Localisation of function Flashcards
What is localisation of function?
Refers to the principle that specific functions (language, memory, hearing etc) have specific locations within the brain
What is the motor area?
A region in the frontal lobe involved in regulating movement
What is the somatosensory area?
An area of the parietal lobe that receives and processes information such as touch
What is the visual area?
A part of the occipital lobe that receives and processes information
What is the auditory area?
Located in the temporal lobe in the left hemisphere and concerned with the analysis of speech based information
What is Broca’s area?
An area in the frontal lobe that produces speech
What is Wernicke’s area?
An area in the temporal lobe in the left hemisphere responsible for language comprehension
What happened in the 19th century?
Scientists such as Paul Broca and Karl Wernicke discovered specific areas of the brain are associated with psychological and physiological functions
What view did scientists previously support?
The holistic view - that all parts of the brain are involved in procession action and thought
What theory did Broca and Wernicke argue?
Localisation of function (cortical specialisation) - the idea that different parts of the brain are involved with different parts of the body - it is thought that if a part of the brain is injured its function is affected
What is the brain divided in to?
Two symmetrical halves called the left and right hemispheres
What is lateralisation?
The idea that our functions are controlled by a particular hemisphere
What is the general rule in lateralisation?
That everything that happens on the right side of the body is controlled by the left hemisphere and vice versa
What is the cerebral cortex?
The outer layer of both hemispheres - it is 3mm thick and separates us from other animals.
What colour does the cortex appear and why?
Grey - due to the local cell body
What is the cortex divided into?
Four lobes which are named after the bones beneath which they lie
What are the four lobes?
The frontal lobe, the parietal lobe, the occipital lobe and the temporal lobe - each is associated with a different function
What is at the back pf the frontal lobe?
The motor area which is responsible for voluntary movement on the opposite side of the body
What could damage to the motor area result in?
Loss of control over fine motor movements
What is at the front of the parietal lobe?
The somatosensory area
What is the somatosensory area separated from the motor area by?
A valley called the central sulcus
What is the somatosensory area?
The area where sensory information from the skin e.g. relating to touch, pressure etc goes
What does the amount of somatosensory area devoted to a particular part of the body denote?
It’s sensitivity e.g, receptors for our face and hands make up over half the area
What dies the occipital lobe contain?
The visual area (visual cortex) with each eye sending information from right visual field to left hemisphere and vice versa
What would damage to the left hemisphere cause?
Issues in the right visual field for both eyes
What do the temporal lobes contain?
The auditory area which analyses speech based information
What may damage to the temporal lobes cause?
Hearing loss
What may damage to Wernicke’s area affect?
The ability to comprehend language
Where is language restricted to for most people?
The left hemisphere
What did Paul Broca identify?
A small area in the frontal lobe responsible for speech production
What can damage to Broca’s area cause?
Broca’s aphasia - characterised by slow speech that is laborious and lacking fluency
What did Wernicke describe?
patients with no problem producing language but severe difficulties understanding it, speech produced was fluid but meaningless
What area did Wernicke identify?
An area in the left temporal lobe that was responsible for language and that if damaged would lead to Wernicke’s aphasia
What is Wernicke’s aphasia?
Patients would often produce nonsense words (neologisms) as part of their speech
