LOCALISATION OF FUNCTIONS

PARTS OF THE CEREBRAL CORTEX
1. FRONTAL LOBE: awareness of what we are doing, conscience and conciousness
2. BROCA'S AREA: converts thought into speech
3. PARIETAL LOBE: sensory and motor movements
4. WERNICKE'S AREA: understanding speech and producing speech that makes sense
5. OCCIPITAL LOBE: location for vision
6. CEREBELLUM: stores repetitive memory
7. BRAIN STEM: connects the brain to the rest of the body
8. TEMPORAL LOBE: auditory ability and memory aquisition
PARTS OF THE LIMBIC SYSTEM
1. HYPOTHALAMUS: regulates bio-rhythms
2. THALAMUS: registers pain, relays messages to and from the cerebellum
3. AMYGDALA: registers emotion
4. HIPPOCAMPUS: crucial in laying down memories
KEY TERMS
1. LOCALISATION: specific functions/processes occurring in certain parts of the brain
2. LATERALISATION: the dominance of one hemisphere over the other for specific functions
  1. LEFT HEMISPHERE
    1. Logic
    2. Language
    3. Science
    4. Maths
    5. Analytic thought
  2. RiGHT HEMISPHERE
    1. Holistic thought
    2. Intuition
    3. Creativity
FRANZ GALL
1. PHRENOLOGY: the detailed study of the shape and size of the cranium as a supposed indication of character and mental abilities
2. Gall manually searched for lumps on the brain, and then made inferences about their personality, intelligence and tendency towards murder
3. CRITICISMS
  1. Not accurate
  2. Uncomfortable for the patient
  3. Some were incorrectly imprisoned due to his conclusions
PATIENT TAN
1. Named this because the only word he could say was 'tan'
2. Following his death, a post-mortem autopsy showed damage to the Broca's Area, the part responsible for forming coherent speech
3. Effects of damage similar to this area has also been observed in the speech of stroke victims
4. Temporary or permanent loss of speech is called Broca's Aphasia
PHINEAS GAGE
1. A railroad worker who suffered a personality change after an iron rod shot through his brain
2. The iron rod went through his frontal lobe
3. FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIOSN
  1. This shows a link between the frontal lobe and social and emotional reasoning
  2. Provides evidence for localisation
4. CRITICISMS
  1. Since it's a unique case, it can't really be generalised
  2. Quasi-experiment, no control over the IV
5. STRENGTHS
  1. Takes advantage of a unique case
SPERRY
1. 11 people who'd had their corpus callosum cut (to cure epilepsy) were compared to people with intact brains
2. Standardised procedure using specialised equipment, in which participants were asked to perform a range of tasks
3. CONTROLS
  1. Blindfolding participants, so that only one eye was able to receive information
  2. Asking each of them to stare at a dot at the centre of the screen
  3. The image was flashed on the left and the right of the dot for one-tenth of a second
4. FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS
  1. Support for the theory of lateralisation
  2. Left hemisphere is responsible for language, right brain for creativity
5. STRENGTHS
  1. High level of control, therefore produced an extremely detailed case-study
6. CRITICISMS
  1. Small sample (and an a-typical sample), so it can't be entirely generalised
  2. Confounding variable - are the differences due to the split-brain or epilepsy?
  3. Low ecological validity, as the findings would be unlikely to occur in real life situations
  4. Quasi-experiment, no control over IV
RAINE
1. 41 NGRI people and a matched sample were injected with the tracer for a PET scan, and then had to perform a continuous task for 32 minutes
2. FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS
  1. Murderers had more activity in the occipital lobe, and less activity in the prefrontal and parietal lobes
  2. Abnormal asymmetries amongst the murderers; the right side of the amygdala and hippocampus was more active than the left side
  3. Supports the view that brain structure affects the production and management of violence and aggression
3. STRENGTHS
  1. Carefully controlled laboratory environment, so confounding variables were eliminated
4. CRITICISMS
  1. Problems with PET scans
    1. New and experimental
    2. Scans show areas of activity, but not what type of activity is going on
  2. Doesn't take environmental factors into account
  3. Very specific sample, so we should be cautious when generalising
MAGUIRE
1. 16 male drivers matched with controls, and an each participant underwent an MRI scan
2. CONTROLS
  1. Same scanner used for all participants
  2. Person counting pixels didn't know if whose scan was whose (eliminates bias)
  3. Hippocampal volume calculated to include adjustments for brain size, so results could be compared
3. FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS
  1. Taxi drivers have a larger grey matter volume in their posterior right hippocampus
  2. Significant positive correlation between driving experience and grey matter volume, proving Maguire's hypothesis
4. STRENGTHS
  1. MRI scans are safe for the participants
  2. Quantitative data, so there's no bias
  3. Unique case, so sample size is acceptable
5. CRITICISMS
  1. Not a represent- ative sample
  2. IV has not been manipulated, so it is hard to control extraneous variables

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