Localisation of function in the brain

    Cards (10)

    • Evidence from neurosurgery
      A cingulotomy involves isolating a region called the cingulate gyrus which has been implicated in OCD. Dougherty reported on 44 people with OCD who had undergone a cingulotomy. At a post surgical follow up after 32 weeks, about 30% had met the criteria for a successful response to the surgery and 14% for a partial response, suggesting that behaviour is localised.
    • Evidence from brain scans
      Petersen et al. used brain scans to demonstrate how Wernicke's area was active during a listening task and Broca's area active during a reading task. Confirms localised areas for everyday behaviours.
    • Counter to Evidence from brain scans
      Lashley removed areas of the cortex in rats that were learning the route through a maze. No area was proven to be more important than any other area in terms of the rats' ability to learn the route. The process of learning seemed to require every part of the cortex rather than being confined to a particular area.
    • Case study evidence

      Phineas Gage survived a railway accident leading to a tamping iron damaging his left frontal cortex. This supports localisation because prior to the accident people described Phineas as a pleasant man however, they noticed a change in his behaviour after. They described him as rude and quick tempered. Therefore this suggests the left frontal cortex is responsible for personality and damage to this area can lead to a change in a person’s behaviour. it can be concluded that different parts of the brain have different functions. 
    • Frontal lobe
      • Motor area controls voluntary movements in the opposite side of the body
      • Damage to this are of the brain may result in the loss of control over fine movements.
    • Parietal lobe
      • Somatosensory area is where sensory information from the skin is represented
    • Occipital lobe
      • Visual area where each eye sends information from the right visual field to the left visual cortex and vice versa.
      • Damage to the left hemisphere can produce blindness in part of the right visual field of both eyes
    • Temporal lobe
      • Auditory area analyses speech based information
      • Damage may produce partial hearing loss.The more extensive the damage, the more extensive the loss
    • Broca's area
      • Located in the left frontal lobe
      • Responsible for speech production
      • Damage to the area is called Broca's aphasia and it is characterised by slow, laborious speech.
    • Wernicke's area
      • Located in the left temporal lobe
      • Responsible for language comprehension
      • Damage to this area called Wernicke's aphasia and characterised by difficulty comprehending language
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