welcome to psychology unit 3
DESCRIPTION
Welcome to Psychology Unit 3. FYI…. This year we have 2 Unit 3 & 4 Psychology classes. Miss Maddock and Myself (Miss Hicks) will be running the classes. The benefits: 2 exceptional (yes you read right) teachers, combined classes like this one and extra help for those who need it. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
FYI…• This year we have 2 Unit 3 & 4
Psychology classes.
• Miss Maddock and Myself (Miss Hicks) will be running the classes.
• The benefits: 2 exceptional (yes you read right) teachers, combined classes like this one and extra help for those who need it.
Our Aims…
• Everyone to satisfactorily pass Unit 3 & 4 Psychology.
Top results.•Help you to learn not only in but also other subjects
House rules (groan…)
• Lateness. Once the music has stopped and you are not in the classroom, YOU ARE LATE.
• Fill out the late form. • You are to then make up double the time you
were late. • 3 late arrivals without a note you will receive a
25 minute lunchtime yard cleanup.• 5 late arrivals and you will receive an after
school.
Lateness
Date Period Time/ Minutes
late
Reason Signature Teacher signature
Teacher Action
12/5 1 15 Missed the bus L. Hicks
Ms Maddock
Name: Laura Hicks Homegroup: 12H
Absences.
• YOU ARE ONLY ALLOWED 7 UNAPPROVED ABSENCES EACH UNIT. If you are going to be away for an approved absence eg. an excursion, tell us in advance.
• If it is an absence because of illness you need a medical certificate and then need to visit Mr Tiffen to get an approval. The approval needs to be gained 24 hours after the absence.
• After 4 unapproved absences we will contact home.• Over 7 unapproved absences = FAIL due to
attendance• Keep up-to-date with your absences.
Absences form…Date Period(s)
missed
Reason Signature Approved & date
Teacher signature
7/2 1&2 Excursion for English L. Hicks Yes Ms Maddock
15/2 3 Sick L. Hicks23/3 4&5 Dentist appointment L. Hicks Parent
note 24/3Ms Maddock
The
Study Design• This should become your best
friend…• Unit 3 is page 20-24. Only 5 pages
long.
Outcome One:
On completion of this unit the student should be able to explain the major functions of the brain including cortical lobes and hemispheric specialisation, and the role of the nervous system, and evaluate the strengths and limitations of brain research methods.
Nervous System
CentralNervous system
Transmits and receives messages to and from
the PNS
PeripheralNervous system
Carries messages to and from the CNS
BrainOrganise,
integrates and interprets
neural messages
Spinal Cord
Connects brain and peripheral nervous system
Autonomic nervous systemCarries
messages from the CNS to
internal muscles,
organs and glands
Somatic nervous systemCarries
messages between the CNS and the
body
Brain facts…• The adult human brain
weighs about 1300-1400 grams.
• Humans have large brains relative to body weight. Close to the size of a large grapefruit or cantaloupe, the brain is 78% water, 10% fat, and 8% protein.
• The brain accounts for only about 2% of the total weight of the human body, but constantly accounts for about 20% of its blood and oxygen use.
• A living brain is so soft it can be cut with a butter knife
• The brain in an unborn foetus grows some 250,000 new neurons every minute.
• The human brain is an extremely complex structure.
• Functions performed by specific structures within the brain are so interrelated that to study one brain structure in isolation misrepresents the complexity of how the whole brain operates.
• For example, the apparently simple task of naming an object we are looking at involves many areas of the brain.
» Memory» Language» Visually processing the information
Regions of the brainPage 44 in textbook
• The brain can be divided into three parts:»The hindbrain»Midbrain»Forebrain
hindbrain
• The hindbrain includes the cerebellum, the pons and the medulla, which function collectively to support vital bodily processes.
• Medulla: has charge of largely unconscious, but vital functions, including circulating blood, breathing, maintaining muscle tone, and regulating reflexes such as sneezing, coughing, and salivating.
• The Medulla is the part of the brain stem that connects the top of the spinal cord.
Hindbrain cont…
• Pons: Located above the medulla is the pons which serves as a bridge to connect the brainstem and the cerebellum.
• The pons is involved in coordinating voluntary muscle movements.
