Biopsychology
sychologist names =Red
P
Statistics =Purple
Examples =Green
Important terminology/ information =Orange
,Biopsychology
Discuss research into localisation of the brain (16)
Discuss research into hemispheric lateralisation of the brain (16)
Discuss research into plasticity of the brain, including functional recovery (16)
Discuss ways of studying the brain (16)
Discuss research into circadian rhythms (16)
Discuss research into ultradian and infradian rhythms (16)
Discuss research into endogenous pacemakers and exogenous zeitgebers (16)
,Discuss research into localisation of the brain (16)
A01 - T he localisation theory suggests that certain areas of the brain are responsible for certain
processes, behaviours and activities.
- Motor cortex- Found in the frontal lobe, regulatingand coordinating movements.
- Auditory cortex– Found in the temporal lobe, processingauditory information and speech.
- Visual cortex- Found in the occipital lobe, receiving& processing visual information.
- Somatosensory area- Found at the front of both parietallobes. It receives information from the
skin (e.g touch, heat , pressure, pain etc) & then localises it to body areas. The amount of area
devoted to a body part is an indication of how sensitive the body part is e.g. hands and face
make up half of the somatosensory area.
A03 M
any psychologists - L ashleyproposed theequipotentiality theory, whichsuggests that the
dispute the basic motor and sensory functions are localised but that higher mental
localisation theory - functions are not
Lashley - He removed 10-50% of the cortices belonging to rats
- Found that no specific brain area or lesion was associated with learning
how to transverse through a maze.
- Intelligence is such an advanced cognitive ability to be restricted to
specific brain regions.
- However, this research was conducted on rats. Therefore, it cannot be
generalised to the human brain.
- Humans have highly developed areas responsible for advanced functions
like language and social cognition; in contrast, rats do not possess the
same level of cognitive and emotional abilities as humans.
ernicke and
W - T he fact that damage to Wernicke’s and Broca’s area results in different
Broca’s area types of aphasia suggests they have different functions.
- Broca’s aphasiais an impaired ability to producelanguage
- Wernicke’s aphasiais an impaired ability to comprehendlanguage.
owever, recent
H - ronkers et al. (2007)used modern-day techniques(MRI imaging) on Tan
D
research into Tan, - Although there was a lesion found in Broca’s area
the case study which - Found evidence to suggest other areas may have contributed to the
led to the failure in speech production.
identification of - The deficits found in patients with Broca’s aphasia could be the result of
Broca’s area, has damage to other neighbouring regions.
found other regions - Suggests that language & cognition are far more complicated than once
of the brain thought & involve networks of regions rather than being localised.
contributing to
speech production -
Dronkers et al.
T ulving et al.used - T ulving et al.demonstrated, using PET scans, thatsemantic memories
modern-day were recalled from the left prefrontal cortex.
techniques (PET - Whilst episodic memories were recalled from the right prefrontal cortex.
scans) to highlight (SLER)
that localisation in - This shows that different areas of the brain are responsible for different
the brain does occur. functions, as predicted by localisation theory.
, Discuss research into hemispheric lateralisation of the brain (16)
A01 - T he idea is that each hemisphere of the brain is mainly responsible for certain behaviours, processes and
activities.
- The right hemisphere controls the left side of the body, and vice versa
- The left hemisphere is an analyser as it is associated with analytical and logical processing. It is responsible
for tasks such as language, logical thinking, and sequential processing.
- The right hemisphere is a synthesiser as it's linked with holistic processing and creativity. It is responsible for
tasks such as spatial awareness, recognising faces and images, creativity and imagination and processing
emotions.
- Sperryconducted split-brain research on11 epilepticpatients
- In order to control their seizures, they underwent surgical lesioning of the corpus callosum
- Therefore, information processed by one hemisphere cannot be relayed to the other hemisphere
- This exposes a single hemisphere to certain stimuli in split-brain patients, and thus the functions of each
hemisphere can be inferred
- The patients had one of their eyes covered, so the information would not be received by both visual fields,
so only one hemisphere would process a stimuli
A03 S perry’sfindings - escribe what you see - If the stimulus word was exposed to the right visual field, then
D
support it would be processed by the left hemisphere and the patient would say the word.
hemispheric - Left hemisphere contains the language centres of the brain and so allows for speech.
lateralisation - If exposed to the left visual field, processed by right hemisphere and the patient would
write the word using their left hand.
- Right hemisphere contains the visuospatial centres of the brain, allowing for the
physical act of writing.
L ack of control - T he epileptic patients had been taking anti-epilepsy medications for extended and
over sample different periods of time
selection in - This could have affected their ability to recognise objects and match words.
Sperry’s - The extent of corpus callosum lesioning could vary significantly among the patients.
split-brain - It could’ve affected the degree to which the two hemispheres could relay information
research between themselves.
- These two confounding variables had not been controlled, meaning that the lateralised
functions may be examples of unreliable causal conclusions.
S perry’s - S perry'sprocedures were carefully standardised (whenpresenting the visual
procedures were information)
carefully - Ensuring that only one hemisphere at a time was shown information
standardised. - This helps with the scientific rigour and validity of the study
T he differences - E vidence has made drastic distinctions that the left hemisphere is responsible for
between the language (analyser), whilst the right is responsible for visual-spatial tasks (synthesiser)
two - This has given the public the false impression that the two hemispheres are ‘opposite’
hemispheres are in function
not so clear-cut - - However, as suggested byPucetti, there have beencases of split-brain patients who are
Pucetti left-handed but produce and comprehend speech in the right hemisphere, which
opposes the predictions made by lateralisation theory.
