Localisation of Function in the Brain

Question 1

What is localisation?

Answer 1

refers to the idea that different parts of the brain are responsible for specific behaviors, or that certain functions are localized to certain areas in the brain.

Question 2

What is the cerebal cortex?

Answer 2

the outer layer of the brain. It is made up of the left and right hemipshere connected by a bundle of firbres called the corpus callosum

Question 3

Where is the frontal lobe located?

Answer 3

The largest section, opposite end to the brain stem

Question 4

Where is the parietal lobe located?

Answer 4

bottom section of the brain

Question 5

Where is the temporal lobe located?

Answer 5

Top section of the brain

Question 6

Where is the occipital lobe located?

Answer 6

the section of the brain above the brain stem

Question 7

what is examined in the function of brain?

Answer 7

the functions within the brain can be examined in terms of the extent to which they are localised and the extent to which they are lateralised

Question 8

What is hemisphere lateralisation?

Answer 8

the proposal that the let and right hemisphere are responsible for different behaviours, activities or process.

Question 9

Where is the motor cortex located?

Answer 9

in the frontal lobe

Question 10

Where is the somatosensory cortex located?

Answer 10

in the parietal lobe

Question 11

Where is the visual cortex located?

Answer 11

in the occipital lobe

Question 12

Where is the auditory cortex located?

Answer 12

the temporal lobe

Question 13

Where is the Broca’s area located?

Answer 13

the frontal lobe

Question 14

Where is the Wernicke’s area located?

Answer 14

the temporal lobe

Question 15

What are the lateralised regions of the brain?

Answer 15

the Brocas area

Wernicke’s area

Question 16

What are the localised regions of the brain?

Answer 16

auditory cortex
somatosensory cortex
visual cortex
motor cortex

Question 17

What is the primary motor cortex reponsible for?

Answer 17

the generation of voluntary motor movements (i.e. sends neural messages to muscles via CNS.

Located in the frontal lobe

Question 18

What hemispheres contain the motor cortex?

Answer 18

both hemispheres and the process of motor movements is contralateral

Question 19

What does contralateral mean?

Answer 19

relating to the side of the body opposite to that on which a particular structure or condition occurs

the let hemisphere motor cortex controls movements in the right side of the body and vice versa

Question 20

What would happen if an individual with an contraleral organised brain had a stroke?

Answer 20

damage to one side of the brain in this area will affect the control of movement on the opposite side of the body

Question 21

what does it mean to be symptomatically organised?

Answer 21

point to point correspondence of an area of the body to a speciifc point on the CNS

each part of the body is controlled by a particular part of the motor corex

Question 22

What does the primary somatosensory cortex do and where is it located?

Answer 22

detects sensory events arising from receptors in the different areas of the body.

located in the parietal lobe

Question 23

What does the (secondary) somatosensory cortex do?

Answer 23

uses sensory information from the skin to produce sensations of touch, pressure, pain and temperature, which it then localizes to specific body regions.

Question 24

What hemisphere has the somatosensory cortex?

Answer 24

both hemispheres, with the cortex on one side of the brain receiving sensory information from the opposite side of the body.

This means that, like the primary motor cortex, it is contralateral

Question 25

How is the somatosensory cortex organised?

Answer 25

somatotopically organised meaning different parts of the somatosensory cortex deals with different parts of the body

Question 26

Where is the primary visual centre located?

Answer 26

in the visual cortex in the occipital lobe of the brain

Question 27

How does the primary visual centre produce images in the eyes?

Answer 27

visual processing begins in the retina where light enters and strikes the photo receptors. Nerve impulses from the retina are then transmitted to the brain via optic nerve for further interpretation

Question 28

What hemisphere does the primary visual centre located in?

Answer 28

both hemisphere’s, where the right hemisphere receiving its input from the left-hand side of the visual field and vice versa.

This means it is largely contralateral

Question 29

What happens if the primary visual centre is damaged?

Answer 29

can cause a loss of vision (cortical blindness) but visual perception also requires additional input from neighboring cortical areas and damage to these areas can lead to loss of specific areas of visual perception (i.e. prosopagnosia)

Question 30

What is prosopagnosia?

Answer 30

loss of ability to recognize familiar faces or identify faces at all

Question 31

Where is the auditory cortex located?

Answer 31

in the temporal lobes

Question 32

What hemisphere is the auditory cortex in?

Answer 32

both hemispheres meaning the auditory process is contralateral with information from the right ear travelling primarily to the left and vice versa

Question 33

How does the auditory cortex produce sound?

Answer 33

the auditory pathways begin in the cochlea in the inner ear where sound waves are converted to nerve impulses.

These travel to the brain stem where a basic decoding takes place before moving on to the thalamus and then finally the auditory cortex where the sound is recognized and interpreted

Question 34

What happens if the auditory cortex is damaged?

Answer 34

produces difficulties in processing and understanding sounds rather than total deafness (i.e. inability to perceive a certain pitch)