localisation of function

Question 1

What does localisation of function refer to?

Answer 1

The theory that different areas of the brain are responsible for different behaviours, processes, or activities.

Question 2

What was the holistic theory in relation to brain function?

Answer 2

The idea that the whole brain was involved in processing thought and action.

Question 3

Who were the scientists that contributed to the shift from holistic theory to localisation of function?

Answer 3

Broca and Wernicke.

Question 4

In what decade did the belief in localisation of function gain support?

Answer 4

The 1880s.

Question 5

How many lobes is the brain split into?

Answer 5

Four lobes.

Question 6

What are the names of the brain lobes?

Answer 6

• Frontal Lobe
• Parietal Lobe
• Occipital Lobe
• Temporal Lobe

Question 7

Fill in the blank: The Frontal Lobe, Parietal Lobe, Occipital Lobe, and _______ are the four lobes of the brain.

Answer 7

[Temporal Lobe]

Question 8

True or False: The localisation of function theory suggests that all parts of the brain are equally involved in all functions.

Answer 8

False

Question 9

What lobe is the motor area in?

Answer 9

frontal

Question 10

What is the function of the motor area?

Answer 10

-Controls voluntary movement in opposite sides of the body

Question 11

What hemisphere is the motor area in?

Answer 11

Both

Question 12

What are the consequences of damage to the motor area?

Answer 12

Loss of control over fine motor movements

Question 13

What lobe is the somatosensory area in?

Answer 13

Parietal Lobe

Question 14

What is the function of the somatosensory area?

Answer 14

Where sensory information from the skin is processed

Question 15

What hemisphere is the somatosensory area in?

Answer 15

Both

Question 16

What are the consequences of damage to the somatosensory area?

Answer 16

Numbness/ pins and needles, won’t feel hot or cold in the area.

Question 17

What lobe is the visual area in?

Answer 17

Occipital

Question 18

What is the function of the visual area?

Answer 18

Each eye sends info from the Right Visual Field to the left cortex and from the Left Visual Field to the right cortex

Question 19

What hemisphere is the visual area in?

Answer 19

Both

Question 20

What are the consequences of damage to the visual area?

Answer 20

Damage to left hemisphere can cause damage to the RVF and damage to the right hemisphere can cause damage to the LVF

Question 21

What lobe is the auditory area in?

Answer 21

temporal

Question 22

What is the function of the auditory area?

Answer 22

-Analyses and processes acoustic information

Question 23

What hemisphere is the auditory area in?

Answer 23

Both

Question 24

What are the consequences of damage to the auditory area?

Answer 24

Partial hearing loss, the more extensive the damage the more extensive the loss.

Question 25

What lobe is Broca’s area in?

Answer 25

frontal

Question 26

What is the function of Broca’s area?

Answer 26

-Speech production

Question 27

What hemisphere is Broca’s area in?

Answer 27

Left

Question 28

What are the consequences of damage to Broca’s area?

Answer 28

-Broca’s Aphasia
-speech is slow and laborious and lacking in fluency

Question 29

What lobe is Wernicke’s area in?

Answer 29

temporal

Question 30

What is the function of Wernicke’s area?

Answer 30

-Language Understanding

Question 31

What hemisphere is Wernicke’s area in?

Answer 31

Left

Question 32

What are the consequences of damage to Wernicke’s area?

Answer 32

-Wernicke’s Aphasia
-often produce nonsense words (neologisms) as part of speech

Question 33

What are the strengths of localisation of function?

Answer 33

-research support from brain scans
-research support from aphasia studies

Question 34

What are the limitations of localisation of function?

Answer 34

-contrasting evidence from plasticity studies
-contrasting evidence from animal studies

Question 35

Explain the strength of localisation of function that there is research support from brain scans?

Answer 35

-Petersen (1988) used brain scans to demonstrate how Wernicke’s area was active during a listening task and Broca’s area was active during a reading task.
-Tulving’s (1944) research revealed that semantic and episodic memories reside in different parts of the prefrontal cortex.
-These studies confirm localized areas for every-day behavior- the temporal lobe containing Wernicke’s area for listening, and the frontal lobe containing Broca’s area for reading.
-This is a strength because findings have high validity- brain scans are objective and provide sound scientific, empirical evidence.

Question 36

Explain the strength of localisation of function that there is research support from aphasia studies?

Answer 36

-Broca’s (1861) case study of ‘Tan’ (so-called because that was the only word he could say) demonstrated Broca’s aphasia.
-A post mortem revealed that ‘Tan’ had a lesion in his left frontal hemisphere, the area now known as ‘Broca’s area’.
-Similarly, Wernicke reported case studies of Wernicke’s aphasia where post mortems revealed damage to the left temporal lobe, the area now known as ‘Wernicke’s Area’.
-This supports the idea of localisation of function, as damage to specific areas impaired only specific functions- damage to Wernicke’s area only caused Wernicke’s Aphasia, and did not impair language as a whole.
-However advances in brain imaging techniques mean that neural processes in the language function are distributed holistically in the brain than was first thought.

Question 37

Explain the limitation of localisation of function that there is conflicting evidence from plasticity studies?

Answer 37

-Evidence suggests that functions may not be entirely localised- a theory is called ‘neuroplasticity’.
-Danelli et al (2013) examined patient EB who had his left hemisphere removed at age 2 ½ as treatment for a large benign tumour.
-At that time, all of his linguistic abilities disappeared too.
-After intensive rehabilitation, language abilities started to improve around the age of 5 and by age 17 EB’s language performance was comparable with healthy adult controls.
-This suggests that the brain is more holistic than we think, as the right hemisphere has taken over the language functions (which is called ‘recruitment of homologous areas’).

Question 38

Explain the limitation of localisation of function that there is contrasting evidence from animal studies?

Answer 38

-For example, Lashley removed areas of the cortex (between 10-50%) in rats that were learning the route through a maze.
-No area was proven to be more important than any other area in terms of the rats ability to learn the route.
-The process of learning seemed to require every part of the cortex rather than being confined to a particular area.
-This suggests that higher cognitive processes such as learning are not localised but distributed in the brain in a more holistic way.