Localisation of function

• Localisation of function is the idea that certain functions (e.g. language, memory, etc.) have certain locations or areas within the brain.
• Localisation of brain function has been supported by recent neuroimaging studies and some early case studies like Phineas Gage.
• Although Gage survived his accident, he did experience a change in personality, such as loss of inhibition and anger.
• Phineas Gage, who in 1848 while working on a rail line, experienced a drastic accident in which a piece of iron went through his skull.
• The change in Phineas Gage provided evidence to support the theory of localisation of brain function.
• There are four key areas in the brain for functioning; motor cortex, somatosensory cortex, visual cortex and the auditory cortex.
• The motor area is located in the frontal lobe and is responsible for voluntary movements by sending signals to the muscles in the body.
• The somatosensory area is located in the parietal lobe and receives incoming sensory information from the skin to produce sensations related to pressure, pain and temperature.
• Different parts of the somatosensory area receive messages from different locations of the body.
• At the back of the brain, in the occipital lobe is the visual area, which receives and processes visual information.
• Information from the right-hand side visual field is processed in the left hemisphere, and information from the left-hand side visual field is processed in the right hemisphere.
• The brain is contralateral
• The visual area contains different parts that process different types of information including colour, shape or movement.
• The auditory area is located in the temporal lobe and is responsible for analysing and processing acoustic information
• The primary auditory area is involved in processing simple features of sound, including volume, tempo and pitch.
• Lashley (1950) challenged the idea of brain lateralisation suggesting the brain works more holistically.
• Lashley (1950) removed parts of the brain of rats to see the effects on learning a maze. The brain required several parts of the cortex to function not just one.