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Biopsychology
Brain localisation and Hemispheric Lateralisation
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Created by
saugat shresth
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Cards (7)
Eval:
Localisation
Pros:
Case study - Patient
Tan
supporting evidence - Maguire (2000)
Cons:
Gender
differences -
women
tend to use
both
hemispheres
for
language
; men use the
left
Reductionism
- tries to confine behaviours to
specific
parts of the brain when
complex
tasks use multiple
Eval
Plasticity
&
Functional
Recovery
Pros:
Case
study support - Jodie
Miller
, ecological validity
Practical
application - Led to
neurohabilitation
, including motor therapy and electrical stimulation to aid recovery.
Cons:
Individual differences - brain plasticity varies based on
age
, education, eg, children
Correlational
, not causation - Most plasticity studies are correlational (
Maguire
)
Maguire (2000):
Procedure:
MRI
scans of
16
right handed
male
London
taxi
drivers vs
50
healthy
right
handed males
Results: increased
grey
matter in the
hippocampus
of taxi drivers
Sperry
&
Gazzaniga
(1967):
Procedures: Studied
11 split brain
patients, showing images to one
visual
field and asking them to
describe
or
draw.
Findings: The
Left
hemisphere described objects in the
RVF
, but the
right
hemisphere couldn't verbalise objects in the
LVF.
Eval:
Hemispheric lateralisation
Pros:
empirical evidence -
Sperry
&
Gazzaniga
Cons:
Gender bias - Studies suggest
women
use
both
hemispheres for
language
, while men rely more on the
left.
Case study - Sperry & Gazzaniga's small sample (
11
) limits generalisability.
Individual
differences -
lateralisation
decreases with
age
as the brain declines
Patient Tan
:
Procedure: Patient Tan could only say "
tan
" but understood speech. Broca performed a
post
mortem
on his brain.
Findings: Broca concluded Tan’s speech impairment was due to damage in
Broca's area
, responsible for language
production.
Jodie Miller
(1999):
Procedure: At
3
, Jodie had a
hemispherectomy
due to severe
epilepsy
, removing her
right
hemisphere.
Findings: Jodie’s
Left hemisphere
took over the functions of the right, including
speech
and
motor skills