• It is also part of the recticular activating system that increases attention and arousal, and wakes us from our sleep.
• Cerebellum: means ‘little brain.’ It is critical to the coordination of movement and to the sense of balance. The Cerebellum also controls sequences of movement that have been learned so thoroughly that they occur too quickly and automatically to be controlled consciously. This is one of the structures first depressed by alcohol.
midbrain• The midbrain controls motor reactions such
as reflective responses to auditory and visual information.
• The reticular formation extends from the medulla (in the hindbrain) through the midbrain, up to the thalamus (in the forebrain). One of its rolls is to maintain an optimum level of arousal (state of alertness) in other parts of the brain. The reticular formation becomes inactive when we sleep.
forebrain
The forebrain has several structures, but the cerebral hemispheres are the biggest and most obvious structure
The Human Brain
The structures of the cerebral cortex
• A view of the outside of the brain shows convolutions, or folds. These folds are part of the cerebral cortex. The cerebral cortex is the orange-peel-like outer covering of the brain. The folds allow the covering to maximize surface area.
• In fact, if it were laid out, the cortex would be about the size of an unfolded single page from a daily newspaper or a 63 cm television screen.
• It is only about 2 millimetres thick
• The cerebral cortex contains about three-quarters of all neurons (nerve cells) in the brain.
• The cerebral cortex is largely involved with information processing activities:
– Language and speech
– Learning
– Memory
– Thinking
– Problem solving
– Control of sensory and motor abilities.
interpret music
organise your study timetable
plan for the future
• Despite this wide range of functions, the cerebral cortex does not act alone. It operates like a team manager.
• For example, it analyses and processes incoming information (from the different senses), communicates with other members of the management team (other areas of the brain) in making decisions about how best to respond, and send messages to the ‘team members’ (areas of the body) to carry out the appropriate actions.
The cerebral cortex has 3 main parts:
• Various sensory areas (which receive information about vision, sound and the other senses),
• The motor cortex (which transmits information about voluntary bodily movements)
• And various association areas (which integrate sensory and motor information)
Cerebral hemispheres• Cerebral cortex is
divided into two halves called cerebral hemispheres.
• Almost symmetrical structures
• Separated by a longitudinal fissure (deep groove) running from the front to the back of the brain.
Longitudinal Fissure
Cerebral hemispheres cont.
• The two sides are connected by bundles of nerve fibres, the largest known as the corpus callosum.
Called the left and righthemispheres.
The left hemisphere controls the right side of the body and the right hemisphere controls the
left side of the body.
• Left hemisphere is dominant :
• Verbal tasks eg: language, speech and writing, and in analytical tasks such as mathematical problems.
• Right hemisphere is dominant:
• Non-verbal tasks• Eg. Visualisation, spatial
skills, and the recognition of patterns, faces and tunes.
The two hemispheres do not function independently.Eg. Our memories and perceptions are unified.
• has about 250 million nerve fibers. • corpus callosum allows each side of the
brain to exchange information.• Most of the neural pathways from the
sensory and motor cortices in the brain and the parts of the body to the other via the corpus callosum.
• Eg. Temperature of water that you feel on your left fingers is sent to the right hemisphere sensory area.
Revision Questions
• Where is the cerebral cortex located?• Of what does the cerebral cortex mainly consist?• What types of functions are performed y the cerebral
cortex?• Describe the relationship that appears to exist between
the size of the cerebral cortex and the capabilities and the capabilities of an organism.
• Where is the corpus callosum located?• Of what does the corpus callosum mainly consist?• What key functions is performed by the corpus
callosum?
• Check homework…
• Brain handout
• What are the 4 major lobes?
• Where are each of them
The lobes of the cerebral cortex
• Cerebral cortex is divided into four anatomical regions called cortical lobes.
• Cortical lobes are areas of the brain associated with different functions.
• The lobes contain several primary cortical areas that include motor or sensory functions.
• Each lobe also has association areas that integrate sensory and motor information from primary cortical areas and from other brain areas to assist with functions such as speech, problem solving and recognising objects.
• READ: page 71-72 in textbook.
• What is the primary sensory area?• Define the somatosensory cortex• What is and where is the primary motor area?• Describe what Association areas are.
