Y13 Biopsychology - Localisation Of Brain Function Flashcards
What does localisation of Brian function mean?
Certain areas of the brain have particular functions.
What are the 4 lobes in each hemisphere?
Frontal lobe, Temporal lobe, Parietal lobe, Occipital lobe.
Describe the motor cortex.
- Sits at the back of the frontal lobe in both hemispheres.
- Responsible for voluntary motor movements.
- MC in the right hemisphere controls muscles on the left side of body and vice versa.
- Arranged logically (region that controls foot is next to region that control leg).
- Damage May result in loss of control over fine movements.
Describe the somatosensory cortex.
- Adjacent to motor cortex but in the parietal lobe.
- Processes sensory info.
- The amount of area devoted to a particular body part denotes its sensitivity e.g. receptors in our face and hands occupy over half of the somatosensory area.
- Cortex in one hemisphere receives sensory info from the opposite side of the body.
- Uses sensory info to produce sensations like touch pressure and pain which it then localises to specific body regions.
Name all the cortexes that reside in both hemispheres of the brain.
Motor cortex, somatosensory cortex, visual cortex, auditory cortex.
Describe the visual cortex.
- Located in the occipital lobe.
- Each eye sends info from the right visual field to the left visual cortex and vice versa. Each eye contains a left and right visual field.
NEED TO ADD MORE INFO
Describe the auditory cortex.
- In the temporal lobe.
- Deals with sound based info.
- Info begins in the cochlea (inner ear) and travels via the auditory nerve to the auditory cortex.
- Damage may produce partial or more severe hearing loss.
Evaluation - Describe the case of Phineas Gage and what it shows.
- Had a pole shit through his brain and became the first person who showed evidence of localisation of function.
- The fact he is a case study causes problems of generalisation but we cannot underestimate the insight his accident gave.
Evaluation - Describe Karl Lashley’s study and what it shows.
- Despite removing different parts of the rat’s brain the rat could still remember where Lashley taught him to get food.
- His study suggests that function is more distributed or at air functions like memory are.
- He used rats so generalisation could be questioned.
Where is Broca’s Area located and what is it responsible for?
- Located in the frontal lobe of the left hemisphere only.
- Responsible for speech production.
Where is Wernicke’s Area located and what is it responsible for?
- Located in an area of the temporal lobe (encircling the auditory cortex) in the left hemisphere only.
- Responsible for language comprehension.
How did Broca find his area of the brain and what happens if the area is effected?
- Post Morton surgery identified the small area.
- Damage to the area causes Broca’s aphasia which is characterised as speech that is slow, laborious and lacking in fluency.
- Reading and writing not as effected (can be in some cases).
- Deaf people can sometimes have difficulty signing if area effected but this depends if they were deaf from birth.
Describe Broca’s research.
- Was a French Neurosurgeon who treated a patient called “Tan” (only word he could say).
- Carried out a post morgue analysis on Tan and 8 other patients with similar language deficits and damage to back portion of the left frontal lobe led he to believe the language centre was located here.
What did Dronkers et al (2007) suggest about Broca’s area?
Some neuroscientists believe this region also contributes to other functions.
How did Wernicke find his area of the brain and what did he find out about it?
- Found the area using post mortar analysis.
- He treated patients who had no problem pronouncing language but had difficulties understanding it.
