Chapter 1 Flashcards
What was the frontal lobotomy meant to treat
What was the frontal lobotomy meant to treat
Psychosis, depression and anxiety
What was the split brain surgery? (method, why did they do it?
What was the split brain surgery? (method, why did they do it?
Method: cutting the corpus callosum (bundle of fibres that connect the right and left side of cerebral cortex)
Why did they do it: treat seizure disorder (epilepsy)
What are cerebral hemispheres critical for?
What are cerebral hemispheres critical for?
Our ability to consciously process sensory info and consciously move our body in space.
What does the left brain control?
What does the left brain control?
Right half of body
What is the corpus callosum and what does it do?
What is the corpus callosum and what does it do?
Bundle of fibres that interconnect the two cerebral hemispheres
It enables the two hemispheres to share info so each side knows what the other side is perceiving and doing
What does cutting the corpus callosum do?
What does cutting the corpus callosum do?
It makes it so the two cerebral hemispheres cannot talk to each other
What was peculiar about the split brain surgery patients?
What was peculiar about the split brain surgery patients?
Their left hand had a mind of its own sometimes
Studies on split brain surgery patients
Studies on split brain surgery patients
Touch:
Vision:
Touch: a split brain patient cannot identify a familiar but unidentified object out loud.
Vision: when an image is shown in their left visual field only, they cannot verbalize what they have seen
How did the split brain patients tend to compensate with their deficits?
How did the split brain patients tend to compensate with their deficits?
One hemisphere took the lead in controlling behaviour in a situation dependant manner, and well practiced bimanual skills could be coordinated by subcortical structures.
Where is language ability located?
Where is language ability located?
Generally in the left cerebral hemisphere
What can the right hemisphere do in regards to language?
What can the right hemisphere do in regards to language?
The right hemisphere can understand simple questions that are directed to the right cerebral cortex & they could use their left brain to indicate answers to simple questions
What would split brain patients do when they had done an action initiate
What would split brain patients do when they had done an action initiated by the right hemisphere?
The left brain would come up with explanations for actions the right brain instigated.
Gazzinga’s interpreter theory
Our behaviour is controlled by unconscious processes & the consciousness of our left brain simply creates narratives in an attempt to make sense of the world.
What’s the underlying premise of Gazziniga’s interpreter theory?
Free will is an illusion and consciousness is storytelling & since storytelling relies on language, consciousness must only be in left cerebral hemisphere of the brain.
What is Descartes’s famous line in regards to being conscious? What does it mean?
I think, therefore I am: the act of thinking proves an immaterial world exists.
