localisation of function Flashcards
what’re the main brain areas
Frontal Lobe
Motor Area
Somatosensory Area
Parietal Lobe
Occipital Lobe
Temporal Lobe
Broca’s area
Wernicke’s area
what’s the role of the frontal lobe and consequences of damage
involves: Reasoning/decision-making, Planning, Emotions, Problem solving, Impulse control
If damaged: changes in personality, difficulty concentrating/planning
what’s the role of the parietal lobe and consequence of damage
involves: Orientation, Recognition, Processing sensory information (touch sight etc).
If damaged: visuo-spacial difficulty (difficulty navigating new/old places)
what’s the role of the temporal lobe and consequence if damaged
Involves: Hearing/processing of auditory info, Analysis/production of speech
If damaged: may lead to hearing loss/Language comprehension problems
what’s the role of the occipital lobe and consequence if damaged
involves: visual processing, info from RHS of each eye goes to the LVF and vice versa
if damaged: sight problems/blindness
what’s the role of the motor area and consequence if damaged
involves: strip down the back of the frontal lobe in both hemispheres, controls voluntary movement (picking a pen) in the opposite side of the body
if damaged: loss of fine motor movements
what’s the role of the somatosensory area and consequence if damaged
involves: strip down front of parietal lobe, separated from motor area by ‘central sulcus’ valley, represents sensory info from the skin (touch, heat etc), the more sensitive areas (fingertips) the larger the area representation
if damaged: numbness
what’s the broca’s area and where is it located
centre of speech production
located in the left frontal lobe
what’s the wernicke’s area and where is it located
controls speech comprehension
located in left parietal/temporal lobe
what’s broca’s aphasia
lesions (damage) to the broca’s area means patients CANNOT produce speech fluently but CAN comprehend it
what is Wernicke’s aphasia
lesions (damage) to the wernicke’s area and patients CAN produce fluent speech but CANNOT comprehend it
what is localisation of function
the idea that different parts of the brain perform different tasks
what is holism in regards to LoF
the idea that all the parts of the brain work together to perform tasks
what’re 3 supports for LoF
Phineas Gage, Brain Scan evidence, Neurosurgical evidence
what’re 2 strengths for holism (weaknesses of LoF)
Lashleys Rats, Plasticity
how does the case of Phineas Gage support LoF
Severe trauma to his frontal lobe in a rail-road spike incident, described as “no longer Gage” and described by some as angry. shows how the frontal lobe, when damaged, was responsible for changes to behaviour/mannerisms, supporting the idea of LoF
How do Brain Scans support LoF
Petersen et al. used brain scans to show broca’s area activation during a reading task and wernicke’s area during a listening task. furthermore, episodic and semantic memories reside in different areas of the prefrontal cortex. Therefore precise and objective data provides good internal validity, supporting LoF
how does neuroscience support LoF
Dougherty et al reported on 44 OCD patients with a cingulotomy (cingulate gyrus lesion operation), 32 week post surgery 30% had a ‘successful’ response and extra 14% had ‘partial success’. therefore OCD seems partially localised to one area of the brain, supporting LoF theory
how do lashleys rats weaken the LoF idea and support holism
10-50% of rats brains were removed before being taught to learn a maze. as a result no area was more or less important for the rats ability to learn the maze and, for rats, every part of the cortex was used for learning rather than a specific area. He said learning was too complex to be localised and that higher cognitive functions aren’t localised, weakening LoF
how does plasticity weaken the idea of LoF and support holism
due to the brains ability to partially reorganise itself and recover lost/damaged functions (plasticity), the brain seems more holistic rather than each part of the brain having a specifically exclusive area that other parts cannot perform, weakening LoF
