biopsychology-Brain functioning

Question 1

what is the localisation of function

Answer 1

that different areas of the brain are responsible for different processes and behaviours

Question 1

what are neuroscientists now trying to do

Answer 1

map the brain for functions using neuroimaging studies

Question 2

prior to neuroimaging studies how did scientists understand the localisation of function

Answer 2

using post-mortem examination eg-patient Tan

Question 3

what is the role of the motor cortex

Answer 3

controls body movement

Question 4

where does the motor cortex send messages

Answer 4

motor cortex sends messages to the muscles via the brain and spinal cord

Question 5

what is the role of the somatosensory cortex

Answer 5

percieves touch, pressure, pain and temperature

Question 6

what is the function of the occipital lobe

Answer 6

processes visual information

Question 7

what is the function of the auditory cortex

Answer 7

processing acoustic information

Question 8

what is Brocas region responsible for

Answer 8

speech production

Question 9

what occurs in people with Brocas aphasia

Answer 9

they have speech which is slow, laborious and lacking in fluency

Question 10

which is wernicke area responsible for

Answer 10

understanding language and accessing words

Question 11

which parts of the brain are organised contralaterally

Answer 11

motor cortex
somatosensory cortex
visual cortex

Question 12

which parts of the brain aren’t organised contralaterally

Answer 12

auditory cortex

Question 13

which parts of the brain are lateralised to the left hemisphere

Answer 13

-Brocas area
-Wernickes area

Question 14

what is brocas and wernickes aphasia

Answer 14

brocas aphasia- Inability to produce language
Wernick’s aphasia-the inability to understand language

Question 15

2 pieces of supporting evidence for the localisation of function

Answer 15

-patient tan
-tulving

Question 16

what did tulving find

Answer 16

He asked participants to carry out a pet scan
greater activations in the anterior regions of the cortex when thinking about episodic memories
-and greater activation in the posterior regions when thinking retrieving semantic information
showing different parts of the brain had different functions.

Question 17

patient tan

Answer 17

had an inability to produce language and had damage to his Brocas area through a post-mortem examination

Question 18

what was some apposing evidence for Tans research

Answer 18

Dronkers found that tan had damage to areas outside of Brocas area so the damage to other areas may have contributed to the failure in speech production

Question 19

what other factors can impair brain function

Answer 19

• Ignored the importance of communication between the brain regions as impaired communication can impair brain function.
  Dejerine-Patient who struggled to identify written words had damage to neurons between Wernicke’s area and the visual cortex.

Question 20

what does it ignore between people

Answer 20

• Ignores individual differences in brain organisation
  Bavelier found when different people read they use different part of their brain.

Question 21

what is some evidence against the localisation of function

Answer 21

Danelli found that patient EB Had his left hemisphere removed which meant he initially had no language skills however after rehabilitation he was able to regain these language skills This wouldn’t be possible if these skills are lateralised to the left hemisphere

Question 22

how are the two hemispheres connected

Answer 22

corpus callosum-bundle of axons which enables communication between the 2 hemispheres.

Question 23

what is some supporting evidence for hemispheric lateralisation

Answer 23

Sperry-presented images to the patients right or left hemisphere. If they were asked to point to one of four pictures They could do regardless of which hemisphere it was presented to
If patients were asked to verbally describe the image they could only do so if the image was presented to their left hemisphere He concluded that language is hemispherically lateralised to the left hemisphere

Question 24

what are some limitations of split-brain research

Answer 24

• Involves a small number of patients with brain abnormalities so may lack generalizability and population validity
• brain abnormalities may be a confounding variable
• Not all findings have been replicated-eg-patient EB

Question 25

what is some evidence against hemispheric lateralisation

Answer 25

19% of left handed people have language centres in the right hemisphere
so language isn’t always hemispheric ally lateralised to the left

Question 26

how is understanding brain lateralisation useful

Answer 26

Doctors can make conclusions about behaviour depending on which area of the brain was damaged so they can rehabilitate people back into work and they can boost the economy

Question 27

what is brain plasticity

Answer 27

Brain plasticity is the ability of the brain to change and adapt this allows for functional recovery and allow us to learn
this is as the brain is malleable

Question 28

what are 2 pieces of supporting evidence for brain plasticity

Answer 28

-Maguire
-Mechelli

Question 29

what did Maguire find

Answer 29

-Maguire-compared the brain of taxi drivers who had memorised the entire map of London with a control group. They had an increase in area in the hippocampus.

Question 30

what did mechelli find

Answer 30

compared to monolingual people bilingual people had a larger parietal cortex.

Question 31

what is functional recovery

Answer 31

when the brain regains function after brain damage.

Question 32

what are the 3 methods of functional recovery

Answer 32

synapse strengthening
rewiring
neuronal unmasking

Question 33

what is synapse strengthening

Answer 33

when the likelihood of nerve impulses being transferred between 2 neurons increases This occurs when there’s an increase in the number of neurotransmitters released or the number of postsynaptic receptors

Question 34

what is rewiring

Answer 34

New neuronal connections are formed between neurons that weren’t previously connected via synapse.
Axons that used to communicate with the damage brain regions rewire and form connections with near by brain regions

Question 35

what is neuronal unmasking

Answer 35

When silent synapses become active again. This reveals connections between brain regions

Question 36

what are some practical applications of functional recovery

Answer 36

schneider found that the more years you had in education the more likely you we to have disability free recovery

Question 37

what are the limitations of the extent of functional recovery

Answer 37

Elbert studied brain plasticity in children and adults and found that children’s brains are more plastic than adults
this shows that there are individual differences in recovery.