Brain localisation and Hemispheric Lateralisation

• Localisation of Function - certain brain functions have certain locations within the brain eg. language, memory
• Motor Cortex - located in the frontal lobe and is responsible for voluntary movements by sending signals to the muscles in the body
• Somatosensory Cortex - located in the parietal lobe and receives incoming sensory information from the skin to produce sensations eg. pain. Different parts of the somatosensory receive information from other parts of the body
• Visual Cortex - located in the occipital lobe and receives visual information. Different parts process different types of information eg. shapes, colours
• Auditory Cortex - located in the temporal lobe, it's responsible for processing acoustic information. The primary part processes simple features such as loudness, tempo
• Broca's Area - named after Paul Broca, it is located in the left frontal lobe and processes speech production.
• Wernicke's Cortex - named after Carl Wernicke, it is located in the left temporal lobe and is responsible for language comprehension.
• Broca's Aphasia - damage to Broca's area leading to speech with small sentences being produced with great effort and often forgetting small words
• Wernicke's Aphasia - damage to Wernicke's area leading to impaired comprehension and production of speech, speaking in jumbled sentences that others can't understand
• Hemispheric Lateralisation - the idea that the brain is split into two halves, each with a different function with functional specialisation, eg. left for language, right for visual motor task
• Corpus Callosum - connects both hemispheres through nerve fibres and allows for interhemispheric communication
• Left Hemisphere:

  • Language dominant
  • Controls the right hand
  • Receives information from the Right Visual Field (RVF)
• Right Hemisphere:

  • Visual motor task dominant
  • Controls the left hand
  • Receives information from the Left Visual Field (LVF)
• Commissurotomy - Split brain patients who have had their corpus callosum cut typically to avoid epileptic seizures
• Brain Plasticity - refers to the brain's ability to change and adapt because of experience
• Synaptic Pruning - as we age, rarely used connections are deleted and frequently use connections are strengthened
• During infancy, the brain experiences rapid growth in synaptic connections, peaking at about 15,000 at ages 2-3 (Gospick, 1999)
• Functional Recovery - is the transfer of functions from a damaged area of the brain after trauma to other undamaged areas
• Neural Plasticity - healthy brain areas take over functions of areas damaged, destroyed or even missing (eg. Jodie Miller)
• Neuroscientists suggest this process occurs quickly after trauma (spontaneous recovery) and then slows down - at which point they may require rehabilitative therapy
• Neural Unmasking - where 'dominant' synapses (which aren't active) open connections to compensate for a nearby damaged area of the brain
• Brain Localisation:

  A) Parietal Lobe

  B) Frontal Lobe

  C) Temporal Lobe

  D) Occipital Lobe

  E) Motor Cortex

  F) Somatosensory Cortex

  G) Visual Cortex

  H) Auditory Cortex

  I) Broca's Area

  J) Wernicke's Area