4.2.2.5 Localisation of function, lateralisation and plasticity Quiz: AQA Psychology, Unit 2

The 20 questions

1. Broca's area is located in which lobe and hemisphere in most people?

   • The left occipital lobe
   • The right temporal lobe
   • The right parietal lobe
   • The left frontal lobe

2. Wernicke's area is associated with which function?

   • Producing fluent speech with correct grammar and clear pronunciation
   • Understanding spoken and written language
   • Controlling voluntary leg movement through the primary motor cortex
   • Processing visual shapes and the colour of objects in the visual field

3. The visual cortex is located in which lobe?

   • The parietal lobe, at the top
   • The occipital lobe
   • The frontal lobe, at the front
   • The temporal lobe, at the side

4. The somatosensory cortex, which processes touch, is located in which lobe?

   • The frontal lobe
   • The parietal lobe
   • The occipital lobe
   • The temporal lobe

5. Which structure connects the two cerebral hemispheres?

   • The hypothalamus
   • The cerebellum
   • The corpus callosum
   • The medulla oblongata

6. Plasticity in the brain refers to:

   • The ability of the brain to change its structure and function in response to experience or injury
   • The release of neurotransmitters into the synaptic cleft, which passes each impulse on to the next cell
   • The electrical signals that pass along a single axon from the cell body to its terminal branches
   • The permanent and fixed organisation of brain areas from birth, which cannot be altered by experience or injury

7. The primary motor cortex, which controls voluntary movement, is located in which lobe?

   • The temporal lobe
   • The frontal lobe
   • The parietal lobe
   • The occipital lobe

8. A patient understands speech but speaks in halting, effortful phrases. Which area is most likely damaged?

   • Wernicke's area
   • The primary visual cortex
   • Broca's area
   • The auditory cortex in the right hemisphere

9. A patient speaks fluently but produces meaningless words and struggles to understand what others say. Which area is most likely damaged?

   • The motor cortex
   • Wernicke's area
   • The corpus callosum
   • Broca's area

10. In a split-brain patient, an image is shown only to the left visual field. The patient cannot name the object aloud. Why?

    • Information from the left visual field goes to the right hemisphere, which is usually not the language centre
    • The left visual field is processed only by the cerebellum, which cannot produce speech or name objects in any way
    • The image is too faint to be seen by the eye of the patient in that moment of testing, so it cannot be identified
    • The patient is unable to see objects on the left side at all, because the eyes are damaged on that side of the head

11. Language is typically dominant in which hemisphere for most right-handed people?

    • Neither hemisphere, because language is in the brainstem
    • The left hemisphere
    • The right hemisphere
    • Both hemispheres equally

12. After a stroke, a patient regains some lost movement as surviving neurons take over the function. This illustrates:

    • Localisation of function with no reorganisation
    • Split-brain lateralisation
    • Plasticity and functional recovery
    • Synaptic summation in a single neuron

13. A child who has had one hemisphere removed recovers much of their language ability. What best explains this?

    • Plasticity is greater in the developing brain, allowing the other hemisphere to take over language
    • Language is controlled only by the cerebellum, which the child kept after the operation intact
    • The removed hemisphere was never involved in language, so its removal made no difference to speech
    • Language is stored in the spinal cord, which is unaffected by the removal of one hemisphere

14. A patient with damage to the right parietal lobe draws only the left-hand halves of objects. What is this condition?

    • Blindsight
    • Split-brain syndrome
    • Hemispatial neglect
    • Broca's aphasia

15. Which area processes auditory information?

    • The somatosensory cortex in the parietal lobe that processes touch
    • The primary auditory cortex in the temporal lobe
    • The primary visual cortex in the occipital lobe at the back
    • The motor cortex in the frontal lobe, controlling voluntary moves

16. Evaluate the split-brain research as evidence for lateralisation. Which point is most accurate?

    • It proves that all brain functions are fully lateralised with no overlap between sides
    • It provides strong evidence but is based on a small number of unusual patients
    • It shows that lateralisation is absent in the human brain, since both sides are equal
    • It is based on thousands of healthy participants in large, well-controlled experiments

17. Why does a left-hemisphere stroke affect speech more than a right-hemisphere stroke in most people?

    • Language functions are lateralised to the left hemisphere in most people
    • The left hemisphere alone controls breathing and the movement of the diaphragm in full
    • The right hemisphere has no connections to the rest of the brain, so it works alone
    • The right hemisphere controls all speech production, so left damage would be harmless

18. A critic argues that localisation views of brain function are oversimplified. What is the strongest support for this view?

    • Functions can be fully explained by hormone levels in the blood, with no role for neurons
    • Complex functions such as memory involve networks spread across several areas
    • Each function is located at a single exact point in the brain, which is always the same
    • Brain damage never affects any cognitive function, because the brain repairs itself fully

19. Why is plasticity usually greater in childhood than in adulthood?

    • The developing brain forms and reorganises neural connections more readily
    • Adult brains have no capacity for any change once they have finished developing fully
    • Children have more myelin in every neuron, which makes their brains more plastic overall
    • Children's brains use neurotransmitters that adults lack, which keeps the connections flexible

20. Explain how split-brain research supports the idea of lateralisation.

    • Split-brain research shows that the left and right hemispheres have identical functions in every person
    • The corpus callosum shows that lateralisation is absent in humans, since both sides are the same
    • Each hemisphere can process information it receives independently when the corpus callosum is severed
    • Both hemispheres always share all information in the same way, even after the corpus callosum is cut

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