Lobes of the cerebral cortex
• Frontal
• Parietal
• Occipital• Temporal
How can we remember the 4 lobes???
•F •P•O•T
The Frontal Lobe– Largest of the lobes– At the upper front part of the brain– The primary motor cortex is a
strip of neural tissue involved in voluntary body movements
– The Motor cortex is located at the rear of the frontal lobe, along the central fissure that separates the frontal and parietal lobes
– Specific points along the motor cortex are involved with particular movements.
The Frontal Lobe cont
– The frontal lobe is an association area which is involved with higher mental functions such as:
– Judging– Planning– And using initiative– What else?
– The primary motor cortex is a strip of neural tissue involved in voluntary body movements
– The Motor cortex is located at the rear of the frontal lobe, along the central fissure that separates the frontal and parietal lobes
– Specific points along the motor cortex are involved with particular movements.
– HOMEWORK:– Complete Learning Activity 3 on page 73
Primary Motor Cortex
Broca’s Area
• The amount of cortex devoted to a particular body part corresponds to the complexity, or ‘fineness’, of it’s movements.
The Frontal Lobe cont
– The frontal lobe is an association area which is involved with higher mental functions such as:
– Judging– Planning– And using initiative– What else?...
The Frontal Lobe cont
– Personality– The control of emotions and expression
of emotional behaviour– Controls and coordinates many of the
functions of the other lobes and determines many behavioural responses.
– Why do some psychologists refer to the frontal lobe as having an ‘executive’ role in our thinking, feeling and behaviour?
Broca’s area
• Paul Broca (1824-1880) identified the physical basis of speech production in the brain
• Specific cortical area located in the left frontal lobe next to the motor cortex areas that control the muscles of the face, tongue, jaw and throat.
Broca’s area
• Is thought to be responsible fo the production of articulate speech; that is speech that is clear and flunt.
• Involved with coordinating movements of the muscles required for speech and supplying this information to the appropriate motor cortex areas.
• Linked to and interacts with areas of the cerebral cortex that are involved with the meaning of words and the structure of sentences , adjectives, prepositions and conjunctions.
• Also involved with understanding the grammatical structure of a sentence that is heard or read in order to extract aspects of meaning that depend on that grammatical structure.
Gardner (1974) described a patient with Broca's aphasia, whom he called "David Ford." David was in his late 30s when interviewed by Gardner, and had been a radio operator in the Coast Guard until he suffered a stroke that put an end to his career. After the stroke, David experienced much difficulty producing written and spoken language. When he was able to produce words, he did so in a halting manner and made many mistakes. These problems are evident in Gardner's description of his initial interview with David soon after he entered the hospital:
• I asked Mr. Ford about his work before he entered the hospital. “I’m a sig. . . no . . . man . . . uh, well, . . . again.” These words were emitted slowly, and with great effort. The sounds were not clearly articulated; each syllable was uttered harshly, explosively, in a throaty voice. With practice, it was possible to understand him, but at first I encountered considerable difficulty in this.“Let me help you,” I interjected. “You were a signal . . .”“A sig-nal man . . . right,” Ford completed my phrase triumphantly.“Were you in the Coast Guard?”“No, er, yes, yes . . . ship . . . Massachu . . . chusetts . . . Coastguard . . . years.” He raised his hands twice, indicating the number “nineteen.”“Oh, you were in the Coast Guard for nineteen years.”“Oh . . . boy . . . right . . .,” he replied.“Why are you in the hospital, Mr Ford?”
• Ford looked at me a bit strangely, as if to say, Isn’t it patently obvious? He pointed to his paralyzed arm and said, “Arm no good,” then to his mouth and said, “Speech . . . can’t say . . . talk, you see.”“What happened to make you lose your speech?”“Head, fall, Jesus Christ, me no good, str, str . . . oh Jesus . . . stroke.”“I see. Could you tell me, Mr. Ford, what you’ve been doing in the hospital?”“Yes, sure. Me go, er, uh, P.T. none o’cot, speech . . . two times . . . read . . . wr . . . ripe, er, rike, er, write . . . practice . . . get-ting better.”“And have you been going home on weekends?”“Why, yes . . . Thursday, er, er, er, no, er, Friday . . . Bar-ba-ra . . . wife . . . and, oh, car . . . drive . . . purnpike . . . you know . . . rest and . . . tee-vee.”“Are you able to understand everything on television?”“oh, yes, yes . . . well . . . al-most.” Ford grinned a bit.
