Localisation of Function in the Brain

Question 1

Outline the Motor Cortex

Answer 1

• Location: Frontal lobe of both hemispheres
• Function: Voluntary motor movements (different areas of motor cortex controls different areas of body)
• Impairment if damaged: Impaired movement or paralysis in different areas of body depending on different areas of motor cortex

Question 2

Outline the Somatosensory cortex

Answer 2

• Location: Parietal lobe of both hemispheres
• Function: Processing touch sensations (different areas of somatosensory cortex process touch senses in different areas of body)
• Impairment if damaged: Impaired touch sensations (reduced sensitivity of pain) in different areas of body depending on different areas of somatosensory cortex

Question 3

Outline Broca’s area

Answer 3

• Location: Frontal lobe of left hemisphere
• Function: Speech production
• Impairment if damaged: Broca’s aphasia (talks in short sentences which take great effort, lacks fluency and difficulty in producing words)

Question 4

Outline Wernicke’s area

Answer 4

• Location: Temporal lobe of left hemisphere
• Function: Speech comprehension
• Impairment if damaged: Wernicke’s aphasia (produces fluent speech that lacks understanding and so makes little sense)

Question 5

Outline Auditory cortex

Answer 5

• Location: Temporal lobe both hemispheres
• Function: Processes auditory information
• Impairment if damaged: Can’t hear at all if auditory cortex in both hemispheres are damaged, if secondary auditory area is damaged then there will be difficulties in locating sound

Question 6

Outline Visual cortex

Answer 6

• Location: Occipital lobe of both hemispheres
• Function: Processes visual information
• Impairment if damaged: Impaired visual perception or blindness. Could result in impaired perception of smooth motion

Question 7

What is one strength of localisation of function in the brain?

Answer 7

• Research has received supporting evidence
• Broca’s post-mortem examination found damage to Broca’s area on a patient who had speech production difficulties
• Wernicke’s post-mortem examination found damage to Wernicke’s area on a patient who had speech comprehension difficulties
• Localised to those areas and adds credibility

Question 8

What is one limitation of localisation of function in the brain

Answer 8

• Post-mortem examinations are unable to establish cause and effect
• Damage of brain may be due to natural decay after death
• Symptoms observed when patient was alive may be unrelated to damage observed during post-mortem examination (e.g Speech production and Broca’s area)
• Questions credibility

Question 9

What is another strength of localisation of function in the brain

Answer 9

• More recent research involving brain scanning through FMRI found Broca’s area to be highly active during speech production, and Wernicke’s area highly active during speech comprehension tasks.
• Supports post-mortem examinations and adds credibility to findings

Question 10

What is another limitation of localisation of function in the brain

Answer 10

• Received opposing evidence
• Patient with speech production difficulties was able to restore it in another brain area in the right hemisphere
• Suggests that some areas may be more dominant for functions but not specialised for it
• Other brain areas has the ability to take over those functions once dominant area becomes damaged
• Questions credibility

Question 11

What is the final limitation of localisation of function in the brain

Answer 11

• Too reductionist (complex things explained too simple)
• Research found making lesions to specific ares of a rats brain didn’t impair their ability to solve a maze (only did when there was widespread damage)
• Suggests higher-cognitive processes such as learning involves multiple areas of brain
• Psychologists argued its better to investigate how brain areas communicate rather than individual brain areas in isolation
• Questions credibility as brain areas must interact with one another to perform a function