Neuropsychology Exam 1 questions with verified
answers
What is trephination or trepanning, why is it done? Ans✓✓-Trephination/
Trepanning is the scraping of the skull in order to make a hole, so that pressure in
the brain can be relieved. We know people did not die because there is healing
around the holes
What cultures was it known in? What do we know about the 'theory' cultures
used to justify trepanning? Ans✓✓-- Some people also believe the holes were
made to release toxins and evil spirits from the mind
- This was not uncommon and was found in Europe, South Africa, Asia
What were the two theories about the structure where behavior originates?
Ans✓✓-Cardiac Hypothesis- Aristotle
Brain Hypothesis- Hippocrates/ Galen
What theory was held by Hippocrates? Ans✓✓-Brain Hypothesis- Hippocrates/
Galen
-Galen and Hippocrates believe behavior comes from the brain
-Why?
· Hippocrates→ When the head is injured, the other side of the body stops
behaving (cannot move)
· Galen→ Wrote immense amounts of info on how the brain is responsible for
emotions. Galen was a surgeon to gladiators and he saw many head injuries. Brain
damage impairs functioning and sense nerves from the eyes and ears go to the
brain.
,· Additionally, pressing on the brain causes death, but pressing on the heart does
not. This directly means that the brain controls behavior because behavior stops
when brain is pressed on.
What theory was held by Aristotle? Ans✓✓-Cardiac Hypothesis- Aristotle
-Aristotle believes behavior comes from the heart
-Why?
· The heart is red and warm and the brain is grey and cool so emotions that create
behavior cannot come from there
· Ex. Emotions like love can only come from places that are warm like the heart
What did humor theory and ventricular theory aim to explain? Ans✓✓-Aimed to
explain where behavior originates (ancient and medieval times)
Humor Theory Ans✓✓-Humor Theory: Blood, yellow bile, black bile, phlegm
· If they are in balance, then you are healthy, but if not, you are unhealthy
· Too much yellow bile: Produces aggression
· Too much black bile: Melancholic (sadness)
· Too much blood: Sanguine (optimistic/ positive)
· Too much phlegm: Phlegmatic (calm disposition)
·Galen and Hippocrates held this theory
Ventricular Theory Ans✓✓-Ventricular Theory: Aristotle's views of faculty and
sticks them in the ventricles- there are 3 ventricles, the first ventricle is common
sense, the second ventricle is judging and decisions, the third ventricle is memory.
,The cardiac hypothesis concerns __________, the humor theory concerns
__________ Ans✓✓-STRUCTURE, FUNCTION
What was Galen's knowledge of anatomy based on? How did Andreas Vesalius
improve upon this, how was he able to do so? Ans✓✓-o Galen's knowledge of
anatomy was based on the fact that he performed brain surgery on gladiators
when they were injured
oVesalius: Got permission to get dead bodies of criminals from the church to
study anatomy
What is phrenology and its relation to localization of function? Ans✓✓-
Phrenology: Looked at the bumps on a person's head and where they are to tell
whether they were good at something or not or what their personality/ character
was
Who were the first two men famous for holding to localization of function in its
weird variation? Ans✓✓-Option A (weird variation) of localization of function was
completely made up: Says that the fact that the faculty of memorization comes
from the part of the brain that is behind the eyes (Franz Joseph Gall and Johann
Casper Spurzheim)
Who were famous for bringing evidence for localization of function in its non-
weird variation? Ans✓✓-Non-weird Variation: Broca and Wernicke localization of
function
§ The ability to speak is located in the front of the brain and Broca's patient had a
brain injury to the point where he could only say one word. Broca found that
there was major damage to areas 45 and 46 in the brain which are now called
Broca's area.
§ Wernicke's area (22) is also involved in language
, What is equipotentiality? What led Flourens to hold the view of equipotentiality
of function in the brain? Ans✓✓-Equipotentiality: The apparent capacity of any
intact part of a functional brain to carry out the memory functions which are lost
by the destruction of other parts
o Flourens had animals he experimented on and when he made damage to their
brains, they seemed to recover. Other parts of the brain began to compensate for
damaged areas unless they were damaged bad enough.
What is mass action and what led Karl Lashley to hold the mass action view of
function in the brain? Ans✓✓-Mass Action: The proportion of the brain that is
injured is directly proportional to the decreased ability of memory functions. In
other words, memory cannot be localized to a single cortical area, but is instead
distributed throughout the cortex.
o Lashley wanted to find where memory was located in the brain and found that
many areas of the brain are responsible for memory
What view did Hughlings Jackson propound w.r.t the organization of the nervous
system? Ans✓✓-Hierarchy of Organization: Lower- level functioning is
responsible for middle- level functioning and middle- level functioning is
responsible for higher- level. Person cannot function without the lower levels or
higher levels in the brain.
