Briefly describe some limitations of case studies. Choose TWO limitations and evaluate how neuropsychologists address them
Briefly describe some limitations of case studies. Choose TWO limitations and evaluate how neuropsychologists address them.
Broca started the approach to localizing brain function by studying the correlation between a behavioral disorder and the location of brain injury. His patient was known as ‘tan’ as that’s the only sound he could produce, Broca found this man had damage to the inferior frontal gyrus, which is now named Broca’s area. Since then some very influential findings have emerged from case studies alike, such as Wernicke’s area in the left posterior temporal cortex and more recently the amygdala’s role in recognizing fear.
However the method of case studies isn’t with out its faults, there are some major limitations that reduce its sole use in neuropsychology. Firstly case studies can not be generilsed to the brauder population, it is not therefore scientific as I ads no contributions to the greater knowledge. Take the case of HM, an extremely famous case study that has influenced research into memory greatly by associating HM’s profound retrograde and anterograde amnesia with the lesions in him limbic system, including his hippocampus. These results can not be adopted onto the healthy brain as he could be an anomaly, or different to the rest of the population. Which brings me to a second limitation, case studies can merely generate hypothesis, they find a link and suggest further research, this is useful but it doesn’t test anything or prove anything beyond chance.
Furthermore case studies tend to bias towards verification, often researchers conduct interviews, observations and interactions with patients that are completely subjectively assessed, this can lead to unintentional bias in their attention towards behaviors that confirm their preconceived notions of the case. This can be demonstrated in the case of EP. EP was diagnosed with herpes encephalitis, which cased him to have focal damage to the amygdala and the hippocampus, he also
Broca started the approach to localizing brain function by studying the correlation between a behavioral disorder and the location of brain injury. His patient was known as ‘tan’ as that’s the only sound he could produce, Broca found this man had damage to the inferior frontal gyrus, which is now named Broca’s area. Since then some very influential findings have emerged from case studies alike, such as Wernicke’s area in the left posterior temporal cortex and more recently the amygdala’s role in recognizing fear.
However the method of case studies isn’t with out its faults, there are some major limitations that reduce its sole use in neuropsychology. Firstly case studies can not be generilsed to the brauder population, it is not therefore scientific as I ads no contributions to the greater knowledge. Take the case of HM, an extremely famous case study that has influenced research into memory greatly by associating HM’s profound retrograde and anterograde amnesia with the lesions in him limbic system, including his hippocampus. These results can not be adopted onto the healthy brain as he could be an anomaly, or different to the rest of the population. Which brings me to a second limitation, case studies can merely generate hypothesis, they find a link and suggest further research, this is useful but it doesn’t test anything or prove anything beyond chance.
Furthermore case studies tend to bias towards verification, often researchers conduct interviews, observations and interactions with patients that are completely subjectively assessed, this can lead to unintentional bias in their attention towards behaviors that confirm their preconceived notions of the case. This can be demonstrated in the case of EP. EP was diagnosed with herpes encephalitis, which cased him to have focal damage to the amygdala and the hippocampus, he also