• It is obvious that David had a great deal of trouble expressing himself in this conversation. People with Broca’s aphasia realize that they are having difficulty expressing themselves, and often become distressed about this, as did David in the passage quoted above. People suffering from Broca's ’s aphasia tend to have two major language impairments:– Difficulty producing words, whether spoken or written. – Difficulty comprehending words, especially
"grammatical words.
PARIETAL LOBE
• Located behind the frontal lobe
• Recieves and processes sensory information from the body and skin senses (called somatosensory information) and other sensory areas in the brain.
somatosensory cortex
• The somatosensory cortex receives and processes sensory information from the skin and body, enabling us to perceive bodily sensations,
Primary Somatosensory Cortex
Homonculus what is it???
Homework
• What other functions does the parietal lobe perform?
• What functions does the Occipital and Temporal lobe perform? You are to create your own slides for these two lobes.
Occipital lobe
• Difficulty Producing WordsPeople with Broca’s aphasia, if they speak at all, tend to speak slowly and with poor articulation. In addition, they tend to leave out many words and may produce neologisms that sound similar to the correct ones, such as David’s use of “purnpike” and “o’cot.” He was able to speak only a few words at a time, and never expressed a complete and grammatically correct sentence. In fact, he often had trouble getting past the first or second word, and would need to start over again. Certain phrases that David probably had used often before his stroke (such as “Jesus Christ”) were said quickly and clearly; but he had enormous difficulty with almost all other words. In general, people suffering from Broca’s aphasia experience severe impairments in the following: speaking spontaneously (such as initiating a conversation on their own) and repetition (repeating a word after someone else has said it). Nevertheless, they often have little trouble understanding what others are saying as long as the sentences are simply structured. This brings us to the second major impairment of Broca's aphasia.
• Difficulty Comprehending WordsPeople with Broca's aphasia often have difficulty comprehending "grammatical words" — words other than nouns and verbs that allow us to construct meaningful sentences (Geschwind, 1974; Goodglass & Geschwind, 1976). These include classes of words such as:
– prepositions, such as ‘by’, ‘in’, ‘on’; – articles, such as ‘a’, ‘the’; – conjunctions, such as ‘and’, ‘or’, ‘but’; – helping verbs, such as ‘is’ or ‘be’; – pronouns, such as ‘he’, she’, ‘it’; – endings, such as past tenses, possessives, and plurals.
• People with Broca’s aphasia often omit and seem not to understand ”grammatical words.” Thus, they have great difficulty understanding a sentence such as:“The ball was hit by Zoltran into the left-field bleachers.” The words most likely to be understood by a Broca’s patient would be, “... ball ... hit ... Zoltran ... left-field bleachers.” This is because a person with Broca’s aphasia understands primarily nouns and action verbs. On the other hand, if the sentence had been structured differently so that there were fewer grammatical words, Broca’s patients probably would have little difficulty understanding its meaning. For example, if the sentence had been, “Zoltran hit the ball into the left-field bleachers,” a Broca’s patient probably would have heard something like, ”Tom hit ... ball ... left-field bleachers,” an utterance that is more easily understood than the previous one.
• Portions of the brain other than Broca's and Wernicke's Areas are also involved language use and comprehension. In fact, people who have damage only to Broca’s area or only to Wernicke’s area generally do not show fully the difficulties described above. In other words, the full explanation for each of these two aphasias still is not known. In addition, there are other types of aphasia. These other aphasias seem to be associated with damage to other portions of the brain — portions that are not always in the cerebral cortex. Thus, language use and comprehension seems to be associated with activity in many different areas of the brain spread throughout the cortex, limbic system, and brain stem. Because our understanding of language and brain activity is still very primitive, there is a great deal of controversy among researchers concerning the neural explanations of language.
