Localisation Of Function In The Brain

Question 1

who discovered that specific areas of the brain were associated with particular physical and psychological functions?

Answer 1

Broca and Wernicke

Question 2

what is localisation of function?

Answer 2

different parts of the brain perform different tasks and are involved with different parts of the body

Question 3

what does localisation of function suggest about the damage to the brain?

Answer 3

if a certain area of the brain becomes damages through illness or injury, the function associated with that area is also affected

Question 4

what is the main part of the brain?

Answer 4

cerebum is divided into the two halves called the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere

Question 5

what is lateralisation?

Answer 5

our physical and psychological functions are controlled or dominated by a particular hemisphere

Question 6

what is an example of lateralisation?

Answer 6

• left side of the body is controlled by the right hemisphere
• right side of the body is controlled by the left hemisphere

Question 7

what is the outer layer of the brain called?

Answer 7

cerebral cortex

Question 8

what are the 4 lobes called?

Answer 8

• frontal
• parietal
• occiptal
• temporal

Question 9

where is the motor area located?

Answer 9

back of the frontal lobe, in both of the hemispheres

Question 10

what is the role of the motor area?

Answer 10

controls voluntary movement in the opposite side of the body

Question 11

what does damage to the motor area cause?

Answer 11

loss of control over fine movements

Question 12

where is the somatosensory area located?

Answer 12

front of both parietal lobes

Question 13

what is the somatosensory area separated from the motor area by?

Answer 13

the central sulcus

Question 14

what is the role of the somatosensory area?

Answer 14

where sensory information from the skin is represented

Question 15

the amount of somatosensory area devoted to a particular body part…

Answer 15

denotes its sensitivity

Question 16

where is the visual area located?

Answer 16

occipital lobe

Question 17

what is the role of the visual area?

Answer 17

• each eye sends information from the right visual field to the left visual cortex and from the left visual field to the right visual cortex

Question 18

what would damage to the left hemisphere cause to the visual cortex?

Answer 18

produce blindness in part of the right visual field of both eyes

Question 19

where is the auditory area located?

Answer 19

temporal lobes

Question 20

what is the role of the auditory area?

Answer 20

analyses speech-based information

Question 21

what does damage to the auditory area cause?

Answer 21

partial hearing loss
- the more extensive the damage, the more extensive the loss

Question 22

what are the language areas of the brain?

Answer 22

• Broca’s area
• Wernicke’s area

Question 23

where is Broca’s area located?

Answer 23

left frontal lobe

Question 24

what is Broca’s area responsible for?

Answer 24

speech production

Question 25

what does damage to Broca's area cause?

Answer 25

Broca's aphasia

Question 26

how is Broca's aphasia characterised?

Answer 26

- speech is slow, laborious and lacking in fluency - difficulty with prepositions and conjuctions

Question 27

who was Broca's most famous patient?

Answer 27

Tan, that was the only word he could say

Question 28

where is Wernicke's area located?

Answer 28

left temporal lobe

Question 29

what is Wernicke's area responsible for?

Answer 29

language understanding

Question 30

what does damage to Wernicke's area cause?

Answer 30

Wernicke's aphasia

Question 31

what is Wernicke's aphasia?

Answer 31

nonsense words (neologisms) as part of the content of their speech

Question 32

what are the evaluations for the localisation of function in the brain?

Answer 32

+ neurosurgical evidence supports the theory of localisation of function in the brain + brain scans support the idea that many everyday brain functions are localised theory, Karl Lashley - language may not be localised just to Broca's and Wernicke's areas

Question 33

explain the damage to areas of the brain have bee linked to mental disorder eval.

Answer 33

- neurosurgery is the last resort method to treating some mental disorders, involves the separation of certain brain areas - cingulotomy involves isolating the cingulate gyrus --> implicated in OCD - Dougherty et al: reported on 44 people who had OCD and had undergone cingulotomy, at a post surgical follow up after 32 weeks, 30% of people had a successful response to surgery and 14% had a partial response to surgery.

Question 34

explain brain scans as support for localisation eval.

Answer 34

- Peterson used brain scans to show how Wernicke's area was active during a listening task and Broca's area was active during a reading task. - review of LTM studies for Buckner and Peterson showed that episodic and semantic memories resided in the prefrontal cortex

Question 35

explain the weakness of language not being localised to just Broca's and Wernicke's area.

Answer 35

- Dick and Tremblay found that 2% of modern researchers think that language is completely controlled by Broca's area and Wernicke's area - advances in brain imaging techniques like fMRI shows that neural processes in brain can be studied with more clarity - language function is seen to be distributed more holistically than first thought - language streams identified across cortex includes RH as well as subcortical regions like the thalamus