cognitive psychology - alvaro's classroom website
TRANSCRIPT
Our Divided Brains
• Corpus collosum – large bundle of neural fibers (myelinated axons, or white matter) connecting the two hemispheres
Split Brain Patients
• Epileptic patients had corpus callosum cut to reduce seizures in the brain
• Lives largely unaffected, seizures reduced • Affected abilities related to naming objects
in the left visual field
Hemispheric Specialization
LEFT Symbolic thinking (Language) Detail Literal meaning
RIGHT
Spatial perception Overall picture Context, metaphor
Contra-lateral division of labor
• Right hemisphere controls left side of body and visual field
• Left hemisphere
controls right side of body and visual field
• Accident – Quick Recovery
• Months later: “No longer Gage” – Before: capable, efficient, best foreman, well-balanced
mind – After: extravagant, anti-social, liar, grossly profane
• Died 12 years later
Phineas Gage
The Brainstem • Brainstem:
responsible for automatic survival functions:
• Breathing • Heartbeat • Blood circulation • Swallowing • Urination
The Cerebellum
– If you injured your cerebellum you would have difficulty walking, keeping your balance, shaking hands.
Homunculus: representation of a small human being according to our brain’s Sensory and Motor Function. In other words, this is how our brain process our Sensory and Motor functions.
The Cerebral Cortex § Aphasia
§ impairment of language, usually caused by left hemisphere damage either to Broca’s area (impairing speaking) or to Wernicke’s area (impairing understanding) –see clips
§ Broca’s Area § an area of the left frontal lobe that directs the
muscle movements involved in speech § Wernicke’s Area
§ an area of the left temporal lobe involved in language comprehension and expression
Language Areas
• Broca à Expression
• Wernicke à Comprehensionand reception
• Aphasias LEFT HEMISPHERE