AO3 - Localisation of Function

• Research to support localisation of function in the brain was by Broca. He reported the case study of man who lost the ability to speak, except for one word ‘Tan’, even though he could understand language. Post mortems showed damage in one area in the left hemisphere, which is now named Broca’s area. This shows that language production is localised to one specific brain area as the theory predicts.
• Research to contradict localisation of function comes from a case study on patient EB. EB suffered from brain damage that resulted in the removal of his left hemisphere and therefore his language centres. Despite this, after some time EB managed to regain some of his language ability that would not be possible if the language centres were completely localised to the left hemisphere. This demonstrates that language must be in more areas than just the left hemisphere suggesting a holistic explanation of brain functioning is more appropriate than localisation of function/language centres.
• Furthermore, both case studies lack population validity. It may not be appropriate to generalise the findings on the localisation of function to the typical population, as these are unique case studies where brain damage may have affected the way in which the brain functions and some individuals may be able to process language in other areas of the brain