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2 Brain Localization

The document discusses several studies related to localization of function in the brain, including early investigations of phrenology, case studies of individuals with brain damage such as Phineas Gage and Paul Broca's patient Tan, and more recent studies such as the HM study by Scoville and Milner investigating the role of the hippocampus in memory and a study by Maguire et al. investigating the relationship between hippocampus size and spatial memory in London taxi drivers.

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62 views

2 Brain Localization

The document discusses several studies related to localization of function in the brain, including early investigations of phrenology, case studies of individuals with brain damage such as Phineas Gage and Paul Broca's patient Tan, and more recent studies such as the HM study by Scoville and Milner investigating the role of the hippocampus in memory and a study by Maguire et al. investigating the relationship between hippocampus size and spatial memory in London taxi drivers.

Uploaded by

swegsweg
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The

Brain
Physiology and behavior:
Localization of function
Explain one study related to
localization of function in the
brain.

Explain one study related to localization of


function in the brain.

Studies

Terms

Scoville and Milner


Maguire et al.

Phrenology
Tan
Brocas Area
Brocas Aphasia
HM
Wernickes Aphasia
Hippocamous

Early investigation of localization of


function
Phrenology
The attempt to make
inferences about
ones personality and
intelligence by
examining skull
formation.
Done by manually
searching for bumps
and indentations.

Franz Joseph Gall

In general.
If there is a bump or
protrusion in that
area it indicates
MORE of that ability
or trait.
If there is an
indentation it
indicates a
deficiency of that
ability or trait.

Phrenology?
Do you think it is a
valid science?
Work was picked
up by Cesare
Lombroso
These ideas,
although
dangerous, are still
the basis behind
modern day
criminal profiling.

Case studies of people with naturally


occurring brain damage
Phineas Gage
Paul Broca
Worked with a
patient he called
Tan
Tan could only
say the word Tan
Tan died

Brocas Area
In post-mortem
autopsy, Broca
found damage in
the left frontal area
of Tans brain.
Broca discovered
the area of our
brain that is
responsible for
making our mouth
move during
speech.

Brocas Aphasia
Aphasia means
damage to a
speech area of our
brain.
Very common in
TBI or stroke
patients.

Sarah Scott

Studies of individuals who


have undergone brain
surgery

Damage to the hippocampus and memory


(The HM Study)
Scoville and Milner (1957)

HM fell off his bicycle


when he was 7,
injuring his head.
He began having
epileptic seizures
when he was 10.
By the time he was
27 he had so many
seizures he could not
live a normal life.

The HM Study
Scoville and Milner (1957)
Scoville performed
experimental
surgery on HM to
stop the seizures.
Seizures did stop,
but HM had
amnesia for the
rest of his life.
We learned a whole
lot from HMs
issues.

HM
They removed parts
of his temporal lobe.
They took out a little
too much and
removed part of his
hippocampus.
Experienced both
Retrograde and
Anterograde
Amnesia.

Memories and the


Hippocampus
Retrograde Amnesia

Forget past.
It can be time period,
event or select
person.

Anterograde Amnesia

Cannot form new


memories.

HMs Memory
He could not transfer new
episodic or semantic
memories (explicit
memories) into his LTM.
He COULD form new longterm procedural
memories (implicit
memories).
He could carry on a
normal conversation
(working memory) but
would forget it almost
immediately.

OKwhat actually happened to


HMs brain?
Corkin (1997) gave
an old HM an MRI
He found missing
parts of the
temporal lobes and
hippocampus and
surrounding areas.
These areas tend
to be pathways for
memory (highways
for ACH).

What can be learned about the relationship


between brain and memory with HM?
Our memory system is
specialized and complex.
The hippocampus plays
a critical role in
converting memories of
experience from STM to
LTM.
HM retained some
memories, so
hippocampus does not
store the memories, but
processes them.

Maguire et al. (2000)


Aim: To investigate
whether or not the
hippocampus plays
a role in human
spatial memory

Maguire et al. (2000)


Method:
London taxi drivers with a range
of age and experience were the
participants because their work
requires the extensive use of
spatial navigational skills
Matched pairs design:
participants were age and
gender matched with a control
group
Two different types of MRI
scanning were used to assess
how the brains of the taxi
drivers differed from the control
group
Quasi experiment

Maguire et al. (2000)


showed
significantly more
grey matter in both
left and right
hippocampi of the
taxi drivers
compared to the
control group

Maguire et al. (2000)


Evaluation:
No ethical implications
Only observed males
Only observed 16
matched pairs
Nature vs. Nurture
debate: did the driving
influence the change in
the hippocampus, or did
their larger than average
hippocampus lead them
to become taxi drivers?

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