Topic Summaries

Localisation of function in the brain

A-Level > Psychology > AQA > A-Level Psychology Topic Summaries > Biopsychology > Localisation of function in the brain
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Addiction

  • Localisation of function: specific areas of the brains are specialised for certain functions.
  • Broca’s area (left hemisphere): is responsible for production of spoken and written language. If this area gets damaged, it can result in Broca’s aphasia where a person may have slowed speech that lacks fluency, or a total absence of speech.
  • Wernicke’s area (left hemisphere): this area is responsible for the understanding of language. Damage to this area can cause Wernicke’s aphasia where people cannot understand spoken language or can only produce nonsense words/phrases.
  • Motor cortex (both hemispheres): is responsible for voluntary motor movements. Damage to this area can cause a loss of control of fine movements on the opposite side of the body.
  • Visual cortex (both hemispheres): this area receives information from the eyes. Damage to this area can cause hallucinations or blindness.
  • Auditory cortex (both hemispheres): this area is responsible for analysing speech based on information. Damage to this area can result in partial or complete hearing loss.
  • Somatosensory cortex (both hemispheres): this area is responsible for processing information from the senses. Damage to this area can cause problems in processing touch.
    • 👥 Paul Broca’s (1861) study of a patent known as ‘Tan’ led to the discovery of Broca’s area. The patient could understand spoken language but couldn’t produce any coherent words – he could only say ‘Tan.’ A post-mortem was conducted after Tan’s death, and Broca discovered a lesion on his left frontal lobe. This case study supports localisation of function as it shows that when damage is caused to specific areas of the brain, their functions can no longer be carried out properly.
    • 👥 Carl Wernicke (1874) discovered that patients with lesions to the Wernicke’s area, located in the left temporal lobe, were still able to speak but couldn’t comprehend language. People with damage to this area struggled to comprehend language – they often produced sentences that were fluent but lacked meaning.

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