AO3

• One strength of localisation of function is that it is supported by research evidence. For example, studies of aphasics show that difficulties in language production are associated with damage to Broca's area, while difficulties in language comprehension are associated with damage to Wernickes area.
• However, one weakness of localisation of function is that there are individual differences in language areas. For example, Harasty et al. found that women have proportionally larger Broca's and Wernicke's areas than men, which might be a result of women's greater use of language.
• A second weakness of localisation of function is that language production is not confined to Broca's area. Research shows that in two of Broca's patients, other areas were damaged, not just Broca's area, suggesting that lan guage involves networks of brain regions rather than a few specific areas.
• A third weakness of localisation of function comes from equipotentiality theory. This claims that,while some functions are localised (e.g. basic motor and sensory functions), others are not. This means that if a brain area was damaged, then other intact areas of the cortex could take over its function
• A final weakness of localisation of function is that communication may be more important than localisation. For example, if the connecting neurons between different brain areas are damaged, this can result in a loss of function. This suggests that complex behaviours involve impulses being passed around the brain through a network of neurons