PSYC 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Neuroplasticity, Long-Term Potentiation, Endocrine System

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 100
• Professor: Jill L Atkinson

Document Summary

People were unsure as to whether the brain was made up of discrete areas with specialized functions, or was a single general processor. Some suggested that the brain was equipotential, in that every bit of the brain was doing the same sort of thing in the same way without specialization. Ways to examine this theory is to observe patients with head trauma and record changes in their behaviour, or to use varying brain imaging techniques to catalogue which part of the brain was active during a particular action. Aphasia, which is the loss of the ability to speak, was the first powerful piece of evidence suggesting the existence of specialized areas. Two types of aphasia exist, known as broca"s aphasia and wernicke"s aphasia. Ba is associated with damage to the left inferior frontal gyrus. A physician by the name of broca described a patient who was unable to speak, but could comprehend a language.