Biopsychology - Localisation Of Function (Broca’s Area)

Question 1

What is a Broca’s area?

Answer 1

Allows production of articulate speech (clear & fluent) which helps extract meaning from language. It was identified upon the death of a patient who found it hard to formulate conversation. Post-Mortem examinations found damage to a specific area of the frontal lobe which was labelled “Broca’s aphasia”

Question 2

What are the effects of “Broca’s aphasia”?

Answer 2

-Reading and writing is not affected
-speech production is affected

Question 3

What was Fedorenko’s discovery about Broca’s area?

Answer 3

He found 2 regions of Broca’s area one involved with language & the other with cognitive tasks

Question 4

What was Dronkers research on Broca’s area?

Answer 4

Recently set up a brain scan on a TAN’s brain to prove validity.
They found a lesion in Broca’s area but also found other areas may contribute to failure in speech.
Suggesting Broca’s area isn’t the only area responsible for the deficits - damage could spread to neighbouring regions.