localisation of function

• certain functions are fixed in particular regions of the brain
• visual centres

  located at back of brain - occipital lobe receives and processes visual info

  info from right visual field is processed in left hemisphere

  info from left visual field is processed in right hemisphere
• auditory centres

  located in temporal lobe - analyses acoustic info

  info from left ear goes to right hemisphere

  info from right ear goes to left hemisphere
• motor cortex

  located in frontal lobe

  responsible for voluntary movements by sending signals to the muscles in body

  regions logically arranged
• somatosensory cortex


  located in parietal lobe

  detects sensory events
• brocas area

  language production

  cognitive tasks

  located in frontal lobe of left hemisphere

  brocas patients could understand language but couldn’t speak
• wernicke’s area

  language comprehension

  located in left temporal lobe

  wernicke’s patients could speak but couldn’t understand language
• ✔️fMRI scans are used to measure the activity of the brain in response to a stimulus - whilst performing a certain task, some areas of brain have an increased level of oxygen and other regions become deoxygenated
• ✔️phineas gage study - part of brain damaged due to pole going up his eye, through his brain and out his head - personality completely changed after
• X case studies - unrepresentative and ungeneralisable - can’t rely on it too much