Localization of Brain Function

A fresh human brain does not resemble the stereotypical fixated human brain typically seen in textbooks or diagrams. Instead, a fresh human brain is rich in vasculature, extending across the entire surface of the brain. The brain, in a sense, is greedy, requiring twenty percent of the oxygen coming from the lungs and twenty percent of the blood pumped by the heart. Recently, the brain’s greediness has led to advances in medical brain imaging technology. The PET scan maps the amount blood flow through specific areas of the brain, allowing researchers to localize particular functions to precise areas of the brain. In the TED talk, Dr. Allen explains the function of the cerebellum, temporal cortex, and frontal lobe – areas of the brain whose functions were determined using PET scan.

In the discussion of the human mind and how it actually works, there are a few distinct philosophical concepts that many believe to be an accurate diagnosis. Three of these views are Dualism, Physicalism, and Functionalism. They each portray a different view on how the mind functions in some cases physically or even mentally and separate from the actual human brain. perfect way to exam these approaches is to take an in depth look at the interesting case of Phineas Gage. Gage, born in 1823, was a railroad construction worker in the northeastern region of the United States. On September 13th in 1848, Gage was working on a railroad project in the state of Vermont and was filling a whole with explosive gunpowder and was packing the power in powder

In Eric Kandel's Aplysia experiment, Kandel showed that a slug lost sensitivity in its gills, after repeated contact to which Carr states "the brain...change[s] with experience, circumstance, and need". Both, Kandel's and Merzenich's, experiments lead to the same conclusion of the physical body adapting in real-time to the environment. Carr briefly writes how a man named Bernstein regained movement in his hand and leg after damaging his brain which regulated movement and how through the use of technology analyzing neural activity, Carr tells how violinists had increased cortical areas of their right hand compared to nonmusicians, and compared to their own left cortical areas. Carr's final example for the brain's plasticity is with Pascual-Leone's experiment. Pascual-Leone mapped the brain activity of a group of people playing certain notes on a piano, and a group imagining themselves playing the notes. He concluded that their brains had both changed in response to the experiment, both in playing, and imagining playing. Pascual-Leone's work showed that the human brain can change itself neurologically without physical activity. Carr summarizes, "We become, neurologically, what we think". Carr asserts through these scientific experiments that not only were Freud, J.Z. Young, and William James, correct , but "the adult brain...is not just plastic but...'massively plastic.'" Carr

I read the article, “Secrets of the Brain”, found in the February 2014 issue of National Geographic written by Carl Zimmer. I chose this subject because I have been fascinated with the brain and how it works. The research of the brain has been ongoing for many centuries now. The history in this article is interesting. It explained how scientists used to understand the brain and its inner workings. For example, “in the ancient world physicians believed that the brain was made of phlegm. Aristotle looked on it as a refrigerator, cooling of the fiery heart. From his time through the Renaissance, anatomists declared with great authority that our perceptions, emotions, reasoning, and actions were all the result of “animal spirits”—mysterious, unknowable vapors that swirled through cavities in our head and traveled through our bodies.” (Zimmer, p. 38)

The nineteenth century saw an explosion in knowledge regarding the brain unlike any before. For centuries, the brain had been considered the seat of human intelligence. However, the brain of the classics was a singular organ of

* Second, research has shown that damage to incoming sensory pathways or the destruction of brain tissue can lead to neural reorganization.

The concept of neuroplasticity has long been questioned. The term of “neuroplasticity” did not even come about until the mid-late 20th century. When the term “plastic” was used to describe the brain by a select few neuroscientists, they were laughed at and the term was never thought of as a description for the human brain. The human brain was seen as a closed circuit and one that once you had it, you definitely had it. Scientists thought the brain would not develop anymore past a certain point in your life. Norman Doidge brings the concept of neuroplasticity into reality in his book “The Brain that Changes Itself,” a book about the triumphs in the frontier of brain science.

The parietal lobe is the dorsal part of the brain. The sensory cortex is located in this section where sensation and perception is integrated. “This lobe is most commonly associated with its capacity for spatial processing. It is here that external visual, or environment based, coordinates may be translated into internal, or body-based, coordinates and vice versa.”(Stephens PH.D, livestrong.com)

The brain is very complex and allows us to do different things. The part of the brain known as the

Dr. Alois Alzheimer, who was a neuropathologist as well as a psychiatrist, discovered what is known today as AD.3 One of Dr. Alzhiemer’s patients was a fifty-one year old woman with severe dementia. He studied this patient until she died, which then gave him the opportunity to study her brain.3 By examining this patient’s brain he noticed how the cerebral cortex (the

The connectionist model describes the different areas of the brain and how they process particular types of information (Brookshire & McNeil, 2015). We have a greater understanding of left hemispheric damage. For example, if an individual has damage to their posterior-inferior third frontal gyrus of the left hemisphere, they will present with Broca’s aphasia, which evidences as motor planning deficits. While scientists and researchers have a general understanding of what the right hemisphere is responsible for, we have yet to understand specific areas precise responsibilities. Generally, we recognize the right hemisphere is responsible for behavior and cognition, perception, recognition and expression, attention, and pragmatic communication (Brookshire &

In the novel Phineas Gage, A Gruesome but True Story About Brain Science by John Fleischman, Chapter 2 “What we thought about how we thought” tells about what doctors in the late 1800s thought about Brain Science. Phineas Gage was a man that lived in the late 1800s he had an accident were a tamping iron went through his cheek through his brain and out of his forehead. Whereas there were two schools of thought about how the brain worked,doctor's knowledge and standards were dangerous also their information about the brain was inaccurate.

Franz Joseph Gall created the first comprehensive theory of brain localization in 1796. Phrenology is a pseudoscientific theory that asserts an individual’s personality and mental capacities can be determined by the shape of their skull (Cooter, 1984). “Organology” was the original term that Gall used to describe his science; it was Gall’s follower, T.I.M Forster, who coined the term phrenology (Van Wyhe, 1999). Gall’s contemporary, Joseph Franz Spurzheim, was responsible for the dissemination of Gall’s ideas to the United Kingdom and the United States (Selby, 1993). Gall inspired many “egotistical” men to promulgate phrenology, and it “attracted such men because of its promise of superlative intellectual authority with minimal effort” (Van Wyhe, 1999). Phrenology

The human brain is a mystery that has been studied for centuries in attempt to understand how it functions. Scientists first thought that the brain was a structure that functioned a whole. It was in the early 1600’s where the first ideas of localisation of function in the brain started. At this time Rene Descartes discovered a tiny structure called the pineal

The brain is dividing into several sections, including the cerebellum, the frontal lobe, and the temporal lobe, among others. The temporal lobe exists in two parts, one on each side of the brain close to the ears. It is largely responsible for the memory system (2). On the medial surface of the temporal lobe there are three important structure that are essential for human functioning. These structures are named, in order from rostral to caudal, the olfactory cortex, the amygdala, and the hippocampus. Together these three structures are referred to as the "limbic system" (1). Their functions became understood after studying how the brain functions upon loss of each structure. For example, in 1953, a patient suffering from epilepsy underwent surgery which removed most of his medial temporal lobe (1). After the surgery, the patient was able to remember who he was and was able to carry out coherent, intelligent conversations. However, if the person with whom he was talking left the room, he would have no