Lobes of the Brain
• Frontal
• Parietal
• Occipital
• Temporal
Frontal Lobe
Temporal lobe
Occipital lobe• What Do the Occipital Lobes Do?• When the occipital lobes in the back of the cortex are electrically stimulated, people
generally see colors or flashes of light. This area is referred to as the primary visual cortex because of its association with perceiving visual information. If the visual cortex is damaged, the patient typically develops problems perceiving movement, color, form, and/or parts of the visual field (the totality of what can be seen when a person looks straight ahead). For example, Oliver Sacks (1995) described the case of a 65-year-old artist who was unable to see colors after a car accident had damaged his visual cortex. The man saw the world entirely in shades of black, white, and gray:
• It was not just that colors were missing, but that what he did see had a distasteful, “dirty” look, the whites glaring, yet discolored and off-white, the blacks cavernous — everything wrong, unnatural, stained, and impure. ... He saw people’s flesh, his wife’s flesh, his own flesh, as an abhorrent grey; “flesh-colored” now appeared “rat-colored” to him. ... The “wrongness” of everything was disturbing, even disgusting, and applied to every circumstance of daily life. He found foods disgusting due to their greyish, dead appearance and had to close his eyes to eat. ... His own brown dog looked so strange to him now that he even considered getting a dalmation. (pp. 7-8)
• ?
Occipital lobe• Reading a case such as this, we begin to see how important color perception is for us in our
everyday lives. In fact, compared to other animals, humans are among the best perceivers of color: we have large areas of our visual cortex devoted to this ability. It is interesting that the damage to this man’s visual cortex also was associated with an increase in his visual acuity — that is, the sharpness of his vision. As he put it, “I can see a worm wriggling a block away” (Sacks, 1995, p. 3).
• Information from each side of the visual field crosses over and activates the opposite side of the primary visual cortex (see Figure 2). In other words, the primary visual cortex in the left hemisphere is activated by stimuli in the right visual field, whereas the primary visual cortex in the right hemisphere is activated by stimuli in the left visual field. The reason why visual information crosses over in this way is unknown (and, as you will see below, the same thing is true for other kinds of sensory information, as well as for motor messages[∂] that result in the movement of the skeletal muscles[∂]).
• Figure 2. The Crossing Over of Visual Information.
• Study Questions• Where is the primary visual cortex located? • What kinds of information are processed by the primary visual cortex? • Which hemisphere of the primary visual cortex is activated by stimuli in the left visual field? • Which hemisphere of the primary visual cortex is activated by stimuli in the right visual field? • If the occipital lobes were destroyed, what would be the most likely result
Temporal lobe• The temporal lobes are part of the cerebrum. They lie at the sides of the brain, beneath the lateral or Sylvian
fissure. Seen in profile, the human brain looks something like a boxing glove. The temporal lobes are where the thumbs would be.
• The temporal lobe is involved in auditory processing and is home to the primary auditory cortex. It is also heavily involved in semantics both in speech and vision. The temporal lobe contains the hippocampus and is therefore involved in memory formation as well.
• Contents
• Function• The superior temporal gyrus includes an area (within the Sylvian fissure) where auditory signals from the cochlea
(relayed via several subcortical nuclei) first reach the cerebral cortex. This part of the cortex (primary auditory cortex) is involved in hearing. Adjacent areas in the superior, posterior and lateral parts of the temporal lobes are involved in high-level auditory processing. In humans this includes speech, for which the left temporal lobe in particular seems to be specialized. Wernicke's area, which spans the region between temporal and parietal lobes, plays a key role (in tandem with Broca's area, which is in the frontal lobe). The functions of the left temporal lobe are not limited to low-level perception but extend to comprehension, naming, and other language functions. Sound processing is controlled by the temporal lobes- in the Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area.
• The underside (ventral) part of the temporal cortices appear to be involved in high-level visual processing of complex stimuli such as faces (fusiform gyrus) and scenes (parahippocampal gyrus). Anterior parts of this ventral stream for visual processing are involved in object perception and recognition.
• The medial temporal lobes (near the Sagittal plane that divides left and right cerebral hemispheres) are thought to be involved in episodic/declarative memory. Deep inside the medial temporal lobes, the hippocampi seem to be particularly important for memory function - particularly transference from short to long term memory and control of spatial memory and behavior.
