anterior (front) lobe releases ACTH as a response to stress
59
Q

ACTH stimulates which glands to produce what hormone?

A
  • The adrenal gland, the key functions is to stimulate production/release of cortisol
60
Q

What does the posterior pituitary gland releases ACTH as a response to stress?

A
  • the anterior pituitary
61
Q

What does the posterior pituitary release which is important in childbirth?

A
  • Oxytocin
62
Q

Where are the adrenal glands?

A
  • They are located on top of both kidneys.
63
Q

What is the outer part of the adrenal gland called?

A
  • adrenal cortex
64
Q

What is the inner part of the adrenal gland called?

A
  • Adrenal medulla.
65
Q

What hormone does the adrenal cortex produce and what is that hormone’s purpose?

A
  • Cortisol produced in response to stress (chronic). It increases a person’s ability to deal with stress increasing immune function.
  • too much can have detrimental effect; memory impairment, poor cognitive performance, lowered immune functioning.
66
Q

What does a low level of cortisol lead to?

A
  • Causes weakness, fatigue and low blood pressure, poor immune function, inability to deal with stress.
67
Q

What 2 hormones does the adrenal medulla produce and what does each of those hormones do in a stressful situation?

A
  • Adrenaline and noradrenaline. Leads to increase heart rate and blood flow.
  • Gives the body a boost of energy by converting glycogen to glucose.
68
Q

What hormone is produced by the testes and what does this do?

A
  • testosterone.
  • Causes male characteristics such as growth of facial hair, etc
69
Q

What is the role of the pineal gland?

A
  • Produces and secretes the hormone melatonin which regulates biological rhythms such as sleep and wake cycles.
70
Q

What is the role of the pituitary gland?

A
  • Controls the release of hormones from all the other endocrine glands in the body.
71
Q

What is the role of the thyroid gland?

A
  • Produces hormones that regulate the body’s metabolic rate, as well as heart and digestive function, muscle control, brain development and mood.
72
Q

What is the role of the ovaries?

A
  • This facilitates the release of the female hormones, oestrogen and progesterone.
  • they produce eggs.
73
Q

What is the role of the adrenal glands?

A
  • release adrenaline directly into the bloodstream which prepares the body for fight or flight by constricting blood vessels to the stomach.
  • This inhibits digestion and increases your heart rate
74
Q

What are the different neurons?

A
  • Sensory, relay and motor neurons.
75
Q

What is the function of the sensory neuron and what is the length of fibres?

A

What is the function of the sensory neuron and what is the length of fibres?
- Length of fibres: Long dendrites and short axons.

76
Q

What is the function of motor neurons?

A
  • Multipolar neurons: send and receive messages.
  • Carries messages from the CNS to effectors such as muscles and glands.
  • Length of fibres: Short dendrites and long axons
77
Q

What is the function of the relay neuron and what is the length of fibres?

A
  • Multipolar neurons: send and receive messages.
  • Transfers messages from neurons to other interconnecting neurons or motor neurons.
  • Length of fibres: short dendrites and short or long axons
78
Q

What are the features of the structure of a motor neuron?

A
  • dendrite
  • cell body
  • nucleus
  • myelin sheath
  • axon
  • nodes of ranvier
  • Schwann’s cells
  • axon/dendrite
  • axon terminal/terminal button
79
Q

What is the cell body of a motor neuron?

A
  • includes a nucleus.
80
Q

What is the nucleus of a motor neuron?

A
  • Controls the centre of a cell, which contains the cell’s chromosomal DNA.
81
Q

What is the dendrite of a motor neuron?

A
  • Receives the nerve impulse or signal from adjacent neurons.
82
Q

What is the axon of a motor neuron?

A
  • Where electrical signals pass along.
83
Q

What is the myelin sheath of a motor neuron?

A
  • Insulates/protects the axon from external influences that might effect the transmission of the nerve impulse down the axon
84
Q

What is the nodes of ranvier?

A
  • These speed up the transmission of the impulse by forcing it to ‘jump’.
85
Q

What are the terminal buttons?

A
  • Terminal buttons send signals to an adjacent cell.
86
Q

What are the first 4 stages of the process of synaptic transmission?

A
  1. Nerve impulse travels down an axon.
  2. Nerve impulses reaches synaptic terminal.
  3. This triggers the release of neurotransmitters.
  4. The neurotransmitters are fired into the synaptic gap
87
Q

What are the last 3 stages of the process of synaptic transmission?

A
  1. It successfully transmits the neurotransmitter, this is taken up by the post-synaptic neuron.
  2. Neurotransmitter binds with receptors on the dendrite of the adjacent neuron.
  3. The message will continue to be passed in this way via electrical impulses
88
Q

What is action potential?

A
  • action potential occurs when a neuron sends info down an axon, away from the cell body.
  • it’s an explosion of electrical activity.
  • This means some event (stimulant) causes resting potential to move forward.
  • Resting state = the inside is negatively charged compared to the outside.
  • Activated state = the inside is positively charged causing action potential
89
Q

What is excitation?

