41 Chapter 14: Discussion Questions / Chapter Assignments

Chapter 14 questions

1. Compare and contrast the chapter’s way of discussing Patient Tan with the previous chapter’s discussion of Patient HM. What are the advantages and disadvantages of the textbook’s strategies? How might the family members want this information presented? How might scientists want this information presented?
2. What activities or memory aids might we develop to assist with remembering the synonyms for Broca’s aphasia? Are there any cultural differences in terms of the nomenclature used?
3. Return to Methods of Neuroscience chapter. Why is fMRI comparable to the Wada test? What are the advantages or strengths of fMRI? Compare and contrast the advantages and weaknesses of the Wada test and the use of fMRI in investigations of lateralization.
4. Describe which view and which hemisphere of the brain is depicted in Figure 14.7. How do you know?
5. Use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the corpus callosum with the arcuate fasciculus.
6. Activity – Rain Man movie – Watch in class (or Watch at home and report as an individual activity). Be prepared to discuss your observations of the main characters in terms of diagnosis.
7. Explain the Wernicke-Geshwind model and the pathways involved in auditory language tasks, as well as reading and responding tasks.
8. Select 2 of the aphasias discussed in class, and discuss their impact on the components of spoken language. (or try all 4 types)
9. Describe the 4 different components of language (1 sentence each).
10. If you had 4 cats (1 intact brain, 1 with corpus callosotomy, 1 with severed optic chiasm, and 1 with both corpus callosotomy and severed optic chiasm), and they all learned the reaching task with an eyepatch on, what would their performance be if you switched the eyepatch to the other eye?
11. Scenario: You’re having a conversation with an individual who is using repetitive words, this person’s sentences do not make sense, and they do not seem to notice any issue. What type of aphasia are they likely experiencing, how do you know, and what brain region is likely damaged?
12. Explain functional lateralization of the brain (3-4 sentences).
13. Describe the experiment Myers and Sperry conducted on cats and what we learned from that experiment about brain lateralization and interhemispheric communication.
14. Describe an experiment that could be used to determine whether language is strictly lateralized to the left hemisphere in split brain patients.
15. Can the right hemisphere recognize objects presented visually? Describe an experiment to test this.
16. Imagine a word is presented tachistoscopically to a participant’s left visual field. Describe, in as much detail as possible, the brain regions that the representation of the word would have to pass through in order for the participant to say the word aloud.

Note: Some of these questions (Questions 7-16) were developed by, or with the assistance of, students in the PSYC 232 class of Winter 2025.