Wernickes
• Temporal-Parietal InteractionsActivity at the boundary between the temporal and parietal lobes affects a number of important mental functions. One of the most important involves the use and comprehension of language, especially the comprehension of nouns and verbs. This function involves activity in Wernicke's Area (named after the neurologist, Karl Wernicke, who first described it in 1873), which is located at the boundary between the two lobes in the left hemisphere of most people (see Figure 4). People with damage to language areas in the brain suffer from aphasia, which is a severe impairment in the production and/or comprehension of language. Aphasia is much more than simply having difficulties with speaking due to problems in moving the muscles of the mouth and tongue. Instead, aphasia involves severe deficits in the ability to use language in some or all of its forms. There are different types of aphasia, each of which is characterized by a different set of language difficulties.
•
• Figure 4. Two Language Areas in the Left Hemisphere of the Cerebral Cortex.(from Kandel, Schwartz, & Jessell, 1995, p. 642)
• When Wernicke's Area is damaged, people experience language difficulties referred to as Wernicke's aphasia. Gardner (1974) described such a patient, whom he called "Philip Gorgan." Philip, who was 72 years old when interviewed by Gardner, had suffered a stroke that damaged a part of the left hemisphere that included Wenicke's Area. Philip had no trouble expressing himself in language, such as in speech; but what he said often made little sense. For example, in response to Gardner's question about why he had been brought to the hospital, Philip stated:
• Difficulty Comprehending WordsAlthough people with Wernicke’s aphasia tend to have little trouble speaking or writing, what they say or write makes little sense; and they have difficulty making sense of what others say to them. In severe cases, they even may become incoherent, seemingly unaware that their language is severely impaired. For example, in response to the question, “how did you get sick?”, a patient with Wernicke's aphasia answered:
• Eeh, oh malaty? Eeeh, favility? Abelabla tay kare. Abelabl tay to po stay here. ... Aberdar yeste day. ... and then abedeyes dee, aaah, yes dee, ye ship, yeste day es dalababela. Abla desee, abla detoasy, abla ley e porephee, tee arabek. Abla get sik? (Springer & Deutsch, 1993, p. 151)
• In general, people with Wernicke's aphasia seem to confuse the different sounds that make up words — a problem that may result in a sort of “word salad” in which their words are tossed together in no particular order. For example, they might say something such as, “Groceries at the store some go and there went Ron,” when they meant to say, “We went to the store to get some groceries and saw Ron there.” Although many of the correct words are contained in the sentence, they are so jumbled that, without more information, a listener cannot know what is being communicated.
• People with Wernicke's aphasia also show anosognosia: they seem to be unaware (completely or to varying degrees) that they are not making sense or are communicating poorly.
• Difficulty Finding the Correct WordPeople with Wernicke's aphasia often have a reduced ability to name objects, which is called anomia. For example, if you show people with Wernicke’s aphasia a picture of an object, such as a slipper, they may be able to describe what it is for (“it goes on a foot”) but be unable to name it. If you tell them that it is a slipper, they will be able to repeat the word ("yes, it's a slipper, slipper") but, when shown the picture a minute later, again will be unable to name it. It doesn’t matter how often you repeat this procedure: they are unable to retrieve the name of the object. When they can't find the correct word, people with Wernicke's aphasia sometimes produce neologisms (newly coined words or expressions), such as "repuceration" and "tarripoi."
• Study Questions• In which lobes of the cerebral cortex are sounds initially processed? • When schizophrenics claim to hear voices, are they actually hearing voices? (Please explain your answer.) • Could the hallucinated voices heard by schizophrenics be so loud that the patients would have trouble hearing what someone was saying to them? • What is the name of the disorder in which a person is able to see but is unable to recognize faces? • Which area (and which hemisphere) in the brain is damaged in a person who can see but not recognize faces? • Does a person who can write but cannot speak have aphasia? Why or why not? • What are the main symptoms of Wernicke's aphasia? • Which part of the brain is damaged in a person with Wernicke's aphasia? • Do people with Wernicke's aphasia have trouble with being understood by others or with understanding other people? • How much awareness do people with Wernicke's aphasia have regarding their language impairment? • Do people with anomia forget what objects are used for? • If you tell people with anomia the name of an object and they repeat the name several times, will they then remember the name the next time they are
shown the object?
