The Brain Votional And Cerebral Localization Of The Brain

Currently, it is basic knowledge that the brain controls body functions and has voluntary and involuntary control over behavior. However, it was believed that behavior was due to cerebral localization and many studies have demonstrated support for this idea. Cerebral localization is a term that refers to how specific areas of the brain correlate with specific behaviors and functions. This concept was first utilized by Franz Josef Gall with phrenology. Gall relied on physical characteristics of an individual’s skull to be associated with certain regions of the brain, which later became known to be called phrenology. Some associations he believed were that larger brain size meant higher levels of intelligence, amativeness was correlated to the

Another association was that the existence of a bump right above an individual’s ear was related to elevated levels of destructiveness. More correlations between traits and brain or skull regions were discovered and were mapped onto drawings of human heads to illustrate these associations.

Cerebral localization was also supported by the findings of Paul Broca and Carl Wernicke. Broca determined that damage to an area in the lower left frontal lobe affected speech, which later became known as Broca’s area. Using this as a starting point, Carl Wernicke found that damage to the back portion of the left temporal lobe resulted in an impairment with understanding language; this area was named as Wernicke’s area. Later researchers discovered areas in the brain for controlling movement and sensation, which would become, respectively, known as the motor and sensory strip.

S. Lashley published an article titled “Basic Neural Mechanisms in Behavior” discussing his views on the relationship between the brain, more specifically the neural connections, and behavior. The purpose of this article was to reference the inconsistencies of the theories that were prevalent at that time. There were two theories that were being utilized, which were cerebral localization and the theory of reflex conduction. Lashley explained cerebral localization as being the correlation of specific brain areas to specific behaviors and functions; a definition similarly noted by previous researchers. The theory of reflex conduction is based on previous studies with the spinal cord which explains how certain points on a reflex arc can be attributed to specific behaviors. These two theories are somewhat similar to each other in the aspect that an individual’s behavioral outcome is affected by the influences on a certain location, whether it is in the brain or nervous reflex arcs. However, Lashley provided four main reasons as to how these theories for explaining human behavior were not adequately supported. Experiments were conducted and examples from other researchers were utilized to further support his disproval of the two