A stroke damages Wernicke's area. Which ability would most likely be impaired?
AVoluntary movement of the right hand
BUnderstanding spoken and written language
CProcessing visual information from both eyes
DRegulating hunger and body temperature
Wernicke's area is located in the posterior temporal lobe and is responsible for language comprehension. Damage there produces Wernicke's aphasia — the person can speak fluently but produces nonsensical content and cannot understand what others say. Motor control is frontal, vision is occipital, and hunger regulation is hypothalamic, not cortical.
Question 2 True / False
Scientific research confirms that creative people primarily use their right hemisphere while analytical thinkers primarily use their left hemisphere.
TTrue
FFalse
Answer: False
The 'right brain = creative, left brain = logical' idea is a popular myth with no solid neuroimaging support. Both creativity and analytical reasoning recruit networks across both hemispheres. While the left hemisphere does have some language dominance in most people, complex cognitive tasks involve distributed, bilateral activity — not one hemisphere working in isolation.
Question 3 Short Answer
The frontal lobe is often described as the seat of 'executive functions.' What does this mean, and why did Phineas Gage's personality change dramatically after his frontal injury?
Think about your answer, then reveal below.
Model answer: Executive functions are higher-order control processes: planning, decision-making, impulse control, regulating social behavior, and holding goals in mind. Frontal damage removes or weakens this regulatory layer, leaving lower-level drives and impulses less controlled. Gage became impulsive and socially disinhibited because the frontal circuits that constrained his behavior were destroyed.
The frontal lobe acts as a modulating system over the rest of the brain — it doesn't generate raw behavior but regulates and directs it. When this modulating system is damaged, behavior becomes driven by more immediate impulses rather than deliberate planning. This is why frontal damage produces personality and behavior changes rather than simple sensory or motor deficits.