• Boy, I’m sweating. I’m awful nervous, you know, once in a while I get caught up, I can’t mention the tarripoi, a month ago, quite a little, I’ve done a lot well, I impose a lot, while, on the other hand, you know what I mean, I have to run around, look it over, trebbin and all that sort of stuff. (p. 68)
• Philip’s speech involved and explosion of words that was very difficult to interrupt. Just as Gardner was about to ask another question, Philip said:
• Oh sure, go ahead, any old think you want. If I could I would. Oh, I’m taking the word the wrong way to say, all of the barbers here whenever they stop you it’s going around and around, if you know what I mean, that is tying and tying for repucer, repuceration, well, we were trying the best that we could while another time it was with the beds over there the same thing. (p. 68)
• Philip’s speech sounds almost as if he was suffering from a severe psychosis[∂], but he is not. Damage to Wernicke's Area makes it difficult for him to speak coherently. People suffering from Wernicke’s aphasia tend to have two major language impairments.
– Difficulty comprehending words, especially nouns and verbs. – Difficulty finding the correct noun when naming objects.
• On September 13, 1848, Phineas P. Gage was working outside the small town of Cavendish, Vermont on the construction of a railroad track where he was employed as a foreman. One of his duties involved filling the hole with gunpowder, adding a fuse, and then packing in sand with the aid of a large tamping iron. Gage was momentarily distracted and forgot to pour the sand into one hole. Thus, when he went to tamp the sand down, the tamping iron sparked against the rock and ignited the gunpowder, causing the iron to be blown through Gage's head with such force that it landed almost thirty yards (27 meters) behind him.
• The three foot (1 m) long tamping iron with a diameter of 1.25 inches (3.2 cm) weighing thirteen and a half pounds (6.12 kg) entered his skull below his left cheek bone and exited after passing through the anterior frontal cortex and white matter. Whether the lesion involved both frontal lobes, or was limited only to the left side, remains a matter of controversy. Remarkably, after such a traumatic accident, Gage regained consciousness within a few minutes, was able to speak, and survived a 45-minute ride back to his boarding house while sitting in a cart.
• As the doctor arrived, he was reportedly conscious, and had a regular pulse of about 60 beats per minute; however, he was getting exhausted from the hemorrhage, which was very profuse.
• His left pupil was still reacting to direct light (and stayed that way for the following 10 days), which indicates that the left optic and oculomotor nerves were still functioning, supporting the hypothesis that the tamping iron must have passed laterally to the left optic nerve. After a seemingly complete recovery from such a serious injury, Gage was soon back at work.
• While studies by and colleagues suggested a bilateral damage to the medial frontal lobes,[1] a recent study by Ratiu and colleagues based on a CT scan of Gage's skull suggests that the extent of Gage's brain injury must have been more limited than previously thought.[2]
• In the view of modern medical science, a bilateral damage of the frontal brain by a projectile measuring 1.25 inches in diameter and weighing thirteen pounds, would unlikely be compatible with survival, since this would imply an extensive damage to vital vascular structures, such as the superior sagittal sinus (however, the rod did not emerge exactly in the midline, and may have missed the sinus by passing beneath it). Nevertheless, Gage survived the traumatic event and complications by a fungal infection and over-exercise. Gage later reportedly developed personality changes.
• [edit] Effect on Gage
• Diagram appearing in 1868 journal article, described as: "Front and lateral view of the cranium, representing the direction in which the iron traversed its cavity; the present appearance of the line of fracture, and also the large anterior fragment of the frontal bone, which was entirely detached, replaced and partially re-united."
