localisation of the brain

• define localisation?

  • different parts of brain perform certain tasks/functions within brain
• define cortical specialisation?

  • looking at specific areas of brain & see what physical & psychological functions they are linked to
• name the lobes in brain?

  1. frontal
  2. parietal
  3. temporal
  4. occipital

  
• motor area?

  • found at back of frontal lobe in both hemispheres
  • controls fine voluntary movements
  • different parts of motor area represent different parts of body
• visual area?

  • found at occipital lobe in both hemispheres
  • receives input directly from eyes
  • each eye sends info to opposite hemisphere of brain
  • damaged - blindness
• somatosensory area?

  • found at front of parietal lobe in both hemispheres
  • receives sensory input from receptors in skin
  • amount of sa devoted to each part of body is linked to how sensitive that body part needs to be
• auditory area?

  • found in front of temporal lobe in both hemispheres
  • receives input directly from ears
  • analyses speech based info
  • each ear sends info to opposite hemisphere of brain
  • damaged - hearing loss
• where is language processed in brain?

  • left hemisphere
• name 2 language centres

  1. brocas
  2. wernicke
• brocas area?

  • found in left frontal lobe
  • produces language
  • damaged - motor aphasia - inability to speak/ write
• wernickes area?

  • found at top of left temporal lobe
  • understanding language
  • damaged - sensory aphsia & patients say nonesense words
• 2 * of localisation?

  1. research to support from peterson
  2. evidence to support from phineas gage case study
• 2 X of localisation?

  1. contradictory evidence from lashley
  2. evidence to contradict from danelli
• * research to support from peterson?

  • scanned p brain in fmri scanner whilst they did 2 different tasks
  • one was listening & one was reading task
  • found wernickes active during listening task & brocas active during reading task
  • are 2 different areas that specialise in different aspects of lang mastery
  • empirical evidence for different areas of brain having different functions
  • brocas - speech production
  • wernickes - understanding language
• * evidence to support from phineas gage?

  • suffered brain damage after metal rod went through his head during explosion
  • made full recovery but behaviour changed
  • damaged his amygdala (frontal lobe) so became aggressive & bad tempered
  • he only had damage to one area & only thing that changed was control he had over his emotions - amygdala specialised in emotion regulation
• X contradictory evidence from lashley?

  • removed areas of brain (cortex) in rats that were learning maze
  • removed different parts of brain in all different tates
  • timed how long it took to complete maze
  • was no difference in time taken regardless of which part of brain had been removed
  • not 1 area for intelligence in brains of rats as performance was similar
  • went onto suggest equipotential theory
  • idea that when different parts of brain damaged other areas compensate & take over function
• X evidence to contradict from danelli?

  • conducted case study of boy e.b lost his left hemisphere as a child
  • recovered language abilities by 17
  • certain areas of brain not strictly localised & can adapt in response to damage - brain plasticity
  • different areas of brain can adapt & take on different functions
  • questions cortical specialisation