PSYC20006 Lecture Notes - Fall 2017 Lecture 1 - Window period, Motor system, Visual cortex
20 Sep 2018
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Informs about localised brain function (cid:862)no(cid:374)-i(cid:374)vasive(cid:863) te(cid:272)h(cid:374)i(cid:395)ue to (cid:272)(cid:396)eate vi(cid:396)tual (cid:272)o(cid:396)ti(cid:272)al lesio(cid:374)s that (cid:373)i(cid:373)i(cid:272) lesio(cid:374)s. Studies on patients with real lesions allows us to study what patients can no longer do after. Example: phineas gage, railroad construction worker who suffered brain injury after a rod pierced his head & frontal cortex led to severe changes in his personality. Example: removal of most parts of his hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus and amygdala in h. m. led to anterograde amnesia. Localised lesions allow better understanding of the function of specific brain regions. Temporary and reversible (mimics real lesions, though much smaller: applied externally using a coil placed on the scalp that produces a rapidly changing magnetic field to induce electrical currents in the brain (neurons use electrical currents to communicate) The induced currents can depolarise neurons in a small, circumscribed area of the cortex.
