Question Answer
What is the role of the frontal lobe? Decision making, personality, problem
solving
What is the job of the parietal Interpreting sensory information
lobe?
What is the role of the temporal lobe? Interpreting sounds, including language
What does the cerebellum do? Help with motor coordination and
balance
What does the brain stem do? Connect the brain to the spinal cord and
rest of the body
What does the amygdala do? Control emotions and the fight-or-flight
response
What does the hippocampus do? Move memories from short-term to long-
term memory
What are neurotransmitters? Chemical messengers specific to a
message which travel between neurons
over the synaptic gap
Where does an electrical impulse Down the axon
travel?
Where is the electrical impulse At the axon terminal
received?
Where do the neurotransmitters go from They go from vesicles in the axon
/ to? terminal to receptors in the dendrites
What is reuptake? Reuptake is when neurotransmitters are
'recycled' after being received in the
next neuron - they are sent back to the
previous one.
When was Damasio et al. conducted? 1994
What was the method used by A case study, an in-depth study of one
Damasio? individual, using a variety of sources.
What was Damasio's aim? To use neuroimaging to understand
where in the frontal lobe Phineas Gage
had been hit in 1848.
What did Damasio do? X-Rays on Gage's skull, made 3D
images of the skull and determined 20
possible entry points. Referenced
sources from Gage's doctors to help
, determine where the rod went through
his skull.
How many possible entry points were 20
originally found?
Where was the damage? The ventromedial (bottom-middle) area
of the frontal lobe
What remained undamaged? Motor cortices and language centres
What other piece of research reinforces Monkeys with low serotonin in the same
Damasio's conclusions? area as Gage had been struck were
found to be more aggressive than other
monkeys.
Give 3 pros of Damasio's research Treating those with similar symptoms as
Gage, as doctors will know where the
patient is injured Higher reliability as
similar results seen in monkeys with low
serotonin in the ventromedial area Uses
sources from the time, which arguably
have ecological validity
Give 3 cons of Damasio's research May be oversimplified and invalid, as
you cannot interview Phineas Gage to
develop a deeper understanding of how
his aggression linked to his injury Low
generalizability, as the injury is rare Not
objective, as aggression is subjective (it
cannot be measured on a scale without
someone disagreeing)
What functions does the left hemisphere language, logic, mathematics, right-side
have? control and controlling the right visual
field
What functions does the right Facial recognition, musical ability,
hemisphere have? intuition, left-side control
When was Sperry et al. done? 1968
What was Sperry's aim? To explore behavioural changes in
those with split corpus collosums.
How many participants were used? 11
What was done to Sperry's participants? 'Key' and 'Case' was flashed before
their left and right visual field,
respectively. People were asked to say
, what they saw. Participants put their
hands into a bag, and had to say what
they picked up in their left and right
hand, without looking A maths problem
was popped into the left visual field and
they had to solve it. A rude image was
popped into the left visual field
What happened? As the left hemisphere only controls
language and right-side control, the
participants could only say 'case'. They
could also solve basic maths problems
with their right hemisphere. They
couldn't explain why they were shocked
by the rude image.
What does splitting the corpus callosum It stops the left and right hemispheres
do? from communicating
What did Sperry conclude? Certain functions of the brain are
lateralised to one side or another
(lateralisation of function)
Give 3 pros of Sperry's research Reliable, as 11 people were used
Objective, as people either can or can't
answer a maths problem, or can or can't
say a word (no debate!) Valid, as
problems with cause-and-effect avoided
by conducting it in a controlled way (so,
for example, the maths problem was
only flashed, so that the left hemisphere
wouldn't 'see' it.) This makes it a more
accurate test of the aim
Give 3 cons of Sperry's research Not ecologically valid, as it doesn't
reflect how people use language or
motor control in the real world. Not
generalisable, as few people have split
corpus callosums, so the results cannot
be applied to others The participants
may be so impaired psychologically that
they cannot consent
What is prosopagnosia? The inability to recognise faces. The
person with it may try to use hair colour
or speech to recognise a person. Linked
to an area called the fusiform gyrus
What does 'developmental' mean? A condition was built into a person from
childhood
What does 'acquired' mean? A person got a condition after an injury
What is the role of the frontal lobe? Decision making, personality, problem
solving
What is the job of the parietal Interpreting sensory information
lobe?
