Biopsychology: Brain localisation Flashcards
The brain is divided into ____ hemispheres.
2
The two hemispheres of the brain are called the _____ and _____ hemispheres.
Left and right
Define localisation of function:
The theory that different areas of the brain are responsible for specific behaviours, processes or activities.
What is the role of the motor area?
Involved in regulating movement
What is the role of the somatosensory area?
Processes sensory information (e.g. touch)
What is the role of the visual area?
Receives and processes visual information.
What is the role of the auditory area?
Analysis of speech-based information.
What is the role of the Broca’s area?
Responsible for speech production.
Where is the Broca’s area located?
- Left hemisphere
- Frontal lobe
What is the role of the Wernicke’s area?
Responsible for language comprehension.
Where is the Wernicke’s area located?
- Left hemisphere
- Temporal lobe
What is meant by lateralisation?
Our behavioural and psychological functions are dominated by a specific hemisphere.
What are the 4 main lobes?
- Frontal lobe
- Temporal lobe
- Parietal lobe
- Occipital lobe
In the 19th century, the brain was seen through a _____ point of view.
Hollistic
The left side of the body is controlled by the _____ hemisphere.
Right
The right side of the body is controlled by the ____ hemisphere
Left
Impact of damage to the Broca’s area:
Broca’s asphasia
What are the impacts of Broca’s asphasia?
Slow speech that is lacking in fluency.
Who was Broca’s case study?
Tan
What was wrong with Tan?
Tan had Broca’s asphasia- meaning his speech was impaired and he could only say “tan”.
Impact of damage to the Wernicke’s area:
Wernicke’s asphasia
Impacts of Wernicke’s asphasia:
People will say nonsense words and speak abnormally.
Name the 4 evaluation points for brain localisation:
- Evidence from neurosurgery (S)
- Evidence from brain scans (S)
- Language localisation questioned (L)
- Case study evidence (S/L)
Explain evidence from neurosurgery as a strength supporting brain localisation:
- Damage to areas of the brain has been linked to mental disorders.
- Neurosurgery has been used to treat some mental disorders and has been successful
- Success of procedures suggests that behaviours associated with serious mental disorders may be localised.
Explain evidence from brain scans as a strength supporting brain localisation:
- Supports the idea that many everyday brain functions are localised.
- Peterson used brain scans to demonstrate how how the Wernickes area was active during a listening task and the Broca’s area during a reading task.
- Objective methods for measuring brain activity have provided sound scientific evidence that many brain functions are localised.
Explain language localisation questioned as a limitation criticising brain localisation:
- Language may not be localised just to the Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas.
- Advances in brain imaging techniques (e.g. fMRI) mean that neural processes can be studied with more clarity than ever before.
- Language function is more hollistic than we first thought.
Explain case study as a strength and limitation for brain localisation:
- Phineas Gage supports localisation theory.
- Difficult to generalise results from the findings of a single individual.
- Conclusions drawn may depend on the subjective interpretation of the researcher
What is hemispheric lateralisation:
The idea that the two hemispheres of the brain are functionally different and control different processes.
What occurs in split-brain research:
Corpus Callosum is severed.
Who done research into split-brains?
Sperry
Explain the procedure for Sperry’s research into split-brains:
- 11 people with severed corpus callosom were studied on either the right or left visual field.
What were the findings of Sperry’s research into split-brains:
- Image shown in RVF could be desrcibed but not drawn
- Image shown in LVF could be drawn but not described
What are the 3 evaluation points for hemispheric lateralisation research:
- Lateralisation in the connected brain (S)
- One brain (L)
- Lateralisation VS Plasticity (L)
Explain lateralisation in the connected brain as a strength of hemispheric lateralisation:
- Even in connected brains the two hemispheres process information differently.
- Fink used PET scans to find that when patients with connected brains were told to look at an image on a whole, their RH was more active. And when told to look at smaller details, their LH was more active.
- Hemispheric lateralisation is present in both split and connected brains
Explain one brain as a limitation for hemispheric lateralisation:
- Research suggests that people do not have a dominant hemisphere that which influences a specific personality.
- No evidence to prove that theory.
Explain lateralisation vs plasticity as a limitation for hemispheric lateralisation:
- Lateralisation is adaptive as it enables two tasks to be preformed simultaneously
- However neural plasticity could also be seen as adaptive as following trauma, functions can be taken over from damaged parts by healthy parts of the brain.
Explain research support as a strength for Sperrys split-brain research:
- Gazzainga found that split-brain pateinnts do perform better
- Supports the idea that the functions of the LH and RH are different.
Explain generalisation issues as a limitation of Sperrys split-brain research:
- Cause and effect relationships are hard to examine.
- Behaviour of split-brain group was compared to a control group with none of them having epliepsy.
- Major confounding variable as any differences between the two groups may have been die to epliepsy rather than split-brain.
What are the three evaluation points for Sperry’s split brain research:
- Research support (S)
- Generalisation issues (L)
- Ethics (S)
Explain ethics as a strength for Sperrys split-brain research:
- Pateienrs already had the split-brain operation done
- Participantants had informed consent.
