Localisation of Function in the Brain

Question 1

What did Wernicke and Broca discover

Answer 1

specific areas of the brain correlated to certain psychological and physical functions - contrasts with theory of brain being holistic

Question 2

What is localisation of function

Answer 2

supported by Wernicke and Broca, idea that brain will undertake different tasks and link to certain body parts

Question 3

What if area of brain is damaged

Answer 3

function of body part associated with it will also be damaged

Question 4

What is the idea of lateralisation

Answer 4

brain - divided into two hemispheres - lateralisation is when a certain function is controlled or dominated by one hemisphere

Question 5

What does the left hemisphere control

Answer 5

the right hand side of the body

Question 6

What does the right hemisphere control

Answer 6

the left hand side of the body

Question 7

What are the concentric layers of the brain

Answer 7

Central core, limbic system and cerebral cortex

Question 8

What is the central core

Answer 8

Regulates breathing, sleeping, temperature
Includes hypothalamus in mid-brain
Helps endocrine system regulate homeostasis

Question 9

What is homeostasis

Answer 9

Process by which body controls physiological state

Question 10

What is the the limbic system

Answer 10

Controls emotions
Includes hippocampus
Found around central core, connected with hypothalamus

Question 11

What is the cerebral cortex

Answer 11

Outer layer of brain - 3mm thick, grey, more developed in humans than in any other animal

Question 12

What is the corpus callous

Answer 12

a nerve bundle which enables messages to be sent from one hemisphere to another

Question 13

What are the 4 parts of the hemispheres

Answer 13

Frontal lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe, occipital lobe

Question 14

What is the motor area

Answer 14

found in frontal lobe
controls voluntary movement in opposite side of body
damage to motor area causes loss of fine motor skills

Question 15

What is the somatosensory area

Answer 15

found in parietal love
separated from motor area by central sulcus - valley
holds sensory info from skin

Question 16

What is the visual area

Answer 16

found in occipital lobe
eyes send info from right visual field to left visual area and vice versa
damage to area - blindness or loss of visual field

Question 17

What is the auditory area

Answer 17

found in temporal lobe
analyses speech-based info
damage to area - hearing loss

Question 18

Where is language confined

Answer 18

the left side of the brain, unlike other areas which control movement and sight found in both hemispheres

Question 19

What did Paul Broca discover

Answer 19

an area with frontal lobe responsible for speech production - Broca’s area
Broca - surgeon in 1880s

Question 20

Damage to Broca’s area

Answer 20

leads to Broca’s aphasia - causes slow, laborious and fluency-lacking speech

Question 21

What was Karl Wernicke studying

Answer 21

patients who had no problem producing speech, they just couldn’t understand it - speech was fluent but meaningless

Question 22

What did Wernicke discover

Answer 22

Wernicke’s area - found in left temporal love - responsible for language comprehension
Damage to area - Wernicke’s aphasia - neologisms or non-sensical words

Question 23

Brain scan evidence for localisation

Answer 23

much evidence supporting localisation of functions as opposed to them being holism
Petersen et al. (1988) - used brain scans to link different areas to different functions, Broca’s area was active during reading task and Wernicke’s area was active during listening task
Tulving et al. (1994) - discovered that episodic and semantic memories are found in different parts ion prefrontal cortex

Question 24

Neurosurgical evidence

Answer 24

Surgically removing or destroying areas of brain in an attempt to control behaviour became a practice in the 1950s
Lobotomies would take place, cutting connections in frontal lobe to control aggression
Neurosurgery is still used today but very rarely
Dougherty et al. (2002) - examined 44 OCD patients who underwent cingulotomy
1/3 of these patient responded successfully to the surgery after 32 weeks
strong suggestion that symptoms and behaviour of serious mental disorders are localised

Question 25

Case study evidence

Answer 25

Phineas Gage - 1848
a metre-long pole was propelled through Gage’s head, taking most of the left frontal lobe with it - he survived but his personality changed from being calmed and reserved to rude and quick-tempered
Suggests that frontal lobe could be responsible for regulating mood

Question 26

Lashley’s research

Answer 26

Lashley (1950) - processes involving learning and other higher functions aren’t localised
argued that they are distributed holistically
lashley removed between 10 and 50% of the cortex in rats trying to learn a maze - no area proved to be more important or damaging to their ability to learn than any other
Learning requires all parts of cortex rather than certain area - learning too complex

Question 27

Plasticity

Answer 27

cortical remapping - if brain is damaged ins one way and a particular function is weakened or lost, the brain may be able to reorganise and recover lost function - Law of Equipotentiality - suggests that rest of brain lend hand - lost action can be achieved again
Number of stroke victim cases where they have been able to recover seemingly lost abilities