AO3 - localisation of function

• Peterson et al study


  1988
• Peterson et al study

  1. Used brain scans to show activity in Wernicke's area during a listening task

  2. Used brain scans to show activity in Broca's area during a reading task

  3. Suggesting these areas have different functions
• Tulving et al study on long term memory


  1994
• Tulving et al study


  • Revealed semantic and episodic memories are located in different parts of the frontal cortex
• There are now sophisticated and objective methods for measuring brain activity, providing sound scientific evidence of brain localisation
• Surgical removal or destruction of brain areas to control behaviour developed by Walter Freeman


  1950s
• Freeman's earlier attempts were brutal and imprecise
• Dougherty et al study on 44 OCD patients who had lesioning of their cingulate gyrus

  2002
• Dougherty et al study

  • At 32-week follow-up, 1/3 met criteria for successful response, 14% for partial response
  • Suggests serious mental disorders are localised
• Unique cases of neurological damage support the idea of brain localisation
• Phineas Gage case study

  • Received serious brain trauma in accident
  • Survived but damage affected his personality, going from calm to quick-tempered and rude
  • Changes suggest frontal lobe may regulate mood
• Lasley's work


  1950
• Lasley's work

  • Removing 10-50% of rat cortex had no effect on ability to learn maze
  • Suggests learning is too complex to be localised and involves the whole brain