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