• Gage had complications from a fungal infection which left him in a "semi-comatose state" from September 23rd to October 3rd, "seldom speaking unless spoken to, and then only answering in monosyllables." From October 4th onwards, he began improving, and took his first step on October 7th.[3] On October 20th Gage's physician, Dr. J.M. Harlow, described him as "very childish" and stated that Gage "wishes to go home to Lebanon [New Hampshire]". When Harlow left for a week, Gage left the house every day except Sunday, and was making plans to go home to Lebanon, being "uncontrollable by his friends". He subsequently became sick with a fever, but recovered by November 17th, at which time he reported no pain in the head. Harlow's final remarks include the statement that "he appears to be in a way of recovering, if he can be controlled".[3]
• According to Harlow, whereas previously he had been hard-working, responsible, and popular with the men in his charge, his personality seemed to have been radically altered after the accident. In 1868, the doctor reported that:
• “Gage was fitful, irreverent, indulging at times in the grossest profanity (which was not previously his custom), manifesting but little deference for his fellows, impatient of restraint or advice when it conflicts with his desires, at times pertinaciously obstinate, yet capricious and vacillating, devising many plans of future operations, which are no sooner arranged than they are abandoned in turn for others appearing more feasible. A child in his intellectual capacity and manifestations, he has the animal passions of a strong man. Previous to his injury, although untrained in the schools, he possessed a well-balanced mind, and was looked upon by those who knew him as a shrewd, smart businessman, very energetic and persistent in executing all his plans of operation. In this regard his mind was radically changed, so decidedly that his friends and acquaintances said he was 'no longer Gage.'[4]”
• Some months after the accident, probably in about the middle of 1849, Phineas felt strong enough to resume work. But because his personality had changed so much, the contractors who had employed him would not give him his place again.
• When he was well enough again in or around 1850, he spent about a year as a sideshow attraction and at P. T. Barnum's New York museum, putting his injury, and the tamping iron which caused it, on display to anybody willing to pay for the show. He then worked as an assistant in New Hampshire and, for nearly seven years, as a coach driver in Chile. When his health started to fail in 1859, he returned to San Francisco, where he lived with his mother and father. For some months before his death he was employed as a farm worker. In 1860, he began to have epileptic seizures and died a few months later.
Broca and Wernicke difference???
Motor cortex
• STUDENT HANDOUT• BRAIN AN ATOMY—ACTIVITY 1A• THE BRAIN AND ITS PARTS• The brain is a very complex organ made up of millions of cells. This three-pound• organ fills most of the top half of your head and is roughly the size of a coconut fruit.• The brain is divided into three main parts. They are referred to as the cerebrum, cerebellum,• and brain stem. Even though they are one organ they do different things. The• cerebrum makes the decisions that require conscious thought, sensation, and voluntary• movement, while the cerebellum controls balance and coordination. The brain stem• involves involuntary actions such as breathing and heartbeat. We will look at these• three parts of the brain more closely.• THE CEREBRUM• Scientists call the upper brain the cerebrum (including parts numbered 1–6). It makes• up two-thirds of our brain. The cerebrum has a crumpled surface which provides more• surface area, so that more cells can fit into a small space. If we were to unfold the cerebrum• the area would be about half a square yard (half a square meter). The cerebrum is• divided into two halves, or hemispheres, by a deep split or fissure. Even though there• is a split, the two hemispheres communicate with each other through a tract of nerve• fibers. Another interesting fact about the hemispheres is that they control the opposite• sides of the body. The left hemisphere controls the right side of the body and the right• hemisphere controls the left side of the body. The outside of the cerebrum is covered by• the cerebral cortex , analogous to the bark covering the tree. This is known as our thinking• cap because we use it to interpret information, respond to problems, access our• memory, experience sensations, and control conscious movements. The cortex is less• than one-fourth of an inch thick.
• We are now going to look more closely at the cortex. The cortex of each half of your• brain is arranged into four areas or lobes. These lobes each have a specific function to• help our body and brain communicate. The frontal lobes (#1 in diagram) think and create.• At the back of the frontal lobe lies the motor area, (#2 in diagram) which is responsible• for controlling the body’s movement. The parietal lobes (#4 in diagram) help us• find our way and recognize objects and their uses. Located in the front part of the parietal• lobes lies most of the sensory area , (#3 in diagram) which transfers sensory stimuli• that the body receives to the brain. (We will discuss the motor and sensory areas in activity• 2C). Next to our ears are the temporal lobes (#6 in diagram), which regulate our hearing,• speech, and memory. At the back of the head are occipital lobes (#5 in diagram), where• messages from the eyes are received and interpreted.• THE CEREBELLUM AND BRAIN STEM• The brain stem (# 7 in diagram) and cerebellum (# 8 in diagram) are located below the• cerebrum. The brain stem neurons connect the rest of the brain to the spinal cord. It• controls our heartbeat, blood pressure, breathing, and other automatic functions. Behind• the brain stem is the cerebellum . It contains nearly as many neurons as the cortex,• and functions in coordination and balance.
