Localisation of function BP

Question 1

localisation of function

Answer 1

different areas of the brain are responsible for specific behaviours, processes or activities

Question 2

motor area

Answer 2

a region of the frontal lobe involved in regulating movement

Question 3

Somatosensory area

Answer 3

an area of the parietal lobe that processes sensory information such as touch

Question 4

visual area

Answer 4

a part of the occipital lobe that receives and processes visual information

Question 5

auditory area

Answer 5

located located in the temporal lobe and concerned with the analysis of speech-based information

Question 6

Broca’s area

Answer 6

an area of the frontal lobe in the left hemisphere, responsible for speech production

Question 7

Wernicks’s area

Answer 7

an area of the temporal lobe in the left hemisphere, responsible for language comprehension

Question 8

what did Broca and Wernicke find?

Answer 8

• specific areas of the brain are associated with physical and psychological functions
• If a specific part of the brain is damaged then the function associated with that part will also be damaged

Question 9

hemisphere of the brain

Answer 9

Two symmetrical halves (left and right hemisphere)

Question 10

Lateralisation

Answer 10

when each hemisphere controls certain functions

Eg language is left hemisphere

Question 11

Control of activity

Answer 11

Activity on the left is controlled by the right hemisphere and vise versa

Question 12

cerebral cortex

Answer 12

the outer layer for both hemispheres

Question 13

What are the 4 lobes that the cerebral cortex is divided into?

Answer 13

• Frontal
• Parietal
• Occipital
• Temporal

Question 14

lobe

Answer 14

part of an organ that is separate from the rest

Question 15

Motor area (back of frontal lobe)

Answer 15

controls voluntary movement in opposite side of body, damage here will disrupt control over fine movements

Question 16

Somatosensory area (front of both parietal lobes)

Answer 16

separated from motor area by the central sulcus, where sensory information is processed, the amount of somatosensory area devoted to a body part relates to its sensitivity

Question 17

Visual area (occipital lobe)

Answer 17

damage to left hemisphere can produce blindness in the right visual field of both eyes

Question 18

Auditory area (temporal lobes)

Answer 18

analyses speech-based information, damage can lead to hearing loss

Question 19

language is restricted to the …

Answer 19

left side of the brain

Question 20

Broca- identified a small area in the left frontal lobe, which is responsible for …

Answer 20

speech production

Question 21

Damage to Broca’s area- causes Broca’s aphasia, which is characterised by?

Answer 21

slow and laborious speech, lacking in fluency

Question 22

Who is Broca’s most famous patient?

Answer 22

‘Tan’ (only word he could say)

Question 23

What do people with Broca’s aphasia have difficult with?

Answer 23

preposition and conjunctions

Question 24

Wernicke described ?

Answer 24

people who had no problem producing language, but severe difficulty understanding it (e.g. speech was fluent but meaningless)

Question 25

What and where was Wernicke’s area?

Answer 25

responsible for language understanding

left temporal lobe

Question 26

What happens in Wernicke’s aphasia?

Answer 26

produce nonsense words (neologisms)

Question 27

strengths

Answer 27

Evidence from neurosurgery
Evidence from brain scans

Question 28

limitations

Answer 28

Counter evidence for localisation
Language localisation questioned

Question 29

Evidence from neurosurgery

I:

strength

Answer 29

I: last resort method for treating mental disorders eg cingulotomy involves isolating the cingulate gyrus (OCD implications)

Question 30

Evidence from neurosurgery

D:

strength

Answer 30

D: Dougherty et al reported on 44 people with OCD, who had undergone a cingulotomy- after a post-surgical follow up 32 weeks later, 30% had met the criteria for successful response to the surgery vs 14% for partial response

Question 31

Evidence from neurosurgery

E:

Strength

Answer 31

E: Success from procedures suggest that behaviours associated with serious mental disorders may be localised

Question 32

Counter-evidence for localisation

D:

limitation

Answer 32

D: Lashey removed areas of the cortex (between 10-50%) in rats that learnt the route through a maze
No area was more important than any other area in terms of the rats’ ability to learn the route

Question 33

Counter-evidence for localisation

E:

limitation

Answer 33

E: The learning process required every part of the cortex

This suggests that higher cognitive processes, i.e: learning, are not localised but distributed in a more holistic way

Question 34

Evidence from brain scans

I:

strength

Answer 34

I: Peterson et al 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

Question 35

Evidence from brain scans

D:

strength

Answer 35

D: A review of LTM by Buckner and Peterson reveals that semantic and episodic memories reside in different parts of the prefrontal cortex

Question 36

Evidence from brain scans

E:

strength

Answer 36

E: Objective methods for measuring brain activity have provided accurate scientific evidence that brain functions are localised

Question 37

Language localisation questioned

I:

limitation

Answer 37

I: Dick and Tremblay found only 2% of researchers believe language is controlled completely by Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas

Question 38

Language localisation questioned

D:

limitation

Answer 38

• Advances in scanning techniques mean that neural processes can be studied with more clarity (e.g: fMRIs)

Question 39

Language localisation questioned

E:

limitation

Answer 39

• Language streams have been identified across the cortex, including regions in the right hemisphere, and subcortical regions
• Suggests language is organised holistically in the brain, contradicting localisation theory

Question 40

Evaluation extra: Case study evidence-

Answer 40

• Phineas Gage: whilst working with explosives, a metal pole passed through his eye, into his skull (removing a portion of his left frontal lobe)
• Frontal cortex= planning, reasoning, control
• Gage’s personality changed- he became rude and hostile
• Supports localisation theory