The brain Flashcards
Basic structure
- 2 hemispheres
- ‘white matter’ -> central structure
- ‘grey matter’ -> outer structure, cerebral cortex
Holism vs localisation
- Holistic view (19th C)- all parts of the brain are utilised when processing thought and action.
- Localisation- view that different areas are responsible for the performance of different types of tasks.
Brain areas
- Frontal lobe
- Parietal lobe
- Temporal lobe
- Occipital lobe
- Spinal cord
- Cerebellum- responsible for coordinating muscle movement.
MOTOR AREA
A region of the frontal lobe involved in regulating movement.
SOMATOSENSORY AREA
An area of the parietal lobe that processes sensory information such as touch.
VISUAL AREA
A part of the occipital lobe that receives and processes visual information.
BROCA’S AREA
An area of the frontal lobe of the brain in the left hemisphere (in most people) responsible for speech production.
Damage to this causes Broca’s aphasia which is characterised by speech that is slow, laborious and lacking in fluency.
AUDITORY AREA
Located in the temporal lobe and concerned with the analysis of speech- based information.
WERNICKE’S AREA
An area of the temporal lobe (encircling the auditory cortex) in the left hemisphere (in most people) responsible for language comprehension.
Damage to this causes Wernicke’s aphasia- characterised by producing nonsense words (neologisms) in the content of their speech.
Evaluation points- localisation
- SUPPORT Brain scan evidence- Peterson et al. (1988), Wernicke’s area during listening task and Broca’s area during reading task.
- SUPPORT Neurosurgical evidence- Dougherty et al. (2002), cingulotomy gave improvement to OCD symptoms.
- CRITIQUE Neurosurgical evidence- Lashley (1950), removed 10-50% of rat’s brain cortex- still able to learn a maze.
- SUPPORT Case study evidence- Phineas Gage, lost most of left frontal lobe.
CP- survived accident, brain compensates for specific functions during recovery.