What was Luria's view on the organization of the nervous system? Ans✓✓-The
Synthesis of Localization of Function with Equipotentiality: There are 3 units: Unit
1 keeps you alive and makes your heart beat, makes your lungs function. Unit 2 is
the parts of the brain that collect information from the outside world and
integrate it. Unit 3 uses the integrated information to act/ behave. Equipotential
because if you damage certain parts in Unit 1, Unit 2 will take over, and so on.
answers
What is trephination or trepanning, why is it done? Ans✓✓-Trephination/
Trepanning is the scraping of the skull in order to make a hole, so that pressure in
the brain can be relieved. We know people did not die because there is healing
around the holes
What cultures was it known in? What do we know about the 'theory' cultures
used to justify trepanning? Ans✓✓-- Some people also believe the holes were
made to release toxins and evil spirits from the mind
- This was not uncommon and was found in Europe, South Africa, Asia
What were the two theories about the structure where behavior originates?
Ans✓✓-Cardiac Hypothesis- Aristotle
Brain Hypothesis- Hippocrates/ Galen
What theory was held by Hippocrates? Ans✓✓-Brain Hypothesis- Hippocrates/
Galen
-Galen and Hippocrates believe behavior comes from the brain
-Why?
· Hippocrates→ When the head is injured, the other side of the body stops
behaving (cannot move)
· Galen→ Wrote immense amounts of info on how the brain is responsible for
emotions. Galen was a surgeon to gladiators and he saw many head injuries. Brain
damage impairs functioning and sense nerves from the eyes and ears go to the
brain.
,· Additionally, pressing on the brain causes death, but pressing on the heart does
not. This directly means that the brain controls behavior because behavior stops
when brain is pressed on.
What theory was held by Aristotle? Ans✓✓-Cardiac Hypothesis- Aristotle
-Aristotle believes behavior comes from the heart
-Why?
· The heart is red and warm and the brain is grey and cool so emotions that create
behavior cannot come from there
· Ex. Emotions like love can only come from places that are warm like the heart
What did humor theory and ventricular theory aim to explain? Ans✓✓-Aimed to
explain where behavior originates (ancient and medieval times)
Humor Theory Ans✓✓-Humor Theory: Blood, yellow bile, black bile, phlegm
· If they are in balance, then you are healthy, but if not, you are unhealthy
· Too much yellow bile: Produces aggression
· Too much black bile: Melancholic (sadness)
· Too much blood: Sanguine (optimistic/ positive)
· Too much phlegm: Phlegmatic (calm disposition)
·Galen and Hippocrates held this theory
Ventricular Theory Ans✓✓-Ventricular Theory: Aristotle's views of faculty and
sticks them in the ventricles- there are 3 ventricles, the first ventricle is common
sense, the second ventricle is judging and decisions, the third ventricle is memory.
,The cardiac hypothesis concerns __________, the humor theory concerns
__________ Ans✓✓-STRUCTURE, FUNCTION
What was Galen's knowledge of anatomy based on? How did Andreas Vesalius
improve upon this, how was he able to do so? Ans✓✓-o Galen's knowledge of
anatomy was based on the fact that he performed brain surgery on gladiators
when they were injured
oVesalius: Got permission to get dead bodies of criminals from the church to
study anatomy
What is phrenology and its relation to localization of function? Ans✓✓-
Phrenology: Looked at the bumps on a person's head and where they are to tell
whether they were good at something or not or what their personality/ character
was
Who were the first two men famous for holding to localization of function in its
weird variation? Ans✓✓-Option A (weird variation) of localization of function was
completely made up: Says that the fact that the faculty of memorization comes
from the part of the brain that is behind the eyes (Franz Joseph Gall and Johann
Casper Spurzheim)
Who were famous for bringing evidence for localization of function in its non-
weird variation? Ans✓✓-Non-weird Variation: Broca and Wernicke localization of
function
§ The ability to speak is located in the front of the brain and Broca's patient had a
brain injury to the point where he could only say one word. Broca found that
there was major damage to areas 45 and 46 in the brain which are now called
Broca's area.
§ Wernicke's area (22) is also involved in language
, What is equipotentiality? What led Flourens to hold the view of equipotentiality
of function in the brain? Ans✓✓-Equipotentiality: The apparent capacity of any
intact part of a functional brain to carry out the memory functions which are lost
by the destruction of other parts
o Flourens had animals he experimented on and when he made damage to their
brains, they seemed to recover. Other parts of the brain began to compensate for
damaged areas unless they were damaged bad enough.
What is mass action and what led Karl Lashley to hold the mass action view of
function in the brain? Ans✓✓-Mass Action: The proportion of the brain that is
injured is directly proportional to the decreased ability of memory functions. In
other words, memory cannot be localized to a single cortical area, but is instead
distributed throughout the cortex.
o Lashley wanted to find where memory was located in the brain and found that
many areas of the brain are responsible for memory
What view did Hughlings Jackson propound w.r.t the organization of the nervous
system? Ans✓✓-Hierarchy of Organization: Lower- level functioning is
responsible for middle- level functioning and middle- level functioning is
responsible for higher- level. Person cannot function without the lower levels or
higher levels in the brain.
What was Luria's view on the organization of the nervous system? Ans✓✓-The
Synthesis of Localization of Function with Equipotentiality: There are 3 units: Unit
1 keeps you alive and makes your heart beat, makes your lungs function. Unit 2 is
the parts of the brain that collect information from the outside world and
integrate it. Unit 3 uses the integrated information to act/ behave. Equipotential
because if you damage certain parts in Unit 1, Unit 2 will take over, and so on.
