February 5 2015 Psych Lecture Functions are represented in specific brain areas Speaking a written word involves at least 5 neocortical areas each area performs specific functions the areas coordinate their actions the brain acts as an integrated system Tucson shooting Gifford injury survived a gunshot that went through her left hemisphere and came out her left eye she could understand people but not speak meaning that Wernicke s area was functional but not Broca s area Somatosensory cortex certain areas of the brain control certain body parts not everything is equally distributed ex lips are larger than genitals Phantom limbs patients still have pain and sensation where an amputation occurred psychologically disturbing and physically painful mirror box teach amputees a new mapping process to increase voluntary control over phantom limbs Stimulating areas of the face and other parts if the body may activate sensations in the missing limb due to compensation of cortical area in the somatosensory cortex Left and right hemisphere have specialized functions split brain procedure to separate the hemispheres the mind is a subjective interpreter left brain Vision and movement are both contra lateral Split Brain video Brain likes to interpret why two events occurred left brain Right brain facial recognition spatial and perceptual tasks Left brain Language center Partial split exists too Hemineglect damage to right parietal cortex neglect the left side of things ex draw only right side of clock only shave right side of face Achieving Hemispheric Balance Improving Sports Performance golfing The interplay of genes and the environment wires the brain the brain rewires itself through life Importance of plasticity chemical signals guide growing connections experience fine tuned neural connections plasticity has critical periods example not getting cataracts moved in time Genie didn t get to develop language regions of the brain explains stroke injury recovery Change in the strength of connections underlies learning Hebbian learning fire together wire together changes in use distort cortical maps For old people it s good to keep using mental activity to avoid memory loss ex exercise or crossword puzzles Plasticity example stroke recovery pianists have highly developed cortical areas for finger control hippocampus development for taxi drivers spatial navigation The brain can recover from injury remapping after injury reflects plasticity the promise o f transplanting system Next week consciousness sensation mental state Hypnosis An Altered Mental State video Hypnotized patients saw a black and white picture as color altered perception through quiet persuasion self hypnosis