GCSE Psychology 9-1

Psychology 9-1 GCSE -  4.2.1 - Damasio et al (1994) The Return of Phineas Gage: Clues About the Brain from the Skull of a Famous Patient: Aims -  To investigate if areas other than the frontal lobe were damaged.  Procedures -  1. They took pictures and measurements of the skull and built a 3D replica of Gage's skull. 2. They measured the iron rod. 3. They measured the possible exit and entry points for the iron rod.  4. Found 5 most likely paths and mapped out damaged areas in each case. Results -  Found that it was likely to have been damage in both hemispheres of the frontal lobe. Confidently assumed that the frontal lobe was only damaged. Found that the white matter in the left hemisphere had more damage caused to it.  Conclusion -  The ventromedial area of the frontal lobe seems to be important for making sensible decisions and for controlling our impulses. Gage found these things difficult after his injury, ...

Psychology 9-1 GCSE -  4.1.4 - Understand the impact of neurological damage on cognitions and behaviour, including: a) The term 'visual agnosia' - c) The symptoms of visual agnosia -  This is the inability  of the brain to recognise or understand visual stimuli. A person with visual agnosia has otherwise normal visual functioning and can see but is unable to interpret or recognise what they are seeing. It is usually found in adults who have had brain damage. The symptoms can be, inability to recognise and object by its shape, difficulty identifying objects that look similar in shape, difficulty with line drawings and recognising objects shown from uncommon views.  b) The term 'prosopagnosia' -  d) The symptoms of prosopagnosia -  This is known as 'face blindness'. It is a disorder in which people are unable to recognise faces. Those with the condition can see individual parts of a face but can't process the features together as a whole. There...

Psychology 9-1 GCSE -  2.1.3 - Understand retrograde and anterograde amnesia, including: a) The term 'retrograde amnesia' -  Also known as psychogenic amnesia, refers to the loss of memory surrounding a physically or emotionally traumatic event and can be global (loss of all memories) or limited to memories specific to the events that the victim might psychologically want to stop remembering. This type of memory loss can be short term and does not always include physical damage to the brain. This type generally includes not only the event itself but also events shortly before or after the event. People with this usually have no difficulty learning new information. b) The term 'anterograde amnesia' -  An individuals inability to form new memories following a traumatic event. Leading to partial or complete inability to recall the recent past, while long term memories from before the event remain intact. It is thought the damage to sites in the temporal cor...