Biopsychology-Localisation of Function

Question 1

What does localisation mean?

Answer 1

Different parts of the brain have specific responsibility for particular functions

Question 2

What was Phineas Gage’s study and what did it show?

Answer 2

Phineas Gage had a ‘spanner’ located in one of his hemispheres which an accident that caused him to become more aggressive- this showed perhaps functioning of the brain was localised and there could be a particular area that controls particular functions in the body

Question 3

How many lobes are there in the brain?

Answer 3

4-Frontal Lobe, Parietal Lobe, Temporal Lobe, Occipital Lobe

Question 4

How is the brain hemisphered?

Answer 4

There are two hemisphere; each hemisphere containing the same 4 lobes -> each hemisphere mirrors the opposite hemisphere EXCEPT BOTH LEFT HEMISPHERE BROCA’S AREA AND WERNICKE’S AREA

Question 5

Where are the lobes located in the brain?

Answer 5

Frontal Lobe-Top Left

Parietal Lobe- Top Right

Question 6

What part of the body does the left hemisphere control?

Answer 6

The right part of the body

Question 7

What part of the body does the right hemisphere control?

Answer 7

The left part of the body

Question 8

Where is the motor cortex?

Answer 8

Parietal Lobe-Next to Somatosensory cortex and just outside of frontal lobe

Question 9

What does the Motor cortex do?

Answer 9

-Responsible for voluntary motor movements

Question 10

In what way is the Motor Cortex arranged ‘logically’ to help sustain injury and what is an advantage of this?

Answer 10

The region that controls the foot is next to the region that controls the leg -> if you suffer from a stroke, you only damage small section e.g. damage toe but can still move feet preventing amputation

Question 11

What happens if the Motor cortex is damaged?

Answer 11

May result in loss of control over fine movements

Question 12

Where is the Somatosensory Cortex?

Answer 12

In the Parietal Lobe, adjacent to the Motor Cortex

Question 13

What does the Somatosensory Cortex do?

Answer 13

Deals with incoming sensory information

Question 14

How does the Somatosensory Cortex deal with this incoming sensory information?

Answer 14

Uses the sensory info from the skin to produce sensation such as touch, pressure, pain, temperature which it then localises to specific body regions

Question 15

Where is the visual cortex?

Answer 15

In the Occipital Lobe

Question 16

How does the visual cortex work?

Answer 16

-Visual processing begins in retina- nerve impulses from retina travel to areas of brain via optic nerve- each eye sends info from RVF > Left Visual Cortex and LVF > Right Visual Cortex

Question 17

Where are the Auditory Centres in the brain?

Answer 17

They are in temporal lobes on both sides of the brain

Question 18

What does the auditory centre do?

Answer 18

It gives the ability to perceive sound

Question 19

How does the auditory centre work?

Answer 19

Begins in Cochlea, sound waves are converted to nerve impulses

Question 20

What happens if the auditory centre is damaged?

Answer 20

Damage may produce partial hearing loss; the more extensive the damage, the more extensive the hearing loss

Question 21

What is a study that is against the idea that the brain is very localised in function?

Answer 21

Lashley (1950)- Experiment on rats, no matter what part of cortex removed, rats kept partial memory of maze; no area was proven to be more important than other- suggests learning is more complex than localisation and that learning requires all areas of the cortex- suggesting localisation may not be as precise as early researchers believed

Question 22

Where is the Broca’s Area located?

Answer 22

In the frontal lobe (LEFT HEMISPHERE ONLY)

Question 23

What is the Broca’s Area responsible for?

Answer 23

Responsible for speech production- clear and fluent

Question 24

What did Paul Broca find?

Answer 24

Broca’s Aphasia:

• Damage to Broca’s Area
• Led to trouble with speech productions; speech consists of very short, simple sentences however reading and writing not as affected

Question 25

Who is TAN?

Answer 25

Patient that could only say the word ‘TAN’

Question 26

What was a study conducted on TAN and what did it show?

Answer 26

Dronkers et al (2007) conducted an MRI scan on Tan’s brain to try and confirm Broca’s findings:

• Found evidence to suggest other areas may have contributed to speech production failure
• Results suggest Broca’s area may not be region responsible for speech production
• Deficits found in patients with Broca’s aphasia could be the result of damage to other neighbouring regions

Shows Broca area has major role in speech production but may not be only one > not as localised as first thought > reduces validity

Question 27

Where is the Wernicke’s Area located?

Answer 27

Located in temporal lobe (left hemisphere only)

Question 28

What does the Wernicke’s area do?

Answer 28

• Responsible for language/speech comprehension

- Vital for locating appropriate words from memory to express meaning

Question 29

What is damage to the Wernicke’s area called and what does it do?

Answer 29

Wernicke’s Aphasia

• Trouble with speech comprehension
• Can’t produce meaningful sentences, can string words together but what they say is nonsensical