What is the role of the temporal lobe? Interpreting sounds, including language
What does the cerebellum do? Help with motor coordination and
balance
What does the brain stem do? Connect the brain to the spinal cord and
rest of the body
What does the amygdala do? Control emotions and the fight-or-flight
response
What does the hippocampus do? Move memories from short-term to long-
term memory
What are neurotransmitters? Chemical messengers specific to a
message which travel between neurons
over the synaptic gap
Where does an electrical impulse Down the axon
travel?
Where is the electrical impulse At the axon terminal
received?
Where do the neurotransmitters go from They go from vesicles in the axon
/ to? terminal to receptors in the dendrites
What is reuptake? Reuptake is when neurotransmitters are
'recycled' after being received in the
next neuron - they are sent back to the
previous one.
When was Damasio et al. conducted? 1994
What was the method used by A case study, an in-depth study of one
Damasio? individual, using a variety of sources.
What was Damasio's aim? To use neuroimaging to understand
where in the frontal lobe Phineas Gage
had been hit in 1848.
What did Damasio do? X-Rays on Gage's skull, made 3D
images of the skull and determined 20
possible entry points. Referenced
sources from Gage's doctors to help
, determine where the rod went through
his skull.
How many possible entry points were 20
originally found?
Where was the damage? The ventromedial (bottom-middle) area
of the frontal lobe
What remained undamaged? Motor cortices and language centres
What other piece of research reinforces Monkeys with low serotonin in the same
Damasio's conclusions? area as Gage had been struck were
found to be more aggressive than other
monkeys.
Give 3 pros of Damasio's research Treating those with similar symptoms as
Gage, as doctors will know where the
patient is injured Higher reliability as
similar results seen in monkeys with low
serotonin in the ventromedial area Uses
sources from the time, which arguably
have ecological validity
Give 3 cons of Damasio's research May be oversimplified and invalid, as
you cannot interview Phineas Gage to
develop a deeper understanding of how
his aggression linked to his injury Low
generalizability, as the injury is rare Not
objective, as aggression is subjective (it
cannot be measured on a scale without
someone disagreeing)
What functions does the left hemisphere language, logic, mathematics, right-side
have? control and controlling the right visual
field
What functions does the right Facial recognition, musical ability,
hemisphere have? intuition, left-side control
When was Sperry et al. done? 1968
What was Sperry's aim? To explore behavioural changes in
those with split corpus collosums.
How many participants were used? 11
What was done to Sperry's participants? 'Key' and 'Case' was flashed before
their left and right visual field,
respectively. People were asked to say
, what they saw. Participants put their
hands into a bag, and had to say what
they picked up in their left and right
hand, without looking A maths problem
was popped into the left visual field and
they had to solve it. A rude image was
popped into the left visual field
What happened? As the left hemisphere only controls
language and right-side control, the
participants could only say 'case'. They
could also solve basic maths problems
with their right hemisphere. They
couldn't explain why they were shocked
by the rude image.
What does splitting the corpus callosum It stops the left and right hemispheres
do? from communicating
What did Sperry conclude? Certain functions of the brain are
lateralised to one side or another
(lateralisation of function)
Give 3 pros of Sperry's research Reliable, as 11 people were used
Objective, as people either can or can't
answer a maths problem, or can or can't
say a word (no debate!) Valid, as
problems with cause-and-effect avoided
by conducting it in a controlled way (so,
for example, the maths problem was
only flashed, so that the left hemisphere
wouldn't 'see' it.) This makes it a more
accurate test of the aim
Give 3 cons of Sperry's research Not ecologically valid, as it doesn't
reflect how people use language or
motor control in the real world. Not
generalisable, as few people have split
corpus callosums, so the results cannot
be applied to others The participants
may be so impaired psychologically that
they cannot consent
What is prosopagnosia? The inability to recognise faces. The
person with it may try to use hair colour
or speech to recognise a person. Linked
to an area called the fusiform gyrus
What does 'developmental' mean? A condition was built into a person from
childhood
What does 'acquired' mean? A person got a condition after an injury
