post mortem examinations

• involves the examination of a persons brain after death
• in psychology it is usually the brains of those who suffered from rare psychological disorders, unusual deficits in mental processes/ behaviour are subject to post mortem examinations
• areas of damage are usually studied after death as a means of establishing cause of death
• this can be done by comparing with a 'neuro-typical' brain
• Neuro-typical- typical development, no neurological, intellectual or cognitive deficits
• • Paul Broca’s (1861) post-mortem analysis of his patient ‘Tan’ was a breakthrough in terms of locating the language area of the brain in the left hemisphere
• Broca conducted a post-mortem examination on Tan’s brain and discovered that he had a lesion in the left frontal lobe
• This led Broca to conclude that this area was responsible for speech production
•  People with damage to this area experience Broca’s aphasia, which results in slow and inarticulate speech