Biopsychology AO3 Flashcards
Evaluate Localisation Of Function in the Brain
+ - Support from Paul Broca in a case study Of a Man named “TAN”
He conducted an Autopsy on the man who could only say the word “Tan” (hence the name)
He found a region of his brain was damaged, it was the area that controlled speech
+ - further support comes from brain scan research by Peterson,
He showed how Wernicke’s area was active during a listening task and Broca’s was active during a reading task +++ Tulving showing that Semantic and Episodic were recalled from different sides of the brain
x - however Lashley removed 10-50% of the cortex in rats who were learning a maze,
He found that no area was any more important than the others in terms of their ability to learn the maze
This is a limitation as it suggests higher cognitive abilities such as learning ard not localised, but distributed
Evaluate hemispheric lateralisation and split brain research
+ - Fink used PET scans to identify which areas were active during a visual processing task
When Ps were asked to attend to global elements of an image (a Forrest) regions of the right were more active
When Ps were asked to attend to a single tree the left was more active
- Suggests tasks of visual processing are a feature of a connected brain
x - However evidence from Plasticity studies fail to support lateralisation
When parts of the brain become inactive or damaged the rest of the brain takes over
+ - Sperry’s research was well controlled, this gives the idea of lateralisation validity. For example research in labs have found using controlled conditions to distinguish between both sides of the brain
Evaluate Plasticity and Functional Recovery
+- Maguire used an MRI scanner to scan the brains of London Taxi Drivers
They had a larger hippocampus which is associated with navigation
This suggests that the brain does carry out plasticity due to Taxi Drivers having a more developed understanding and capacity in the hippocampus
+ - animal studies
Wiesel found that when one cats eye was shut, the functions of the shut eye was not idle but the open eye continued to process information,
This suggests that the brain can adapt (PLASTICITY)
+ - many PAs
This research has contributed to a better understanding and treatment of Brain Injury patients
