Physiologists of Mind: Brain Scientists from Gall to Penfield - Franz Josef Gall: Brain Anatomist and Phrenologist

4 important questions on Physiologists of Mind: Brain Scientists from Gall to Penfield - Franz Josef Gall: Brain Anatomist and Phrenologist

What did Gall show with his finding of commissures?

He showed that the two halves of the brain are interconnected by stalks of white matter (nerve tissue) called commissures, and that other, smaller tracts of white fibers cross over from each side of the brain to connect with the opposite sides of the spinal cord. This last finding helped explain how damage to one side of the brain could result in paralysis, or other types of dysfunction, to the opposite side of the body.

What did Gall's comparative studies of the brains of different kinds of humans and animals show?

In a general but convincing way, these studies showed that higher mental functions correlated with the size and health of the brain in question, particularly its outer surface or cortex.

What does Gall's phrenology tell about the layout of functions in the brain?

Gall believed discrete psychological “faculties” were localized within specific parts of the brain. Moreover, he believed the bumps and indentations on the surface of an individual skull reflected the size of the underlying brain parts, and therefore of the different faculties.

Through craniometry, the measurement of the physical dimensions of the skull, Gall hoped to draw conclusions about the shape of the brain beneath. He thus sought a correspondence between particular bumps and depressions on the skull and the psychological characteristics of the people who had them.
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Which similar theory as phrenology of Gall did Johann Kaspar Lavater came up with before Gall?

At that time, people commonly associated particular facial characteristics with specific psychological qualities. The art of physiognomy, the reading of a person’s character in his or her physical features, had been effectively promoted during the 1770s by the Swiss mystic and theologian Johann Kaspar Lavater, and it remained a popular pastime throughout the 1800s.

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