Broca And The Brain Case Study

1. What is Neuropsychology; How does Broca’s work on the brain and language illustrate its role in the study of the brain? Neuropsychiatry is defined as the study of how brain function influences behavior with an emphasis on human behavior. The Broca’s area is located in the left frontal lobe and the fact that a man with injury to the Broca’s area was observed to have a severe dysfunction of speech shows that that particular area is essential to and undoubtedly linked the human behavior of speech.
2. How do the staining technique in 7-1A and B differ in what they tell us?
In 7-1A we can see all the brain cells of a certain region in a mass, from a distance, but we cannot see them close up enough to observe what they are doing. In B,
Would tMS have the same effect in the motor cortex and visual cortex?
No, in the visual cortex TMS may cause a patient to see tiny spots of light known as phosphenes, while in the motor cortex the electromagnetic stimulation produces (or disrupts) movement.
11. What is a microelectrode. How do intra-and extracellular recording differ.
A microelectrode is a tiny electrode inserted into the brain that can record the activity of an individual cell. Extracellular recordings are when the electrode is placed next to the cell and can distinguish the activity of upto 40 neurons at once. Intracellular recordings have the electrode placed inside the cell and allow direct study of that single neuron’s electrical activity.
12. What is a “place” cell? And how might it play a role in memory?
A place cell is a neuron that fires when an organism is in a specific environment or place. These may plans role in how we form mental maps of the world in our heads.
13. How does EEG and microelectrode recording differ; with respect to the number of neurons recorded from;—which is more
Compare 7-14 and 7-15: Which produces the better brain image. Which is a CT and which an MRI.
7-15, the MRI, produces a better brain image than 7-14, the CT scan.
16. What is an fMRI actually measuring. How does this measure relate to brain function.
An fMRI measures the ratio of oxygen rich hemoglobin to oxygen poor hemoglobin in the brain because oxygen rich hemoglobin is less magnetic than oxygen poor hemoglobin. This relates to brain function in that oxygen flow increases to more active regions of the brain.
17. Do you understand what is meant by the terms spatial and temporal resolution. Which is better in the fMRI.
Spatial resolution of measured in the cerebral cortex and has a view of 1mm but because change in blood flow is slower in the temporal lobe, temporal resolution is not as precise.
18. Both the fMRI and the PET scan are based upon an assumption about the relation between brain activity and some source of energy use by neurons. Explain. What is the source in PET? In fMRI. What is the major limitation in using