- Therefore, it is important not to jump to conclusions and to appreciate that, through
the recruitment of homologous areas on the opposite side of the brain, each
hemisphere is not restricted to specific functions.
sychologist names =Red
P
Statistics =Purple
Examples =Green
Important terminology/ information =Orange
,Biopsychology
Discuss research into localisation of the brain (16)
Discuss research into hemispheric lateralisation of the brain (16)
Discuss research into plasticity of the brain, including functional recovery (16)
Discuss ways of studying the brain (16)
Discuss research into circadian rhythms (16)
Discuss research into ultradian and infradian rhythms (16)
Discuss research into endogenous pacemakers and exogenous zeitgebers (16)
,Discuss research into localisation of the brain (16)
A01 - T he localisation theory suggests that certain areas of the brain are responsible for certain
processes, behaviours and activities.
- Motor cortex- Found in the frontal lobe, regulatingand coordinating movements.
- Auditory cortex– Found in the temporal lobe, processingauditory information and speech.
- Visual cortex- Found in the occipital lobe, receiving& processing visual information.
- Somatosensory area- Found at the front of both parietallobes. It receives information from the
skin (e.g touch, heat , pressure, pain etc) & then localises it to body areas. The amount of area
devoted to a body part is an indication of how sensitive the body part is e.g. hands and face
make up half of the somatosensory area.
A03 M
any psychologists - L ashleyproposed theequipotentiality theory, whichsuggests that the
dispute the basic motor and sensory functions are localised but that higher mental
localisation theory - functions are not
Lashley - He removed 10-50% of the cortices belonging to rats
- Found that no specific brain area or lesion was associated with learning
how to transverse through a maze.
- Intelligence is such an advanced cognitive ability to be restricted to
specific brain regions.
- However, this research was conducted on rats. Therefore, it cannot be
generalised to the human brain.
- Humans have highly developed areas responsible for advanced functions
like language and social cognition; in contrast, rats do not possess the
same level of cognitive and emotional abilities as humans.
ernicke and
W - T he fact that damage to Wernicke’s and Broca’s area results in different
Broca’s area types of aphasia suggests they have different functions.
- Broca’s aphasiais an impaired ability to producelanguage
- Wernicke’s aphasiais an impaired ability to comprehendlanguage.
owever, recent
H - ronkers et al. (2007)used modern-day techniques(MRI imaging) on Tan
D
research into Tan, - Although there was a lesion found in Broca’s area
the case study which - Found evidence to suggest other areas may have contributed to the
led to the failure in speech production.
identification of - The deficits found in patients with Broca’s aphasia could be the result of
Broca’s area, has damage to other neighbouring regions.
found other regions - Suggests that language & cognition are far more complicated than once
of the brain thought & involve networks of regions rather than being localised.
contributing to
speech production -
Dronkers et al.
T ulving et al.used - T ulving et al.demonstrated, using PET scans, thatsemantic memories
modern-day were recalled from the left prefrontal cortex.
techniques (PET - Whilst episodic memories were recalled from the right prefrontal cortex.
scans) to highlight (SLER)
that localisation in - This shows that different areas of the brain are responsible for different
the brain does occur. functions, as predicted by localisation theory.
, Discuss research into hemispheric lateralisation of the brain (16)
A01 - T he idea is that each hemisphere of the brain is mainly responsible for certain behaviours, processes and
activities.
- The right hemisphere controls the left side of the body, and vice versa
- The left hemisphere is an analyser as it is associated with analytical and logical processing. It is responsible
for tasks such as language, logical thinking, and sequential processing.
- The right hemisphere is a synthesiser as it's linked with holistic processing and creativity. It is responsible for
tasks such as spatial awareness, recognising faces and images, creativity and imagination and processing
emotions.
- Sperryconducted split-brain research on11 epilepticpatients
- In order to control their seizures, they underwent surgical lesioning of the corpus callosum
- Therefore, information processed by one hemisphere cannot be relayed to the other hemisphere
- This exposes a single hemisphere to certain stimuli in split-brain patients, and thus the functions of each
hemisphere can be inferred
- The patients had one of their eyes covered, so the information would not be received by both visual fields,
so only one hemisphere would process a stimuli
A03 S perry’sfindings - escribe what you see - If the stimulus word was exposed to the right visual field, then
D
support it would be processed by the left hemisphere and the patient would say the word.
hemispheric - Left hemisphere contains the language centres of the brain and so allows for speech.
lateralisation - If exposed to the left visual field, processed by right hemisphere and the patient would
write the word using their left hand.
- Right hemisphere contains the visuospatial centres of the brain, allowing for the
physical act of writing.
L ack of control - T he epileptic patients had been taking anti-epilepsy medications for extended and
over sample different periods of time
selection in - This could have affected their ability to recognise objects and match words.
Sperry’s - The extent of corpus callosum lesioning could vary significantly among the patients.
split-brain - It could’ve affected the degree to which the two hemispheres could relay information
research between themselves.
- These two confounding variables had not been controlled, meaning that the lateralised
functions may be examples of unreliable causal conclusions.
S perry’s - S perry'sprocedures were carefully standardised (whenpresenting the visual
procedures were information)
carefully - Ensuring that only one hemisphere at a time was shown information
standardised. - This helps with the scientific rigour and validity of the study
T he differences - E vidence has made drastic distinctions that the left hemisphere is responsible for
between the language (analyser), whilst the right is responsible for visual-spatial tasks (synthesiser)
two - This has given the public the false impression that the two hemispheres are ‘opposite’
hemispheres are in function
not so clear-cut - - However, as suggested byPucetti, there have beencases of split-brain patients who are
Pucetti left-handed but produce and comprehend speech in the right hemisphere, which
opposes the predictions made by lateralisation theory.
- Therefore, it is important not to jump to conclusions and to appreciate that, through
the recruitment of homologous areas on the opposite side of the brain, each
hemisphere is not restricted to specific functions.
