Localisation Of Function Flashcards
What is the holistic theory of the brain
That all parts of the brain were involved in all thoughts and actions
How did phineas gage question the holistic theory
When working on train line pole went through frontal lobe and only change to gages behaviour was social skills
Died of localisation of function
Localisation is the concept of certain areas being linked with specific functions and damage to an area affecting the associated function
What are the right and left hemispheres joined by
Corpas callosum
What is corpas collosum made from
Bundles of nerve fibres
The function of the corpus callosum is to
Allow communication between the hemispheres of the brain
What is meant by the brain being contralateral
The function on one side of the body is controlled by the opposite hemisphere of the brain
An example of contralateral
The movement of left hand is controlled by the right hemisphere of the brain
The cortex of a brain is like a tea cosy, why?
It’s a thin 3mm thick layer, covering inner parts of the brain. It looks grey and is more developed in other animals
What are the 4 lobes in each hemisphere
Frontal, parietal, occipital and temporal
Where is the motor cortex located
At the back of the frontal lobe
Where is the somatosensory cortex located
At the front of the parietal lobe
Where are the visual centres located
Occipital lobe
Where are the auditory centres located
Temporal lobe
Role of motor cortex
Controls voluntary movements, each consecutive area controls a consecutive body part
What happens if motor cortex is damaged
Loss of fine motor skills
Role of somatosensory cortex
We’re sensory information on the skin is processed and represented in the brain, senses events in the different areas of the cortex mainly hands and face
Role of visual centre
Receives inputs from visual fields of eyes and processing visual info such as colour, shape and movement
What happens if visual centres are damaged
Damage to one hemisphere of the brain can lead to blindness in a visual field of both eyes
Role of auditory centres
They analyse speech based information
What happens if the auditory centres are damaged
Can lead to hearing loss or damage to wernickes area which can affect language understanding
Where are the language centres located
Left hemisphere
Features of language centres
They are localised and lateralised
Role of Broca’s area
Speech production
Role of wernickes area
Language comprehension
What is brocas aphasia
Damage to the broca which causes speech to slow and lack fluency
What is wernickes aphasia
Damage to the wernickes causing patients to become unable to comprehend speech meaning it has no meaning
Strengths of localisation of function
- supportive evidence from Dougherty and phinease gage
- research uses scanning techniques which are scientific
How does Peterson’s study support localisation
- brain scan using separate listening and reading tasks showed brocas and wernickes are independent
- bc only one part lights up to specific role
- dif parts have dif functions
Weaknesses of localisation of function
- non-supportive evidence from lashley and dick and trembla
- plasticity
What does dick and tremblays research show
- modern scans show language isn’t completely localised
- finding show language streams across the cortex suggesting a holistic function
- poor consistency between results
What does lashleys research suggest about localisation
- he removed 10-50% of rats cortex for a learning task
- no area of the cortex was important for completion of task
- brain worked holistically with percentage of brain removed not affection learning task
What is plasticity
It involves other parts of the brain taking over different functions eg after damage, the brain sometimes reorganises itself to recover lost functions
