Psychology

• LOBE


  Part of the cerebral cortex
• SPECIALISM


  Localised function of each lobe
• FRONTAL LOBE


  • Higher level thinking, speech, motor control and coordinating info from all lobes
• PARIETAL LOBE


  • Receive and interpret sensory information
• OCCIPITAL LOBE


  • Receive and process visual information
• TEMPORAL LOBE


  • Process auditory information and important in memory
• Each lobe has a localised function
• The two hemispheres also have some different functions to one another
• Cerebral cortex


  The outer layer of both hemispheres, subdivided into the 4 lobes
• Somatosensory area


  • At the front of both parietal lobes, processes touch, pain, heat and pressure
  • More receptors for sensitive areas like face and hands
• Occipital Lobe


  • Visual area, contains parts that process colour, shape or movement
  • Right visual field goes to left visual cortex and vice versa
  • Damage to Area V1 results in no conscious vision
• Motor Area


  • Controls voluntary movement in the opposite side of the body
  • Different areas control specific body parts
  • Number of neurons depends on complexity of movement, not body part size
• Auditory area


  • In temporal lobes, processes speech-based information
  • Right ear info goes to left hemisphere
  • Different parts process pitch, volume and tempo
  • Damage results in partial hearing loss
• Broca's area


  • In left frontal lobe, responsible for speech production
  • Damage causes Broca's aphasia - slow, laborious speech, limited to 4 words
• Wernicke's area


  • In left posterior temporal lobe, responsible for language comprehension
  • Damage causes Wernicke's aphasia - clear but meaningless speech, severe comprehension difficulties
• Phineas Gage


  • 1848 case, frontal lobe damage changed his personality
• Leborgne


  • 1861 case, left frontal lobe damage caused inability to speak
• Steven Petersen et al (1988)


  • Brain scans showed Wernicke's area active during listening, Broca's area active during reading
• Buckner and Petersen (1996)


  • Semantic and episodic memories in different prefrontal cortex areas
• Dronkers et al (2007) found Broca's area lesion but other areas may have contributed to speech problems
• Saygib et al (2003) found Wernicke's aphasia without Wernicke's area damage
• Equipotentiality theory


  Basic functions localised but higher functions not localised
• Lashley's experiments on rats found no specific cortex area important for learning
• Plasticity/Cortical remapping


  Brain reorganises and rewires to compensate for damage
• Robertson (1995) found braille readers have larger somatosensory areas
• Herasty (1997) found women have proportionally larger Broca's and Wernicke's areas