A
  • Synaptic connections can be excitatory or inhibitory; difference lies in action of neurotransmitter at postsynaptic receptor.
  • Excitatory: they make it more likely the next neuron will fire (such as acetylcholine or adrenaline).
  • Normal brain function depends upon a regulated balance between excitatory and inhibitory influences
90
Q

What is inhibition?

A
  • Synaptic connections can be excitatory or inhibitory; difference lies in action of the neurotransmitter at postsynaptic receptor.
  • Inhibitory: they make it less likely next neuron will fire (such as GABA, serotonin).
  • Normal brain function depends upon a regulated balance between excitatory and inhibitory influences
91
Q

What is excitation and inhibition in synaptic transmission?

A
  • Neurotransmitters can be either excitatory or inhibitory.
  • Once the positive charge reaches threshold, depolarisation occurs and post synaptic neuron fires.
  • The neurotransmitter needs to keep the charge below threshold so depolarisation does not occur and post synaptic neuron will not fire
92
Q

What is localisation?

A
  • The theory that specific areas of the brain are associated with particular physical and physiological functions.
93
Q

What is the role of Broca’s area of the brain?

A
  • Responsible for converting though into speech.
  • Damage to either of these areas would result in aphasia: inability (or impaired ability) to understand or produce speech.
  • In this case Broca’s aphasia
94
Q

What is the role of Wernicke area of the brain?

A
  • This plays an important role in understanding other people’s speech and for producing speech which makes sense.
  • Damage to either Wernicke or Broca’s area would result in aphasia: inability to understand or produce speech.
  • In this case Wernicke’s aphasia
95
Q

How is the brain divided and what is hemispheric lateralisation?

A
  • Divided into 2 hemispheres: left and the right.
  • Each hemisphere (side of the brain) is responsible for specific functions.
  • Hemispheric lateralisation: dominance of 1 hemisphere of the brain for particular physical and psychological functions
96
Q

What is the central core of the brain?

A
  • Regulates most primitive and involuntary behaviours such as breathing, sleeping or sneezing.
  • Also known as the brain stem. Includes structures like the hypothalamus: in the midbrain.
  • Regulates eating and drinking as well as regulating endocrine system in order to maintain homeostasis (process which body maintains constant physiological state)
97
Q

What is the lambic system?

A
  • This controls our emotions.
  • Around the central core of the brain, interconnected with hypothalamus, contains structures such as the hippocampus; key roles in memory
98
Q

What is the cerebrum?

A
  • This regulates our higher intellectual processes.
  • It has an outermost layer known as the cerebral cortex; appears grey because of location of cell bodies (hence ‘grey-matter’).
  • Each of our sensory systems sends messages to and from this cerebral cortex.
  • The cerebrum is made up of the left and right hemispheres which are connected by a bundle of fibres called the corpus callosum
99
Q

What is the corpus callosum?

A
  • Enables messages to enter right hemisphere to be conveyed to the left hemisphere and vice versa.
  • Each hemisphere is further divided into 4 lobes:
  • The frontal lobe
  • the parietal lobe
  • the temporal lobe
  • the occipital lobe
100
Q

What is the role of the frontal lobe:

A
  • The location for awareness of what we are doing within our environment (our consciousness)
101
Q

What is the temporal lobe?

A
  • Location for the auditory ability and memory acquisition.
  • Auditory, located in the temporal lobe, responsible for analysis of speech-based info
102
Q

What is the role of the occipital lobe?

A
  • location for vision.
103
Q

What is the role of the parietal lobe?

A
  • Parietal lobe: location for sensory and motor movements.
  • Somatosensory: located in the parietal lobe, responds to heat, cold, touch, pain and our sense of body movement.
  • Motor: located in the parietal lobe, responsible for controlling voluntary movements; left hand side controlled by right hemisphere and vice versa. Damage to this area results in impaired movements
104
Q

List the evaluations for localisation of functions of the brain:

A

Positive:
- Brain scan evidence
- Neurosurgical evidence

Negative:
Higher cognitive functions are not localised (evidence against localisation of cognitive functions)

105
Q

Explain how supporting brain scan evidence is a positive evaluation for localisation of functions of the brain

A
  • Lots of evidence providing support for idea that many neurological functions localised, particularly in relation to lang and memory.
  • Peterson et al. (1988) used brain scans to demo how Wernicke’s area was active during a listening task and Broca’s area was active during a reading task, suggesting that these areas of the brain have different functions
106
Q

Explain how supporting neurosurgical evidence is a positive evaluation for localisation of functions of the brain

A
  • Lobotomy (Freeman): removal of brain tissue.
  • Leukotomy: cutting the connections to a particular part of the brain.
  • Dougherty et al (2002)… lesioning of the cingulate gurus.
  • Success of these procedures strongly suggests that symptoms and behaviours associated with serious mental disorders are localised
107
Q

Explain how evidence against localisation of cognitive functions is a negative evaluation of localisation of functions of the brain

A
  • Work of Karl Lashley (1950) suggests that basic motor and sensory functions were localised, but that higher mental functions not.
  • 10-50% of cortex removed from rats. Area shown to be more important than any other area of the rats’ ability to learn a maze.
  • Learning required every part of the cortex, rather than being confined to a particular area.
  • suggests learning is too complex to be localised and requires involvement of whole brain

Psychology revision (5 decks)

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