Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

Specialization in the Cerebral Hemispheres79motor areas, are symmetrical. They are located in the same place and are performedin the same way on both the left and the right hemisphere.Given the basic findings on the laterality of different functions in the two hemispheres,can you speculate about why Asha was unable to read or follow a simple conversationbut could easily concentrate on a complex piece of music? Why were her languageabilities so disrupted, while her ability to focus on and appreciate musicremained intact after her stroke?A plausible explanation has to do with the location of the stroke’s damage onAsha’s left temporal lobe. Because language functions are usually localized on theleft hemisphere, the stroke produced serious disruptions in Asha’s language abilities.However, her right cerebral hemisphere sustained no detectable damage. Becauseone of the right hemisphere’s abilities is the appreciation of musical sounds, Asharetained the ability to concentrate on and appreciate music.>> Closing ThoughtsIn our exploration of neuroscience and behavior, we’ve traveled from the activitiesof individual neurons to the complex interaction of the billions of neuronsthat make up the human nervous system, most notably the brain. In the course ofthose travels, we presented four themes that are crucial to a scientific understandingof brain function: localization, lateralization, integration, and plasticity.More than just a historical scientific oddity, phrenology’s incorrect interpretationof bumps on the skull helped focus scientific debate on the notion of localization—the idea that different functions are localized in different brain areas. Although rejectedin the early 1800s when Franz Gall was in his heyday, localization of brainfunctioning is well established today. The early clinical evidence provided by Brocaand Wernicke, and the later split-brain evidence provided by Sperry and his colleagues,confirmed the idea of lateralization—that some functions are performedprimarily by one cerebral hemisphere.The ideas of localization and lateralization are complemented by another themeevident in this chapter—integration. Although the nervous system is highly specialized,even simple behaviors involve the highly integrated interaction of trillions ofsynapses. Your ability to process new information and experiences, your memoriesof previous experiences, your sense of who you are and what you know, your actionsand reactions—all depend upon the harmony of the nervous system.The story of Asha’s stroke illustrated what can happen when that harmony is disrupted.Asha survived her stroke, but many people who suffer strokes do not. Ofthose who do survive a stroke, about one-third are left with severe impairments intheir ability to function.What happened to Asha? Fortunately, her story has a happy ending. Asha wasluckier than many stroke victims—she was young, strong, and otherwise healthy.Asha’s recovery was also aided by her high level of motivation, willingness to workhard, and sheer will to recover. After being discharged from the hospital, Asha beganmonths of intensive speech therapy. Her speech therapist assigned a great dealof homework that consisted of repeatedly pairing pictures with words, objects withwords, and words with objects. Asha was literally rewiring her brain by relearningthe correct associations between words and their meanings.Asha set a very high goal for herself: to return to teaching at the university thefollowing fall semester. With the help of her husband, Paul, and her mother, Nalini,who traveled from India to help coach her back to full recovery, Asha made progressiveand significant gains. With remarkable determination, Asha reached the goalshe had set for herself. Eight months after her stroke, Asha returned to the classroomand her research lab.