The Brain and Neuropsychology

Flashcards based on lecture notes about the brain and neuropsychology.

__ is an area of psychology that aims to learn more about the brain and how it works.

Neuropsychology

The brain is protected by several layers of __ inside the skull.

Tissue

The brain is suspended inside a __ that helps to cushion it from any bumps to the head.

Fluid

The __ lobe has an important role in decision-making and impulse control.

Frontal

The __ helps us with hearing and understanding sounds, understanding speech and creating speech.

Temporal lobe

The __ has a big part to play in our ability to understand the world around us (perception).

Parietal lobe

The __ lobe mainly deals with our ability to see.

Occipital

The __ plays a vital role in movement, coordination and balance (our motor skills).

Cerebellum

__ of function in the brain means that each hemisphere of the brain has different jobs or roles.

Lateralisation

To help the two hemispheres work together, a thick layer of nerve fibres (the __) connects the right and left hemispheres.

Corpus callosum

An area in the left hemisphere, known as __, controls the production of speech; if it is damaged, people might find it difficult to talk.

Broca's area

The ___ is a thick band of nerve fibres that connects the left and right hemispheres together.

Corpus callosum

The __ (CNS) is made up of the brain and the spinal cord.

Central nervous system

__ are chemicals that are released from neurons (also called nerve cells) to help them to pass messages from one cell to another.

Neurotransmitters

__ are tiny gaps between neurons that allow chemical messages to pass between them.

Synapses

__ refers to any kind of damage to parts of the nervous system.

Neurological damage

__ is a disorder in which a person can see perfectly well but they cannot understand what they are seeing.

Visual agnosia

__ (also known as 'face-blindness') means being unable to recognise faces even though they can be seen.

Prosopagnosia

Hanna Damasio and her colleagues wanted to build a __ of Gage's skull using his actual skull as a guide, so that they could map out how the iron rod passed through his head.

Model

In 1968, __ studied what effects could be seen in these patients by monitoring how they processed information using their 'split-brain'.

Roger Sperry