PSYC 3250 Chapter 16: Chapter 16: Lateralization, Language, and the Split Brain
1 Nov 2016
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Chapter 16: lateralization, language, and the split brain. Fundamental duality (2 of almost everything) of the human brain. Cerebral commissures: tracts that connect the left and right cerebral hemispheres. Lateralization of function: the unequal representation of various psychological functions in the. Splitbrain patients: commissurotomized patients (disconnect left & right hemispheres) Commissurotomy: surgical severing of the cerebral commissures. Language = most highly lateralized of all cognitive abilities (left hemisphere) Discovery of specific contributions of lefthemisphere damage to aphasia & apraxia: Aphasia: a braindamagedproduced deficit in the ability to use or comprehend language. Broca"s area: area of inferior prefrontal cortex of the left hemisphere hypothesized by broca to be the center of speech production. Apraxia: a disorder in which patients have great difficulty performing movements when asked to do so out of context but can readily perform them spontaneously in natural situations: symptoms are bilateral but damage always to left hemisphere.
