BRAIN AND NEURO

• The temporal lobe


  • It is the side portion of each hemisphere and is located near the temples
  • It is the primary target for auditory information, so is essential for understanding spoken language
  • It is involved in advanced visual processing and plays a part in emotional and motivational behaviours
• The occipital lobe


  • It is located at the back of the brain and is the main target for visual information
• The frontal lobe


  • It is located at the front of the brain and contains the primary motor cortex and the pre-frontal cortex
  • It is mainly involved in planning of movements, recent memory, and some aspects of emotion such as aggression
  • It is said to be crucial for planning and controlling thoughts and behaviour
• The parietal lobe


  • It is located at the top of the brain between the frontal lobe and occipital lobe
  • It is responsible for bodily sensations and monitors all the information about eye, head and body positions before passing it on to the brain areas that control movement
• The cerebellum


  • It is a large hindbrain structure located below the occipital lobe
  • It contributes to the control of movement and is important for balance and coordination
• Lateralisation of function


  • Asymmetrical function: Both sides of the brain are not a mirror image of each other
  • Each hemisphere controls different functions, or plays a larger or smaller role in a particular behaviour – they are not equal in what they do
  • Each hemisphere controls the opposite side of the body
  • They are joined by a layer of fibres called the Corpus Callosum
  • The two hemispheres can communicate while still working independently
• Gender Differences in Lateralisation

  • Females have a thicker corpus callosum than males
  • Females tend to use both sides of their brains for tasks
  • Males tend to show dominance for one hemisphere rather than an equal spread
  • This means males are more affected by brain damage to one side of their brain, whereas women are less affected by the same brain damage
• Synaptic Transmission


  1. An electrical impulse is triggered inside the cell body of a neuron

  2. A small impulse is passed along axon towards the end of the nerve

  3. It arrives at the terminal buttonswhich are filled with small sacs called vesicles

  4. These contain neurotransmitters (a chemical)

  5. When the impulse reaches here, the vesicles release their chemical into the synaptic gap

  6. These chemicals are then grabbed by the receptors on the next nerve cell, which continues the process to pass the message on
• Neurotransmitters


  Chemicals released at the synapse that allow the transmission of messages between neurons
• Neurological Damage


  • Damage to the body's central and peripheral nervous system
  • Messages can be interrupted
  • Neurons might not be working
  • Normal functions of the brain not possible
  • Behaviour can be affected
• Phineas Gage was a railway line worker in 1848 who had an explosion force an iron rod through his head
• Before the accident, Phineas Gage was calm and well liked, but after the accident he became irresponsible and rude
• Phineas Gage died 12 years later from epilepsy
• Aim of Damasio et al study

  To investigate the brain damage to Phineas Gage using his skull, in order to determine functions of the frontal lobe
• Procedure of Damasio et al study

  1. Damage to both the LEFT and RIGHT hemisphere

  2. Extreme damage to the frontal lobe

  3. Damage to WHITE MATTER (neurons pass their message along)

  4. Damage was worse in the middle of each hemisphere (ventro medial region)
• Conclusion of Damasio et al study

  Ventromedial region of the frontal lobe responsible for sensible decisions
• Evaluations of Damasio et al study

  • It is hard to generalise from the study because the brain damage is so unique to Gage
  • The reports of the damage are over 150 years old, meaning they may not be reliable
  • Damasio et al were able to use modern day technology making the study quite scientific
  • The use of a computer model is more reliable than the reports from 1848
  • We can now make predictions about damage to the frontal lobes
  • We can now treat people who have similar brain damage based on what happened to Gage
  • The study is based on a real life case of brain damage so is valid
• Some patients with epilepsy did not respond well to treatment so they were offered surgery to help reduce their seizures. The surgery involved cutting down the corpus callosum to separate the two hemispheres. Patients reported very few obvious effects of the surgery.
• Aim of Sperry's study

  To find out the cognitive functions that are linked to each hemisphere in the brain
• Procedure of Sperry's study

  1. 11 patients who had undergone surgery for severe epilepsy. Nine had surgery recently whereas two had surgery some time before and had an excellent recovery

  2. Sperry asked patients to fix their eye gaze on a particular spot and then projected words or pictures for 1/10th of a second (too fast for eye movements)

  3. The participant then had to feel for a particular object (hidden amongst others) behind a screen to identify what they had apparently seen with their eyes

  4. The participants then had to say what word or picture they had seen on the screen

  5. On some occasions rather than saying the word or identifying the picture participants would be asked to point to an object

  6. They were also given an unseen object and were asked to hold it in their hand and identify it
• Strengths of Sperry's study

  • Reliability: Sperry gathered a lot of consistent information, which improves the reliability of the study
  • Reliability: The procedure was kept the same for each participant, keeping it standardised. This makes that the data was gathered in a more reliable way
  • Real world application: The study tells us a lot about the lateralisation of the brain so strategies can be put in place to support individuals with damage to one side of their brain
• Weaknesses of Sperry's study

  • Generaliability: It is hard to generalise findings from the study because the sample size is small (11) and so specific
  • Generalisability: We can't say that split brains represent normal brains. This means the findings do not necessarily represent the wider population
  • Validity: The study was a lab experiment which is an artificial setting which means it lacks ecological validity
  • Validity: Our visual fields normally work together, so we would not have these difficulties in real life. The task is not something we would naturally do and so it lacks mundane realism
• How Psychology has changed over time

  • 1848 - Phineas Gage accident contributed to understanding of the brain
  • 1875 - Psychology 'born' when Wilhelm Windt opened the first laboratory
  • 1924 - Hans Berger developed the EEG to measure brain activity
  • 1947 - Bodamer's published paper on prosopagnosia
  • 1950s - Modern brain scans like PET and MRI provide detailed pictures
  • 1968 - Sperry's ideas on lateralised function
  • 1980s - McGlone found sex differences in brain lateralisation
  • 1995 - Voyer et al found sex differences in brain lateralisation are reducing
  • 2010 - Bourne et al found sex and gender are strongly linked to lateralisation
  • 1996-97 - Choisser proposed the term 'face-blindness'