The brain

• What is localisation of function?


  The idea that certain functions have certain locations and areas in the brain
• What is Broca's area?


  A part of the left hemisphere that is responsible for speech production
• What is the visual cortex?


  Part of the brain responsible for processing visual information
• What is the somatosensory cortex?


  A part of the brain that process information on detail such as touch, pain and temperature
• What is the motor cortex?


  A part of the brain that controls voluntary movement
• What does the left hemisphere control?


  Language, logic, analysis and problem solving skills
• What does the right hemisphere control?


  Creativity, intuition, spatial awareness, and emotions
• How do the two hemispheres communicate with each other?

  Through the corpus callosum
• How does the split brain study on epilepsy pps show the need for a corpus callosum?

  After having their corpus callosum severed, pps couldn't do the visual tasks on the left side as the information could travel to the right hemisphere
• What is plasticity of the brain?


  Argues that when the brain is injured it has the ability to alter its structure and function to accommodate to the change
• How do neural pathways work?


  Information taken into pathways via the brain causes new neural pathways to be made but when information isn't passed through them these neural pathways become weaker
• What study supports the view of plasticity of the brain and neural pathways?

  Maguire's taxi driver hippocampus study
• What does functional recovery argue?


  That plasticity can allow for functional recovery to occur after damage to the brain has occurred
• What is neural unmasking?


  The argument that by increasing the input of synapses previously dormant connections and open up and compensate for the damages part of the brain
• What study supports neural unmasking?

  The CIMT study with pps who suffered from brain injuries as a result of stroke damage
• What were the results of the CIMT study?


  When getting the pps to play a game that required them to attempt saying words it lead to their damaged areas becoming functional
• What are STEM cells in terms of functional recovery?


  These are unspecialised cells that can rise to different cell types to carry out their functions and replace dead/dying cells
• What are fMRI's?


  A way to study the brain using 3D scans to provide structural and functional information
• How do fMRI's work?

  Patients are asked to complete a simple task to measure the oxygen in their brain
• What study supports fMRI's?

  Shegrill studied the brain activity in schizophrenia patients when receiving hallucinations
• What are EEG's


  A way of studying the brain by showing the electrical activity in the brain
• How are EEG's done?

  Electrodes are placed on the scalp of pps and waves are recorded over time usually in sleep
• What are ERP's?


  They look at how EEG wave patterns change in certain stimulus responses
• What are post-mortem exams?

  Occurs after pps has died where they are dissected and it allows for the internal structure of the brain to be studied