biopsychology - localisation of function Flashcards
what is localisation of function
the theorey that different areas of the brain are responsible for specific behaviours, processes or activities
where is the motor area found
frontal lobe
what is the motor area responsible for
controlling voluntary movement in opposite sides of the body by sending signals to the muscles in the body
where is the somatosensory area found
parietal lobe
what is the somatosensory area responsible for
processes incoming sensory information from the skin producing sensations related to pressure, pain, temperature ect.
where is the visual area found
occipital lobe
what is visual area responsible for
recieves and processes visual information , each eye sends information from the right visual field to the left visual cortex, and from the left visual field to the right visual cortex
where is the auditory area found
temporal lobe
what is the auditory area responsible for
analysis of speech based information
where is Broca’s area found
left frontal lobe
what is broca’s area responsible for
speech production
where is wernicke’s area found
left temporal lobe
what is wernicke’s area responsible for, what can damage to this area result in
language comprehension, wernicke’s aphasia, sentances produced are fluent but meaningless.
outline the case study that supports the idea of localisation of function
Phineas gage while working on a rail line experienced an accident where a piece of iron went through his skull. He survived however he experienced a change in his personality that made him more angry and lacked inhibition.This supports idea that behaviours are localised to regions of the brain as it was believed the area the iron stake damaged the area responsible for personality.
outline the research by fritsch that supports the existance of the motor area
discovered that different muscles are co-ordinated by different areas of the motor cortex by electrically stimulating the motor area of dogs, this resulted in muscular contractions in different areas of the body depending on where the probe was inserted.
Outline the case study that lead to the knowledge of Broca’s area
Paul Broca discovered this area after treating a patient who was commonly referred to as ‘tan’. Tan could understand spoken language but was unable to produce any coherant words and could only say ‘tan’. After Tans death Broca conducted a post mortem exam on Tans brain, and discovered he had a lesion in the left frontal lobe. This led broca to believe this area was responsible for speech production, damage to this area results in Broca’s aphasia which is chacterised by slow and inarticulate speech
what is the hollistic theorey of functioning
all parts of the brain are involved in processing of thought and action
What research evidence suggests functioning is more hollistic
Lashley trained rats to navigate mazes. He then systematically made leisons in the various areas of the cerebral cortex. leisons varied in size and location across the experimental groups. He then tested the rats ability to navigate the mazes.
found that the severity of learning and memory deficits was more closely related to the total amount of cortical tissue removed rather than the specific location of the lesions. This led him to propose that the cortex works as a whole in learning and memory processes.
Lashley observed that other parts of the cortex could often compensate for damaged areas, suggesting that functions were not strictly localized but could be redistributed across the cortex.
suggests that some higher cognitive functions such as learning and memory are not localised to a specific region but rather distributed across the cortex which challenges the localisation of function theory
What highly valid method of research supports existance of wenicke’s and broca’s area
Peterson et al used brain scans to demonstrate that wernicke’s area was active during a listening task and Broca’s area was active during a reading task , a review of long term memory studies revealed that semantic and episodic memories reside in different areas of the prefrontal cortex.
what is the real world benefit of understanding localisation of function
allowed the brain to be mapped to identify localised brain regions, this is important for brain surgeons as they know which regions are vital, and which can be removed with little impact on function, this has improved surgery to avoid further damage.
