*Localisation Of Function Of Brain Flashcards
What did Broca and Wernicke discover in the 19th century?
Certain brain areas are associated with specific physical and psychological functions.
What was the belief about brain function before Broca and Wernicke’s findings?
It was thought that ALL parts of the brain were involved in the processing of thought and action.
What is Laterisation in the context of brain function?
Some physical/psychological functions are controlled or dominated by a particular hemisphere.
Which hemisphere of the brain is linked to language?
The left hemisphere.
What are the four lobes of the cerebral cortex?
- Frontal Lobe
- Parietal Lobe
- Occipital Lobe
- Temporal Lobe
What does the motor area of the brain control?
Voluntary movement in the opposite side of the body.
What is the somatosensory area responsible for?
Receiving sensory information from the skin (touch, heat, pressure).
What denotes the sensitivity of a body part in the somatosensory area?
The amount of the somatosensory area devoted to that body part.
What does damage to the left hemisphere cause in terms of vision?
Blindness to the Right Visual Field in BOTH eyes.
What area of the brain is responsible for analyzing speech-based information?
The auditory area located in the temporal lobes.
What is Broca’s aphasia characterized by?
Slow, laboured speech that lacks fluency.
What does Wernicke’s area in the left temporal lobe do?
Responsible for language understanding.
What is a key symptom of Wernicke’s aphasia?
Producing fluent but meaningless speech.
What mental disorder was linked to the cingulate gyrus?
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
What did Dougherty et al. find regarding cingulotomy and OCD patients?
30% met the criteria for successful response to surgery after 32 weeks.
What did Peterson et al. demonstrate using brain scans?
Wernicke’s area was active during a listening task, and Broca’s area during a reading task.
What did Buckner and Peterson review in their study?
Semantic and episodic memories are stored in different areas of the prefrontal cortex.
What was the finding of Lashley’s research on rats learning a maze?
No area proved more important than another; learning required every part of the cortex.
What percentage of modern researchers think that language is completely controlled by Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas?
Only 2%.
What has fMRI scanning revealed about language in the brain?
Language streams have been found across the whole cortex, including in the right hemisphere and subcortex.
True or False: All higher cognitive functions are localized to specific areas of the brain.
False.
