lessons 6-9 Flashcards
What is Localisation of Function?
Idea that functions (language/memory/hearing) have specific locations in the brain
What cortex is in the Occipital lobe?
Visual cortex (In both hemispheres)
What cortex is in the Temporal lobe?
Auditory cortex (In both hemispheres)
What cortex is in the Frontal lobe?
Motor cortex (In both hemispheres)
What cortex is in the Parietal lobe?
Somatosensory cortex (In both hemispheres)
What does Broca’s Area control?
Speech production
Where is Broca’s Area found?
Left Frontal Hemisphere
What does Wernicke’s Area control?
Understanding of language
Where is Wernicke’s Area found?
Left Temporal Lobe
What is good about the Localisation of Function theory?
+ Expressive (language production failure)/Receptive (language understanding failure) aphasia are caused by damage to either the Broca’s or Wernicke’s Area(s).
What is bad about the Localisation of Function theory?
- Some scientists say that function is dependent on communication between brain areas more than the specific areas themselves.
- There are gender differences in Broca’s/Wernicke’s Areas; Women have larger language areas than men
What is Lateralisation of Function?
Idea that the hemispheres have different specialisations.
What are the left hemispheres dominant features?
Language and Speech
What are the right hemispheres dominant features?
Visual motor tasks and face recognition
What is the set of nerve fibres called that connect the 2 hemispheres?
Corpus Callosum
What is good about the Lateralisation of Function Theory?
+ It increases neural processing capacity, allows each hemisphere to carry out different functions
+ Mathematically gifted people have better right hemispheric skills than left
What is bad about the Lateralisation of Function Theory?
- Certain case studies show that people have managed to produce speech out of the right hemisphere
- Lateralisation of Function isn’t the same in adults as it is children. Adults turn lateralised patters into bilateral patterns.
Why did people cut their corpus callosum in the past?
To prevent violent electrical energy in one hemisphere crossing to the other in the events of a seizure
Describe a split brain experiment.
Split brain patient focuses on a dot in the middle of a screen;
Words are flashed up in the left visual field, pps can only draw this item not recall it because the image goes to the right hemisphere which isn’t attached to language;
Words are flashed up in the right visual field, pps can recall this as the image goes to the left hemisphere which controls language and speech
What is bad about Split Brain Research?
- It is invalid to compare people with a history of epileptic seizures to a control group of people who haven’t ever had a seizure
- Many studies involving split brain research use as little as 3 people; this makes results difficult to generalise
What is Brain Plasticity?
The idea that the brain can change and adapt as a result of experience
What are 3 things that can improve brain performance?
Life Experience, Video Games, Meditation
How does your Life Experience impact the brain?
Strengthens nerve pathways that are used frequently, kills off the pathways that aren’t used. New nerve pathways can be formed by learning new skills, this forms grey matter in the area that the skill relates to e.g
Juggling forms grey matter in the visual cortex
