localisation of function in the brain

Question 1

localisation

Answer 1

the theory that specific areas of the brain are associated with particular physical and psychological functions

Question 2

lateralisation

Answer 2

the dominance of one hemisphere of the brain for particular physical and psychological conditions

Question 3

corpus callosum

Answer 3

enables messages to enter the right hemisphere to be conveyed to the left hemisphere and vice versa

Question 4

frontal lobe

Answer 4

location for awareness of what we are doing within our environment (our consciousness)
- planning, decision making, abstract thought and reasoning

Question 5

temporal lobe

Answer 5

location for the auditory ability and memory acquisition

Question 6

parietal lobe

Answer 6

location for sensory and motor movements

Question 7

occipital lobe

Answer 7

location for vision

Question 8

motor area

Answer 8

voluntary movement

Question 9

somatosensory area

Answer 9

processes sensory information from sense organs

Question 10

broca’s area

Answer 10

• frontal lobe
• language production

Question 11

wernicke’s area

Answer 11

• temporal lobe
• language comprehension

Question 12

peterson (1988)

Answer 12

used brain scans to demonstrate how wernicke’s area was active when listening and broca’s area was active during a reading task

Question 13

tulving

Answer 13

semantic and episodic memories are stored in different parts of the cerebral cortex

Question 14

evaluation of localisation of function of the brain
neurosurgical evidence

Answer 14

• 44 OCD patients had neurosurgery on their cingulate gyrus - after 32 weeks 1/3rd showed a successful response and 14% showed a partial response
• success suggests symptoms and behaviours associated with mental disorders are localised

Question 15

evaluation
case study - gage

Answer 15

evidence the frontal lobe is important in mood regulation

Question 16

evaluation
lashley

Answer 16

• evidence to show that some functions are not localised in only one area, but take place across multiple structures and circuits in the brain
• lashely (1929) removed parts of cerebral cortex of rats that had learnt to run a maze - showed no part was more significant than the other
• basic functions: localised e.g motor functions
• higher functions: not localised e.g learning

Question 17

brain plasticity

Answer 17

brain can adapt, to transfer function from one part of the brain to another e.g a stroke victim can ‘relearn’ language or movement, as a diff part of the brain takes over. suggests generalisation more than localisation